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| Anonymous Russian artist Portrait of Czar Nicholas II 1913 enamel on silver Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| David Teniers Temptation of St Anthony ca. 1645 oil on copper Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
I long to know
How my deare mistresse fares; and be informed
What hand she now holds on the troubled blood
Of her incensed Lord: me thought the Spirit
(When he had utterd his perplext presage)
Threw his chang'd countenance headlong into clowdes;
His forehead bent, as it would hide his face,
He knockt his chin against his darkned breast
And struck a churlish silence through his powrs.
Terror of darknesse: O thou King of flames,
That with thy Musique-footed horse dost strike
The cleere light out of chrystall on darke earth
And hurlst instructive fire about the world:
Wake, wake the drowsie and enchanted night
That sleepes with dead eyes in this heavy riddle:
Or thou great Prince of shades where never sunne
Stickes his far-darted beames: whose eyes are made
To shine in darkness and see ever best
Where men are blindest: open now the heart
Of thy abashed oracle: that for feare
Of some ill it includes, would faine lie hid.
And rise thou with it in thy greater light.
– George Chapman, from The Tragedy of Bussy D'Ambois (1613)
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| Byzantine Empire Disc-Brooch (The Townely Brooch) ca. 975-1025 enameled-gold, pearls British Museum |
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| Alessandro Turchi Lamentation with Mary Magdalene and Angels before 1649 oil on copper Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Tobias Baur Cup ca. 1695-1700 enamel on copper Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Hendrik van Balen and Jan Brueghel the Elder Judgment of Midas ca. 1605-1608 oil on copper Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Eugène Fontenay and Eugène Richet Necklace with Enamels of Nymphs ca. 1870 gold, enamel, diamonds British Museum |
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| Hendrik van der Borcht the Elder Still-life with collection of curiosities 17th century oil on copper Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Anonymous English Jeweler Locket with Mirror ca. 1610-20 enameled-gold, diamond, pearl British Museum |
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| Joachim Wtewael Lots and his Daughters ca. 1603-1608 oil on copper Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Anonymous European Jeweler Brooch ca. 1600 enameled gold, pearls Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Giovanni Francesco Romanelli Madonna & Child under an Apple Tree 1644 oil on copper Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
The viewer can ponder the condition of the painting above. Conspicuous areas of paint loss reveal the light-colored ground layer that was applied to the copper surface as preparation. Such a spectacle defies a convention observed religiously for at least the past century by art museums in the 'developed West' – that such obvious damage must be repaired and to some extent concealed or smoothed before public viewing. Ironically, the trend in advanced conservation circles at some of the wealthiest mainstream museums is to conceal less than formerly, to pursue physical stability for the work but perhaps no longer to pursue visual integrity against aging and loss.
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| Anonymous English Jeweler Great George of the Order of the Garter Pendant (front) 1628-29 enameled-gold, diamonds British Museum |
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| Anonymous English Jeweler Great George of the Order of the Garter pendant (back) 1628-29 enameled-gold, diamonds British Museum |
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| Anonymous English Jeweler Great George of the Order of the Garter 1628-29 enameled-gold, diamonds British Museum |