Alabaster Sconces

This sconce, one of a pair in the Art Deco style, had become damaged during shipping and we were asked to reconstruct the shade to enable it to be used for lighting. Each sconce has a half dome shade made from off-white alabaster veined with grey. Prior to conservation, one of the shades was cracked into two fragments of roughly equal size and there were some slight chips and small areas of loss along the crack.

Our conservators readhered the two broken pieces of the shade using a conservation adhesive, and filled small areas of loss along the edge of the crack. These fills were then color matched using acrylic paints. As lamp shades must withstand the heat and light from a bulb, materials and recommendations for use and care were carefully chosen to give the alabaster the required strength and aesthetic finish, but also enable the sconce to be lit.