The conservation of cultural heritage for sustainable development

Preventive conservation strategy for glass collections.

Identification of glass objects susceptible to crizzling
Jerzy KUNICKI-GOLDFINGER

Summary very high, the glass in these cases might show a

Protection of glass collections in museums includes very high durability (MÜLLER, 1995).
many different issues. The chemical instability of glass So-called ‘sick glass’ constitutes a slightly different
constitutes one of the most difficult problems. A scheme phenomenon (see for example: BRILL, 1975; NEW-
of preventive conservation strategy for collections is TON, 1989; OAKLEY, 1992; 18th ICG, 1998; 19th ICG,
presented, with special emphasis on the identification 2001). A reason for this is nothing other than the
of glass susceptible to crizzling. The strategy allows us chemical nature of such unstable glass. It is caused
to identify such glass before symptoms of irreversible by the application of incorrect production technology:
deterioration appear. As a consequence, it is possible over-purification of some raw materials and/or wrong
to undertake certain preventive conservatory activi- batch formulation. A deficiency of stabilisers and an
ties. The strategy has already been applied and is pre-
excess of alkali is believed to be the main cause of
sented hereunder regarding Central European 18th
this phenomenon. Such glass is simply susceptible to
century tableware. However, a further long-term col-
an attack by the moisture that exists in our surround-
laboration of many museums and scientific institutions
ings. Sodium and potassium ions leach from the glass
is required in order to conduct an interdisciplinary
to form alkali hydroxide solutions. These solutions
project and cover other technological groups of glass.
pick up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The re-
sulting carbonates either crystallise and cause delam-
inating and flaking, or appear as droplets or slippery
Introduction
film depending on the environmental conditions. The
In the discussion of protection of glass collections in
phenomenon is irreversible and eventually leads to
museums, many issues must be taken into considera-
the total decay of the glass. Curators and conserva-
tion. Maintaining proper indoor climate conditions is
tors are nearly helpless when facing this problem (see
one of the most important factors that might influence
for example: PAGE, 1998).
the preservation of glass objects. Relative humidity
(RH), temperature, lighting, air pollutants, biodegrada- Poor durability manifests itself in a number of ways: a
tion and many other factors should be considered. On loss of translucency (a cloudy appearance), colour al-
the other hand, generalisations about glass collec- teration, weeping (tearing, sweating), efflorescence
tions should not be made basing on single objects. (salt deposition), crizzling, flaking, and so on. Crizzling
Depending on the glass technology applied and the is one of the most distinctive symptoms of the decay
state of preservation of the glass, different storage of such unstable glass. The cycles of hydration and
conditions are often required. The same sometimes dehydration that occur during environmental fluctua-
also concerns the conservation and restoration proce-
dures.
During our surveys of glass collections, we have en-
countered many kinds of symptoms of glass deterio-
ration, leading us to take note of many different dete-
rioration processes that occur on glass surfaces. In
the case of vessel glass, one of the most frequently
occurring symptoms are fingerprints (Figure 1), which
are irremovable in many cases, and which result from
handling the object without gloves. Missing areas, as
well as fractures, often arise as a result of a mechan-
ical impact. The same concerns scratches, which fol-
low a mechanical abrasion of the surface. If they are
very fine, these scratches are often wrongly identified
as crizzling.
As for the chemical corrosion of vessel glass, in
Figure 1. ‘Fingerprint’, one of the deterioration symptoms
most cases we can find an external silica-rich pro- that follow the handling of vessels without gloves (National
tective film. If the pH of the contact medium is not Museum in Warsaw, photo by P. Ligier).

