Lending the golden touch to fraying old Tanjore Paintings

Coming up with a unique way of restoring the decaying Tanjore painting, the Assistant Conservator at the conservation lab in DakshinaChitra heritage museum uses the same material that is used in the old painting to preserve their classical grace.

Having its root in Thanjavur district of Tamilnadu, the grandeur of Tanore painting is unmistakably imposing due to the sheen of the golden canvas, studded with pearls and semi-precious stones, which lends a stark contrast of reds, blues, and greens of the rest of the image but there is also some vestiges of delicacy which they possess because of the use of raw gold foil.

Traditionally, it is jackfruit tree wood that is used as the base material of the painting and the Arabic gum is then applied to a piece of cloth which is placed on it. On the cloth, chalk powder and Arabic gum will be added. Sometimes one more such layer is created.

Once dried, it is rubbed with a fine emery sheet. and the image to be traced will be placed on it. Then, it is decorated with colorful glass beads. After this, gesso is applied to important embossing areas of the image. Then gold foils are applied on embossed parts.

Explaining the process behind the restoration, the conservator says, “If possible, use the same material that is used in the old painting for restoration. If there is a crack on the base, use balsite for filling. There are two varieties of balsite — hardener and softener.

For instance, if some of the elements like gesso are missing, it’s better to use chalk powder and Arabic gum to fill it. In the case of tattered cloth, a similar cloth with the same thickness can be applied gesso and pigment.

If the gold foil is damaged, it can be restored with the foil. It is advisable to use only natural pigments with Arabic gum for retouching. As it is prone to be soiled by fungus, 0.5 ml Ortho Phenylphenol and 100 ml ethanol are sprayed to kill the fungus. After removing the fungus, soft brushing can be done to clean the fungus.

Cover image by Travel Bhushavali