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Gold Leaf Restoration?


Gary

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Hello Gary,

 

Gold leaf (Gold leaf - Wikipedia) was not traditionally applied to Japanese sword fittings. If it was it was likely a later addition by someone who was likely not a qualified artist. Without photos it might just speculation on my part but you might be referring to gold alloy inlays or overlays on Japanese sword fittings as "gold leaf" but I that is not accurate. For any type of repairs or restoration work you should contact a qualified Japanese sword fittings artist and provide detail photos. He or she will likely then ask for your to send him/her the piece or pieces to examine in hand. At which time they can provide a estimate as to the total cost of restoration. Here is link to a thread on NMB with contact information of a artist in the USA. If you want Japanese artist to do the restoration I would contact Paul Martin here via this website: The Japanese Sword - Home. I had good personal experiences with restorations with qualified artists in the USA and Japan. 

 

     

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The proper term for gold overlay material is gold foil, not leaf. Brian T is the only person I know of who may be able to do this kind of repair. However, if it’s just worn through to a silver backing, electroplating is a simple option.  Electroplating was pretty common on the 1800s on. Ford is very good at evaluating and repairing such work.

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Dear Gary.

 

Just to add to what has already been said, there are several ways of applying gold to tosogu and the answer to your question really depends on which one we are talking about.  There are also particular ways of using the techniques which sometimes intentionally give the impression of wear to add to the quality of the design.  Add to that the concept that wear can be an indicator of age and treasured as such.  In either of these two cases 'restoring' the gold would be disastrous.

 

Of course there are also tosogu which have just had a hard life and need/deserve expert restoration, if you have a specific example in mind then share some photographs and I am sure you will get the answers you need.

 

All the best.

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Brian- Mercury gilding is fire gilding and heating to around 1000F to drive off the mercury would destroy any patina. The patina could be re-done, depending on the base metal/alloy. There could also be roughening if the base metal/alloy that would require polishing.

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23 hours ago, Gary said:

Thanks everyone.  Very helpful.  Would restoration invalidate Hozen papers though?

 

Hello Gary,

 

I am not really sure, but it might depend on the degree or magnitude of the restoration work. Very noticeable changes to the Japanese sword fitting item might require a resubmission as the photo on the NBTHK Hozon paper will no longer match the item itself. I do know that items that have undergone restoration work do sometimes fail NBTHK Hozon shinsa so you should be very careful, conservative, and ensure only traditional techniques are used in any restoration work. 

     

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I think most aspects have been already well covered but I'd like to add..

 

A properly carried out restoration generally wouldn't be an issue when it came to shinsa, especially if the repair is invisible, which in my view it ought to be. A shonky job will, of course, be a red flag and may result in the work being rejected though.

 

Gold foil on iron is typically nunome-zogan and when lost or worn away its repair is complicated by the inevitable rust present and blending in with remaining gold foil when it comes to recutting the damaged area. It's possible but a very tricky job to do well. It is possible to effect a cosmetic touch up by means of electroplating but matching the gold colour is sometimes impossible.

 

As has been already mentioned kin-keshi, or murcury amalgam / fire gilding was one traditional method on non-ferrous metals and alloys but quite a lot of gold foil on non-ferrous, especially larger areas of polished gold (like on kozuka backs for example) appear to be a form of fusion application. Damage to these grounds is often in the form of a tear or where a little dent has wrinkled an area of incomplete fusion.  This technique is not like the modern Korean technique of Keum Boo nor does it appear to use any murcuric nitrate (sui-gin) as a flux but is more akin to direct fusion, with a rosin flux from what I've been able to deduce from texts and microscopic examination. This technique, hitherto not documented yet in evidence everywhere on tosugu, is certainly not practiced today. Repair to this sort of surface may be very tricky. On the odd occasion I've done it I actually matched the gold colour and then inlaid a patch to extend slightly beyond the damaged area and then carefully polished the slightly raised patch down until it melded with the original foil. It's a bit like eye surgery. :laughing:

 

 

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On 9/5/2021 at 4:37 PM, Ford Hallam said:

I think most aspects have been already well covered but I'd like to add..

 

A properly carried out restoration generally wouldn't be an issue when it came to shinsa, especially if the repair is invisible, which in my view it ought to be. A shonky job will, of course, be a red flag and may result in the work being rejected though.

 

Gold foil on iron is typically nunome-zogan and when lost or worn away its repair is complicated by the inevitable rust present and blending in with remaining gold foil when it comes to recutting the damaged area. It's possible but a very tricky job to do well. It is possible to effect a cosmetic touch up by means of electroplating but matching the gold colour is sometimes impossible.

 

As has been already mentioned kin-keshi, or murcury amalgam / fire gilding was one traditional method on non-ferrous metals and alloys but quite a lot of gold foil on non-ferrous, especially larger areas of polished gold (like on kozuka backs for example) appear to be a form of fusion application. Damage to these grounds is often in the form of a tear or where a little dent has wrinkled an area of incomplete fusion.  This technique is not like the modern Korean technique of Keum Boo nor does it appear to use any murcuric nitrate (sui-gin) as a flux but is more akin to direct fusion, with a rosin flux from what I've been able to deduce from texts and microscopic examination. This technique, hitherto not documented yet in evidence everywhere on tosugu, is certainly not practiced today. Repair to this sort of surface may be very tricky. On the odd occasion I've done it I actually matched the gold colour and then inlaid a patch to extend slightly beyond the damaged area and then carefully polished the slightly raised patch down until it melded with the original foil. It's a bit like eye surgery. :laughing:

 

 

 

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That’s what I thought- uttori  or fukuro-kise of gold foil. As Markus Sesko summarized, “Here, the element which should be decorated is covered with a thin hold or silver foil which is hammered into slots prepared in advance on the lateral ground”, “Sword fittings decorated via uttori are found from the Kamakura period onwards, and at last during the time of Yujo (1440-1513) the first generation of the Goto family- these techniques were standard among kinko metalworkers who decorated sword fittings.”

Ford’s your man for restoration but many seem to like the wabi-sabi look of well worn high quality fittings. Please keep us up to date if you press ahead with restoration.

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Dear Gary.

 

This is a case where I would absolutely not go down the route of restoration.  The wear and the colour of the shakudo below is an indicator of the age of the piece and I am pretty sure that any restoration would devalue the piece for ever.

This wear is the result of long and honourable service and has a value as such.  In many antiques the concept of patina plays a significant part, for example repolishing a piece of Chippendale furniture 'to make it more shiny' would be catastrophic, I think the same applies here.  A more recent piece that has suffered damage is a different proposition.

 

All the best.

 

 

 

 

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I would agree with Geraint and George with regard to leaving this piece as it is.

 

However I can't imagine the Goto work ever incorporated any sort of worn look originally. The entire ethos of the Goto school, as part of the Shogunate's strategy of claiming and emphasising legitimacy, was one of dignity and unchanging perfection. It was very much a Confucian philosophy that informed the ruling structures, one of rectitude and order. Any suggestion of wear or decay in terms of court wear might even be seen as subversive I imagine.

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