301
Workshop 4
tions lead to the formation of surface cracks. The sur-
face simply swells and shrinks by turns. There are sev-
eral forms distinguished in the literature. ‘Incipient
crizzling’ concerns the case when the outer glass sur-
face is hydrated and has become equilibrated with
the surrounding environment over a long time (BRILL,
1972). During the process of partial dehydration, very
fine cracks appear (Figure 2). When subjected to dry
conditions, such glass may develop heavy crizzling
within a very short time. The expression ‘crizzling’ is
used when the network of cracks is well visible with a
naked eye (Figure 3). The cracks may grow and pene-
trate the whole body of glass. Such decay leads
sometimes to the delaminating and flaking of small
pieces of glass (Figure 4). The flakes often fall away,
leaving holes.
The nature of this phenomenon is quite different
from the well-known in-depth corrosion, like pitting,
which frequently occurs on burial (archaeological)
Figure 2. ‘Incipient crizzling’, very fine cracks through the hy-
drated outer glass layer, frequently visible only under magni-
fication (National Museum in Warsaw, photo by P. Ligier).
Figure 3. ‘Crizzling’, a network of cracks that appears dur-
ing the dehydration process (National Museum in Warsaw,
photo by P. Ligier).
302
Figure 4. Crizzling might be associated with delamination,
salt depositions, flaking and holes followed by the loss of the
flakes (National Museum in Warsaw, photo by P. Ligier).
glass and window glass (NEWTON, 1989). The dete-
rioration process of unstable glass affects almost the
entire glass surface, since it is mainly influenced by
the nature of glass, not by the aggressive external
agents. The progress of the phenomenon discussed
depends neither on the origin, nor on the age of the
glass. It may affect both clear and coloured glass,
translucent and opaque glass, as well as glazed and
enamelled surfaces. But what is really note-worthy is
that most of the affected glass objects are very rare
specimens.
The only remedy is to keep such objects in a sta-
bilised and controlled environment. The main factor to
be considered is the stability of relative humidity (RH)
and temperature. The safe RH range depends on the
chemical type of glass (such as sodium glass, potas-
sium glass, etc.), as well as on the stage of glass de-
terioration (first of all: on the stage of glass hydration).
But due to the different deliquescence points of sodi-
um and potassium carbonates and hydroxides, it is
very difficult to determine the RH at which the ‘sick’
glass would really be stable (ERHARD, 1994).
We can really only slow down the process nowadays.
Very seldom can we stop it. Therefore, it would be
highly beneficial to identify unstable glass objects be-
fore the decay symptoms occur.
Identification of glass susceptible to
crizzling – 18th century Central European
example
After long-term studies consisting of conservation sur-
veys and physicochemical examinations carried out in
glass collections, it might be stated that in certain cas-
es it is possible to distinguish a set of objects poten-
tially susceptible to crizzling. It includes, for example,
 The conservation of cultural heritage for sustainable development
18th century Central European colourless vessels (KU-
NICKI-GOLDFINGER, 2002, 2003a, and 2003b). Over
1,000 objects from many Polish museums, originating
from German lands, Silesia, Bohemia, the Polish-
Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia, have been
subjected to conservation surveys as well as chemi-
cal analysis. The energy dispersive x-ray fluores-
cence analysis (EDXRF) has been applied for the lat-
ter (KUNICKI-GOLDFINGER, 2000).
Three main technological groups have been distin-
guished: crystal, white (chalk) and ordinary glass. All
of them belong to the Si-Ca-K type. Both written doc-
umentary sources and the results of chemical analy-
sis confirm the classification. Only among the groups
of crystal glass and white glass a distinctive subgroup
of glass, melted with lead as one of the raw materials,
was discovered. A surprising observation was that all
of the crizzled glass was melted, without any excep-
tion, according to the leaded crystal formulation (Fig-
ure 5). It might therefore be assumed that all glass
melted according to that formulation might be sus-
ceptible to crizzling when subjected to inappropriate
environmental conditions. Obviously, when consider-
ing other technological types of glass from other peri-
ods and/or areas, further studies are still required.
The results obtained for the 18th century Central Eu-
ropean glass objects allow us to suggest a preven-
tive conservation strategy for glass collections that
would be aimed mainly at the identification of glass
susceptible to crizzling.
Preventive conservation strategy
for glass collections
The suggested strategy consists in comprehensive
studies of glass collections encompassing the state of
preservation of the objects, as well as chemical, tech-
Three main technological groups of colourless glass melted
in the 18th century in central Europe
Crystal White Ordinary
Glass melted with lead as one of the raw materials
Crizzled glass
Figure 5. Among the 18th century Central European table-
ware, all the crizzled items had been melted according to
the leaded crystal formulation.
nological, stylistical and historical analysis. It seems
that such an interdisciplinary approach to the surveys
of historical glass is the only way to find new and bet-
ter solutions for the protection thereof.
Conservation surveys and treatments
The glass objects with obvious symptoms of decay
should be treated separately, depending on their tech-
nology and on the state of their preservation. One
