Preserving Asia's Artifacts for Generations to Come
Posted by Kacy Schiefelbein on Wed, Dec 28, 2011
This past year, the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) acquired a rare collection of 16th century Japanese and Korean painted screen and bold ink paintings for their Luminous: The Art of Asia exhibit currently on display.
From a collection care manager’s perspective, a collection of this magnitude has specific preservation needs in storage. Due to their scale and construction, storage and handling can be a challenge. Plus, the materials of the Asian screens are highly susceptible to deterioration and damage from environmental conditions and mechanical impact. Despite the museum staff’s diligent care for its collections, the necessity to upgrade the storage furniture for these precious screens had become an urgent priority.
With special funding from a Conservation Project Support (CPS) grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Seattle Art Museum turned to Spacesaver Northwest, a local dealer of the Spacesaver Group.
Together with Spacesaver and Delta Designs Ltd., 16 environmentally controlled cabinets were designed to ensure safe preservation and storage compatibility for the Asian artifacts.
With the help of IMLS funding and Spacesaver’s state-of the art storage solution, SAM will continue to preserve these treasures for generations to come.
To learn more about the Spacesaver Museum Collection Care storage solutions click here for a downloadable brochure.
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Re-published with permission.