I am a conservation student at the Institut National du Patrimoine (INP) in Paris, France. I came to the Horniman for a six-month internship, because I was attracted by the diversity of the collections.The first object I worked on was very interesting. It was a Balinese pasepan or incense burner (2010.88), in the form of a winged lion and made of low-fired terracotta.
Its base was broken into five pieces (sherds) and one point of the tail was missing.
The treatment consisted of sticking the sherds together with an acrylic adhesive. I filled in the gaps between the sherds with ready-made filler.
In consultation with the curator Dr Fiona Kerlogue it was decided to replace the missing part of the tail, modelling it with epoxy putty.
Finally, I made the retouching on both tail and base with acrylic paint.