should not treat all ‘sick’ glass equally. There is a ten-
dency to forget that a relative humidity that is accept-
able for one object may be disastrous for another.
Technological recognition
Technological knowledge might be the key to fore-
casting the durability of historical glass. But such in-
terpretation should be supported by both the results of
chemical analysis and written documentary sources. It
requires multidisciplinary projects and the application
of both the screening examination and quantitative
analysis of selected objects. It allows us to estimate
the potential threat of the deterioration progress in ref-
erence to single items without any need of the pre-
cise, complex analysis of samples taken from them.
Separation of glass objects susceptible
to crizzling
It is necessary to separate from a general glass col-
lection selected glass objects that might appear
sound, but are potentially unstable. Only technologi-
cal recognition might allow us to differentiate such
glass objects. They should be treated with special at-
tention, with respect to the surrounding environment
as well as conservation surveys and treatments.
Conclusions
The strategy presented above might allow us to slow
down the progress of the phenomenon and some-
times to preserve glass objects without any visible
symptoms of decay for a long time. It might allow the
undertaking of certain protective activities, such as
providing the glass objects susceptible to crizzling
with safe climate conditions and ensuring their special
care by conservators before the visible symptoms of
deterioration appear.
However, the further long-term collaboration of many
museums and scientific institutions is still required in
order to conduct the interdisciplinary project which
would cover other technological groups of glass than
those examined already.
303
Workshop 4
Acknowledgements
My special acknowledgements are due to the Boards
of the following museums: the National Museums in
Cracow, Poznań, Warsaw and Wrocław, the Royal
Castle and Historical Museum in Warsaw, the District
Museum in Tarnów, the Museum Palace in Wilanów
(all of which are located in Poland). The project was
partially supported by a grant from the Polish Ministry
of Culture during the second half of the year 2000.
References
BRILL R.H., ‘Incipient crizzling in some early glass’, Bulletin
of the American Group – IIC, 12, 2, 46–47, 1972.
BRILL R.H., ‘Crizzling – a problem in glass conservation’, in
Conservation in Archaeology and the Applied Arts (Con-
gress of the International Institute for Conservation, Stock-
holm, 2–6 June 1975), ed. N.S. BROMMELLE and P. SMITH,
IIC, London, 121-134, 1975.
ERHARDT D. and MECKLENBURG M., ‘Relative humidity
re-examined’, in Preventive Conservation. Practice, Theory
and Research. Preprints of the Contributions to the Ottawa
Congress of the International Institute for Conservation, Ot-
tawa, 12-16 September 1994, ed. A. ROY and P. SMITH,
IIC, London, 32–38, 1994.
KUNICKI-GOLDFINGER J., KIERZEK J., KASPRZAK A. and
MAŁOŻEWSKA-BUĆKO B., ‘A study of eighteenth century
glass vessels from Central Europe by x-ray fluorescence
analysis’, X-Ray Spectrometry, 29, 310–316, 2000.
KUNICKI-GOLDFINGER J., KIERZEK J., MAŁOŻEWSKA-
BUĆKO B. and KASPRZAK A., ‘Some observations on criz-
zled glass (preliminary results of a survey of 18th century
Central European tableware)’, Glass Technology, U3C,
364–368, 2002.
KUNICKI-GOLDFINGER J., KIERZEK J., KASPRZAK A. and
MAŁOŻEWSKA-BUĆKO B., ‘Analyses of 18th century Cen-
tral European colourless glass vessels’, in Annales du 15e
Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du
Verre (New York – Corning 2001), AIHV, Nottingham,
224–229, 2003a.
KUNICKI-GOLDFINGER J., KIERZEK J., KASPRZAK A.,
MAŁOŻEWSKA-BUĆKO B. and DZIERŻANOWSKI P., ‘A
provenance study of Baroque glass’, in Cultural Heritage
304
Research: a Pan-European Challenge (5th EC Conference,
Cracow, 16–18 May 2002). Conference Report (2003b, this
volume).
MÜLLER W., TORGE M. and ADAM K., ‘Primary stabiliza-
tion factor of the corrosion of historical glass: the gel lay-
er’, Glastechnische Berichte – Glass Science and Technolo-
gy, 68, 9, 285–292, 1995.
NEWTON R. and DAVISON S., Conservation of Glass, But-
terworths, London, 1989.
OAKLEY V., ‘The deterioration of vessel glass’, in Glass and
Enamel Conservation, UKIC Occasional Papers No. 11, UKIC,
London, 18–22, 1992.
PAGE J.A., ‘Crizzling: a curatorial point of view’, in Proceed-
ings of the 18th International Congress on Glass, San Fran-
cisco 1998, The American Ceramic Society, Westerville,
1998 [CD-ROM].
18th ICG, – ‘Crizzling and Related Problems in Glass’ I and II,
sessions’ papers, in Proceedings of the 18th Internation-
al Congress on Glass, San Francisco 1998, The American
Ceramic Society, Westerville, 1998 [CD-ROM].
19th ICG, – ‘Crizzling’, session papers, in Proceedings of
the 19th International Congress on Glass, Edinborough, 2001
[CD-ROM].
Jerzy Kunicki-Goldfinger
Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology
ul. Dorodna 16, 03-195 Warszawa, Poland
e-mail: jkunicki@ichtj.waw.pl
Graduated in conservation of art from Nicholas Coper-
nicus University in Toruń, Poland, taught conservation
and received his doctorate in conservation at the
same university in 1998. Since 1984, an art conserva-
tor in private practice (architectural details, stone
sculpture, ceramics, glass and related materials). In
1999 he joined the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and
Technology in Warsaw where he has been head of re-
search on historic glass. Main current research inter-
est is non-destructive examinations, glass corrosion
processes, dating and provenance studies of glass,
protection of glass collections.