Welcome to Saturday University, a monthly lecture series featuring experts from around the world. Gain new insights on Asia throughout time as our visiting scholars, authors, artists, and thought leaders delve into new themes each season.
The Temple Room and Beyond: Conservation, Collaboration and Presentation of Japanese Buddhist Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Abigail Hykin
The Japanese Temple Room, in which seven Buddhist sculptures from the Heian period (9th to 12th centuries) are displayed, has long been one of the most beloved spaces at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. During recent renovations of the Museum's Asian galleries, conservators studied and treated the sculptures in full view of the public as part of a multiple-year exhibition entitled Conservation in Action: Japanese Buddhist Sculpture in a New Light.
This visually compelling presentation will give an overview of this major conservation project from its inception through completion. Each of the sculptures provided new opportunities for discovery and for sharing new information with visitors. Standard conservation imaging techniques such as UV visible fluorescence, infrared reflectography, and x-radiography were highly useful, providing new information about the sculptures’ original construction and the changes they had undergone over many centuries. The use of more advanced techniques, such as CT scanning, and the use of 3D imaging and color reconstructions will also be explored. The project led to many valuable partnerships with scientists and universities in the US and Japan, wood anatomists, and local surgeons who assisted with endoscopic examinations.
This is an opportunity to explore new ways of looking at sculpture and to discuss various philosophies for conservation treatment.
Abigail Hykin is the Robert P. and Carol T. Henderson Head of Objects Conservation at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her treatments, technical research, and publications have focused on Asian and European sculpture, the history of conservation, and conservation outreach. Abby holds an MA and CAS in Art Conservation from the State University College at Buffalo. She completed internships or fellowships at the Asian Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museum’s Straus Center for Conservation, and the MFA Boston. She was assistant conservator of European Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the J. Paul Getty Museum before returning to the MFA in 2000 as the lead objects conservator for the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts (the MFA’s sister museum in Japan) preparing a wide range of exhibitions from across the MFA’s collection to be shown in Japan.