Two centuries of conservation treatments on Roman bronze statuettes from the Hungarian National Museum : How do they affect surface analyses?

As a part of a larger project on Roman statuettes in Hungary we have also investigated the “restorations” and “improvements”, carried out over the past centuries on most of the earlier pieces we have analysed. The statuettes were acquired from excavations, donated by private collectors or possibly bought from other countries and underwent various treatments. An artificial patina, in the form of a black lacquer, was applied to most of the figurines. Our examination showed that it is possible to distinguish the ones employed in the 19th century – or even earlier – from the reddish-brown ones employed in the early 20th century. Interestingly, these treatments show notable similarities to the artificial patinations applied to Roman objects recovered in the same periods discovered at Pompeii and elsewhere in the area. Interventions with electrolysis can also interfere with surface analysis of older museum pieces. Another noteworthy aspect is the range of “improvements”, additions and “repairs” performed on some of the statuettes. In several cases, missing limbs, body parts or attributes were reconstructed by the “restorers” who tried to “improve” the objects by coating them with some kind of artificial patina to homogenize their appearance. This is a relatively common phenomenon that can be observed in most of the collections acquired by larger museums in different ways in the 18th and the 19th centuries. The primary aim of this paper is to highlight the impact that older “restorations” of various kind can have on surface analyses of the artifacts. This paper presents some case studies from the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest and compares them to artefacts from other Roman sites in Italy.