Conservation issues regarding ecclesiastical silver artefacts still in use

Abstract

The study discusses several conservation issues related to silver artefacts that are still in use in Maltese churches. The artefacts that are discussed are products of local craftsmanship, which are tied to religion and tradition. Unlike museum artefacts, another aspect of conservation is here discussed, seeing their functionality in relation to their preservation. Methods of cleaning carried out by laymen in the churches were studied by a survey. Apart from this, important information about usage, handling, cleaning and storage of the artefacts, essential for this study was retrieved from this survey. The latter was contrasted with tests using the same commercial products mentioned in the survey so as to identify the effects of these materials when cleaning silver. From the cleaning tests, it was observed that most of the commercial products used for cleaning were abrasives and scratched the silver surface. To support these studies, some silver objects from a local church were used as case studies. Conservation problems due to the nature of their use were identified and discussed in relation to the scope of the thesis. Samples were taken from these artefacts and were examined using Scanning Electron Microscopy. Working techniques were observed and alloys were identified from the samples. The metal contained high percentages of silver, small amounts of copper and in some cases traces of lead and zinc. The results suggest methods and materials to be used for cleaning ecclesiastical silver artefacts as well as gives advice on the storage and handling of such objects.