By Deepa H
Ramakrishnan
PONDICHERRY
AUG. 26.
In an effort to conserve the third best collection of bronzes in the country
housed in the Pondicherry Museum, a team of conservators from the National
Museum Institute is here to clean the idols and other articles.
There are 81
bronze idols in the museum that were excavated from the Karaikal and
Pondicherry region and they belong to the Chola period.
Of these, 46
have been maintained by the museum as they were found, without removing the
mud from them. The conservators, Achal Pandya, Priya Kapoor and Manoj
Sharma, will be here for about three months and `clean' the articles.
In the first
stage, they will manually clear the `muddy incrustations' found on the
idols. "We don't want to use any kind of chemicals that might damage the
idols'', says Mr. Pandya.
Apart from
the mud that forms a thick layer, the idols also have been subject to
corrosion in the form of copper carbonate formation. "It is the
green color that is found on bronze idols also called as noble patina.
This protects the idol and also gives it an aesthetic look'', adds Mr.
Pandya. This layer does not enter the idol.
Some other
statues have what is called the `Bronze disease' due to copper chloride
formation. "This enters the metal and eats it up. These are given chemical
treatment but if the disease has penetrated too much, then nothing can be
done'', he explains.
After
removing the muddy layer, they are washed with distilled water, sun dried
and wiped. Then all of them are given a one per cent protective coating,
which is reversible. "Any treatment that we give must be reversible and
should not harm the article'', notes Mr. Pandya. They do not give any kind
of chemical treatment to the articles unless totally necessary since it
might spoil the features.
This
conservation effort has been taken up at the instance of the Art and Culture
Deparment. The Minister for Art and Culture, K. Lakshminarayanan,
inaugurated the work at a simple function recently. Students of art, who are
interested in conservation were invited to observe as to how the
preservation work is done.
The museum
has bronze sculptures of Hindu gods including Somaskandar (from the Arasalar
riverbed in Karaikal), Pradoshamurthy (Thirunallar), Sivakami Amman,
Nataraja, Murugan, Kali (Pondicherry); saints Manikkavasagar,
Gnanasambandar, Appar (from Polagam, Karaikal) cast during the Chola period
(880-1279). Pooja articles including different kinds of lamps, flower
baskets and conches are also included in the collection.
Chola-period
bronzes were said to have been created using the lost-wax technique. Because
of this each sculpture is unique. The most unique feature of Chola period
idols is the Thribhanga pose (triple bend posture).
