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Survey on the conservation of lacquers

This survey is part of a Getty Conservation Institute project on research in conservation of lacquers, inclusive of lacquers from Asia, Europe and Latin America. Your participation to this survey will help us to identify research and training needs in this field internationally.

We thank you for your time and for the valuable insights you will share with us. We estimate it should take 15 to 30 minutes to answer all questions in this survey.
1.How long have you been treating lacquered surfaces?
2.How frequently do you treat lacquered surfaces?
3.What type of conservation training did you follow?
4.What types of lacquer do you work with? Choose all that apply.
5.What types of lacquer artifacts do you work on? Choose all that apply.
6.What types of lacquer decorative techniques do you work on? Choose all that apply.
7.What types of substrates do you work on? Choose all that apply.
8.How would you rate your level of knowledge of traditional techniques of manufacturing Asian lacquered surfaces?
9.How would you rate your level of knowledge of traditional techniques of manufacturing European lacquered surfaces?
10.How would you rate your level of knowledge of traditional techniques of manufacturing Latin American lacquered surfaces?
11.What techniques/materials do you use to clean lacquer surfaces? Please consider how the nature and condition of the lacquered surface affect your approach, such as being light degraded, gilded, painted, inlaid lacquer, etc. You can include examples of specific projects.
12.What techniques/materials do you use to consolidate loose or detached lacquer grounds and films? You can include examples of specific projects.
13.What techniques/materials do you use to fill gaps, dents, and losses in a lacquer coating? You can include examples of specific projects.
14.What are your thoughts on the use of urushi for the conservation of Asian lacquer artifacts? You can include examples of specific projects.
15.What are your thoughts on the use of other resins (natural or synthetic) for the conservation of Asian lacquer artifacts? You can include examples of specific projects.
16.Under what circumstances do you re-lacquer, varnish or wax a lacquered artifact? Is it partially or full? What techniques/materials do you use? You can include examples of specific projects.
17.What are your clients' requests in terms of treatment of lacquer? Please specify if your clients are private owners, dealers or public institutions/museums/historic houses. You can include examples of specific projects.
18.What do you feel are the main challenges in relation to the display and storage of lacquered objects? How do these affect their long-term preservation or degradation?
19.What challenges do you face when treating lacquered objects? Please be specific.
20.What type of training or other form of professional development do you think could be helpful for the field, ranging from student-level to mid-career training?
21.Please feel free to share any additional comments or suggestions.
22.If you are interested in being in direct contact with us regarding this project, please provide your name, affiliation and contact information. Thank you!