Criteria:
The criteria for restoring a piece of furniture is based on the Theory of Restoration, which is founded on the recognition of the aesthetic and historical aspects and on the re-establishment of the potential unit of a piece of furniture, without artistic or historical forgery and without erasing the imprint of time. The current criteria are determined through various international congresses, many of which are sponsored by UNESCO, which determines the fundamental ethical principles that guarantee high-quality restoration of the piece of furniture. These principles include: 1. Finding the causes of the deterioration of the piece of furniture in order to avoid them if possible.
2. Considering each piece of furniture as a separate case. 3. Limiting treatment to what is considered strictly necessary. 4. Respecting cultural evidence and historical additions. 5. Trying to ensure the reversibility of the materials and treatment. 6. Leaving minimal signs of any intervention, but not falsifying. 7. Not falsifying or inventing. 8. Furniture may only be partly not wholly restored and restoration has to be easily identifiable. 9. After treatment ensuring a favourable situation for the piece of furniture with respect to humidity and temperature. In short, there are three basic principles of restoration, and any restoration should be kept to a minimum so that the piece of furniture remains as original as possible. Three principles:
The role of the restorer is not to modify the piece of furniture but to clarify and transmit it, and to limit the process of deterioration due to the ageing of the material in order to prevent its destruction. |