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Mediating meanings: conservation of the Staffordshire Hoard

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An Erratum to this article was published on 25 January 2017

Abstract

Since the Staffordshire Hoard’s discovery in 2009, soil removal has been carried out over several years by conservators working with the Staffordshire Hoard Conservation Project at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. As a case study, this essay examines the practical and philosophical considerations that arose during the author’s cleaning of object K1195, a gold and garnet cloisonné sword pommel cap, in 2012. Cleaning – understood as a culturally determined intervention that enacts permanent change on an object – is a frequent subject of debate within cultural heritage preservation. This essay considers the cleaning of an archaeological object with respect to its ontological status, borrowing concepts employed in the conservation of modern and contemporary works of art.

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Figure 1

Photo: B. Castriota; Photo © Birmingham Museums Trust

Figure 2

Photo: B. Castriota; Photo © Birmingham Museums Trust

Figure 3

Photo: B. Castriota; Photo © Birmingham Museums Trust

Figure 4

Photo: B. Castriota; Photo © Birmingham Museums Trust

Figure 5

Photo: B. Castriota; Photo © Birmingham Museums Trust

Figure 6

Photo: B. Castriota; Photos © Birmingham Museums Trust

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Notes

  1. The type-token distinction, identified by Peirce (1933), has a history of discussion in the context of works of art (Strawson, 1959, 231; Wollheim, 1968; Eco, 1976; Wolterstorf, 1980; Currie, 1989; Davies, 2004; Wetzel, 2009), although more often in ontological considerations of allographic works (Goodman, 1968) and their many instances or tokens.

  2. See the discussion by Kubler (1962, 14–21) on the transmission and reception of signals.

  3. Recent conservation literature has focused on the shifting identities of allographic works of modern and contemporary art (Laurenson, 2006; Phillips, 2007); however, Van de Vall (2015) and others have recognized that many of these works exist on an autographic–allographic continuum.

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Acknowledgments

The author wishes to express gratitude to the Staffordshire Hoard Conservation Project team – Deborah Cane, Cymbeline Storey and Deborah Magnoler – who supervised conservation treatment at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, and whose advice and guidance were integral to his decision-making.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. History of Art, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Brian Castriota

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  1. Brian Castriota
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An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41280-017-0040-8.

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Castriota, B. Mediating meanings: conservation of the Staffordshire Hoard. Postmedieval 7, 369–377 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41280-016-0003-5

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