Broken, Restored, Displayed: The Della Robbia Birkenhead Ceramic

Despite being some of the most instantly breakable objects, ceramics can also be very stable and can survive thousands of years. The NMI collection has ceramics that range in date from the Early Bronze Age (2500 – 1900 BC) through to the Roman period (58 BC – 330 AD), as well as ceramic art by contemporary living artists. While the majority of these ceramics are in excellent condition and are in their original complete form, some have been broken along the way, mainly due to accidental damage during collection moves.

One of these such objects is a large circular wall panel by Della Robbia Birkenhead. In 13 broken fragments and covered in dust, it is likely that these fragments had been in storage and unnoticed for many decades. The fragments were brought to the attention of Curator of Glass, Ceramics and Asian Collections Siobhán Doyle by colleagues in the Antiquities Division in Kildare St. Having examined the images of the fragments, Siobhán ascertained the possibility that the rest of the fragments belonging to the whole piece were in storage in the NMI’s Collections Resource Centre in Swords.

Arrangements were made for all of the fragments to be carefully packed and transported to Collins Barracks where they could be examined to confirm if they were part of the same ceramic.

While lining up both sets of fragments, it was clear that they belonged to the same original piece. A maker’s mark on the front determined that this wall panel was made by Harold Rathbone, who founded the Della Robbia Birkenhead Pottery near Liverpool. Ceramics made and signed by Harold himself are somewhat rare as he usually delegated to other makers in the pottery.

There is also a mark alongside the maker’s mark that confirms the year of production – 1898. The NMI acquired the piece the following year in 1899.

The original register entry reads: ‘Plaster cast.  Bas-relief.  The Madonna and Child with angels.  The original in the Museo di Sta Maria del Fiore, Florence is the work of Agastino d'Antonio di Duccio (b.1416).  Italian 15th century (1st half)’.
After conducting research on Della Robbia ceramics in other collections, Siobhán discovered that a comparable wall panel is in the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead. This was a valuable visual reference for how the complete piece should look.  

The next step was to commence conservation of the piece, which was carried out by Lorna Barnes on site in Collins Barracks. All pieces were surface cleaned with water and non-ionic detergent. They were carefully adhered, strengthened and filled using specialist conservation grade materials. Then the pieces were retouched with artist’s pigments and ceramic glaze. The conservation process took approximately 8 weeks to complete.

A bespoke mount for the ceramic was commissioned and a display space was identified as its permanent home. The restored ceramic is now on display in What’s in Store? in Collins Barracks for the public to enjoy and examine. The process was filmed by Bo Media for the three-part Ireland’s Hidden Treasures documentary, which is broadcast by RTÉ.
The entire process shows how one object requires input from many different departments in the museum. Firstly, Curatorial, Registration, Conservation and Finance Departments are needed to support the movement, restoration and display of the object. Later, the Design, Marketing and Education Departments are involved to ensure that the story of the object is accessible to the public. Like the ceramic itself, it is the many pieces in the museum that create the whole.

Thank you to Lorna Barnes (Conservation), Joanne Gaffrey, Maeve Sikora (Antiquities Division), Emer Ní Cheallaigh, Sylviane Vaucharet (Registration) and Eric Barrett (Mount Maker).