OUR SERVICES

We analyse the historical techniques used to create artefacts and the processes that have caused them to have aged. Before preservation and/or restoration work begins, we determine what kind of restoration work has been previously carried out on artefacts.

AND/OR WE CAN

Supply you with valuable details regarding a work of art’s history–by studying the materials it contains prior to its sale.

Our laboratory can provide you with many services, both in the field of inorganic material analysis – i.e. analyses of paint, stone, glass, and metal – and that of organic materials – binder, varnish, wax, resin, and polymer material.

Inorganic Substance Analysis Methods / Equipment Used

Optical microscope

Metallographic microscope

Soluble anions titration

Scanning electron microscope, SEM

Qualitative and semi-quantitative energy-dispersive elementary fluorescence X    microanalysis, EDX

Castaing’s electronic microprobe

X-rays diffraction

PIXE (Particle-Induced X-ray Emission)

Organic Substance Analysis Methods / Equipment Used

Selective staining techniques

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry (FTIR)

ICP spectrometry

Liquid and gas chromatography

Initial Photographic Documentation of Objects

Photography in natural light, oblique or lateral light, and using ultraviolet light and

infra-red reflectography

X-rays radiography