Restoration of a 19th Century Parcel-gilt French Bronze and Marble Figurine by D. Simon

Before. See the restored figurine at the bottom of this page.

this french art nouveau figurine with parcel-gilt surface is damaged.

This 33 cm high figurine is an example of the challenges we confront in restoring objects made of mixed materials with unusual surfaces. She arrived at our studio bent over at her ankle, with gouges in her stomach, thigh, and back, abrasions on her legs, discoloration of her parcel-gilt surface, and her marble base fractured.

Straightening her ankle

the bent ankle of this beautiful european french parcel-gilt bronze art nouveau nude dancing girl

Since cast bronze is crystalline, when it is bent, the tiny crystals protrude in little lumps.

Our challenge was to move the dancer’s leg back into its original position without the crystals ripping apart at their margins, then gently push the crystals back into the surface.

Filling gouges in her form

We filled these with rods made of a copper alloy similar to the that of which the cast is made.

Filling a gouge in the art nouveau bronze nude's tummy with a bronze pin

filing the pin in the french nude's surface to make it disappear

Correcting her parcel-gilt surface

Blemishes in her gorgeous art nouveau bottom need to be removed and restored

A ‘parcel-gilt’ surface is composed of a thin layer of gold on sections of a metal casting, usually bronze or silver. This figurine is also polychrome – her tambourine is silver plate.

Across her back, packing material and humidity had created a pattern. We had to selectively adjust this, and blend it with the surrounding areas.

Here, the flesh on her delicately formed bottom has been carefully and lovingly cleaned, and the gouge in the small of her beautifully modeled tailbone has been filled

Here you see her in process.

Rebuilding her stone base

We created a fill color that would approximate that of the variegated stone, then filled and finished it to match the nearby surface.

The small classical polished stone plinth has been broken We used epoxy with powdered color to fill in and blend the gap from the missing stone chip

Her restoration complete

the before image of this art nouveau parcel-gilt small bronze french nude, again, next to the fully restored figure the french bronze parcel-gilt figurine with her delicate ankle straightened, and all the abrasions on her delicately sculpted surface blended and repatinated

Before After

The view of her from behind, showing her sumptuous, delicate bottom and back, her outstretched arms and hand with her silver tambourine, and stylishly golden hair, curls, and ringlets