Conserving Mural Paintings as Intermediate

Layers between Immovable and Movable

Heritage: Case Studies from Central and
East Asia

Yoko Taniguchi

Fig. 1: Wall paintings 1. Introduction

cut and detached Mural paintings possess a special nature in that each acts as a
from a cave, along the “skin” to architectural surfaces. The architectural fabrics with
Thousand Buddha which they coexist shape their very context and character, thus
figures during the endowing them with significant historical and material value.
internal conflict, What if context and character are lost when wall paintings are
Bamiyan, Afghanistan removed from their original fabric and/or settings? How should
we define authenticity in cultural heritage? Does the removal of
such art mean that it can rightly be considered “movable” or, is
it instead a part of our immovable heritage?

2. Authenticity: Separable from “physical history”?

Above all else, wall paintings are distinguished (among
artworks/among artifacts) by their exposure to indoor (or
outdoor) ambient environments as well as their contact with
architectural fabrics such as stone, wood and natural rock.
Successful conservation work requires that one consider factors
such as moisture movement, soluble salts, porosity, adherence
and fluctuations of environment, as well as the mural’s own
fragility, paint stratigraphy and condition, among other things.
Needless to say, as a whole it is quite complicated.

For these reasons, conserving murals in-situ always poses a

great challenge, although it remains fundamentally and ethically
important [Cather 2007]. For the integrity of in situ conservation,
Source: NRICPT, wall paintings should be considered immovable heritage rather
Japan than independent objects.
 However, over the past hundreds of years countless earthen-
rendered a secco paintings from Central Asia-mainly from along
the Silk Road-were cut and removed from their original sites by
early 20th century expeditions hailing from countries then
deemed to be "the Great Powers", including those led by Kozui
Otani (Japan), Aurel Stain (UK), Albert Grünwedel, Albert von Le
Coq (Germany) and Sergei Ordenburg (Russia), among others.
Owing to the fact that original renders were generally made of
soft earthen plaster, the murals were relatively easy to cut. To
this day, a majority of these detached wall paintings remain in
museum exhibitions and storage facilities outside of the Central
Asian countries.

Internal conflicts and wars stand as a leading cause behind the

transference of murals into movable properties, resulting in their
separation from an original context (physical history).
Fig. 2: Murals from
Afrasiab (Samarkand,
Successful conservation under such conditions requires a
Uzbekistan): number of different approaches and methodologies (Fig.1).
Detached, transferred
and mounted at the
new museum building Some recent examples of cultural heritage displaced from its
original setting can be found in Sogdiana (Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan) (Fig.2), Bamiyan (Afghanistan), the Kizil grottoes,
the Mogao grottoes, the Bezeklik grottoes (China) and the
Ajanta caves (India). These sites are representative of those
problems (cut and relocated/displaced)

Fig. 3: Ancient sites with earthen rendered wall paintings in Central and
South Asia (2-7th century AD)

Within the story of Bamiyan, Afghanistan rests the consummate

example of challenges faced by conservators and inescapable
questions regarding the meaning of cultural value and
authenticity. In 2001, non-Buddhist extremists used large
amounts of explosives to vandalise Buddhas and other figures
at the site (NRICP 2004). Shortly thereafter, newly aware of the
threat to our preservation of cultural history, UNESCO inscribed
Bamiyan on its World Heritage List. In the time since, several
countries have undertaken conservation projects to assist in the
site’s rehabilitation.

Over the last decade of conflict in Afghanistan, more than 80%

of all wall paintings were lost to looting and vandalism. Buddhist
caves-once decorated with vividly-coloured paintings and
Buddhist stucco statues-are now nearly empty. In view of this,
can we not say that the site has lost what gave it life?

Another distinguishing aspect of the Bamiyan site is its remote

location. Seeing as it is located in a valley not easily reached by
tourists, and located in a region affected by security concerns,
very few visitors ever enter the site.

How do we estimate the cultural value of the whole of the

Bamiyan site following its destruction? All that remains are
fragments of the prolific wall paintings, as yet still attached to
their original fabrics. However, the value inherent to artwork
resting within its original setting (even if in a remote site),
coexisting with its time-bound context (even if in a destroyed
cave), and standing-albeit in pieces-as an actual historical
witness to the once-flourishing center of Buddhist culture now
lost is inestimable.

A new approach to handling detached pieces of art work has

only just recently been developed (Kijima et.al 2010). After the
retrieval of 42 stolen and illegally sold pieces from Bamiyan, it
was discovered that these pieces included their original earthen
renders beneath the paint layer. Typically, renders are removed
during the restoration process, but novel conservation
techniques, such as a newly designed mount system (Fig. 4),
have made it possible to keep the render layers together with
the paint. It is also possible to remove the pieces from the
mount when the need arises, and return it to its original context
(lacunae in Bamiyan’s wall paintings, in this case) once security
is established again in the near future.

Fig. 4: Newly designed mount system

Source: Tokyo University of the Arts

3. Authenticity: Separable from original materials?

The chemical and physical properties of paint materials in a

secco paintings tend to change over time, often resulting in
discolouration and other mutations (Fig.5). It has been
frequently observed that mural pieces in their current state no
longer retain much of their original tones or vivid colour. Until
recently, very little was known about the painting techniques
and materials used in Asian murals, yet it is crucial that these
elements are understood prior to interventions. Unfortunately,
past interventions often enacted decisions based on insufficient
study of original materials.

Natural degradation-such as fading-is a main cause of change.

Such change can often be predicted using detailed scientific
diagnoses and careful simulation experiments. However,
human-caused changes are far more difficult to predict, and
often irreversible.
Fig. 5: Digital simulation indicating possible original colouring in the earliest
murals of Mogao, Dunhuang

The most challenging changes caused by human interference

are those stemming from past restoration treatment (Fig. 6).
Myriad treatments such as consolidation, reinforcement and
temporary/permanent facings are observed—and most wall
paintings were more or less affected by these in the past. In
such cases, restoration commonly involved applying large
amounts of natural organic substances, like animal glue or
waxes, or synthetic products such as polymers.

Fig. 6: Causes of contamination by restoration intervention

Decades after being applied, these substances tend to become
insoluble in any solvent and thus interfere in scientific
diagnoses for studying original materials and techniques.

In Bamiyan, one site was almost miraculously free from past

interferences. Since the site was located in a remote area, and
most of the original paint scheme was lost, almost no
restoration work had been carried out on its wall paintings.

The fact that fragments at the site had remained almost wholly
untouched helped to keep original materials intact and preserve
the multi-layered structure of some of the wall paintings. In fact,
study of the paint layers led to an exciting discovery: the
presence of various organic substances, including drying oils. A
series of scientific analyses (BM/PLM on cross-sections, SEM-
EDS, synchrotron-based μFTIR and simultaneous μXRF/μXRD,
GC/MS, and ELISA) confirmed the stratigraphical structure of
the paintings and their constituent materials (Fig.7). Since many
of the samples contained very thin, multi-layered structures
composed of a variety of inorganic/organic substances, the
synchrotron-based microanalyses provided excellent results.
This technique made a layer-by-layer analysis of organic and
inorganic components possible (Cotte et.al 2008).

This is the first and oldest identified example of the use of

drying oils in mural paintings within Central Asia and, moreover,
within the world of painting at this stage (Taniguchi et.al 2008a,
2008b). In particular, the use of highly sophisticated painting
techniques, such as the inclusion of lead white in drying oils
and multi-layered painting structures that generate the optical
effect of different colours, hues and tones, are our very first
links in Central Asia connecting these Bamiyan paintings to
painting technologies spanning the range between East and
West.
Fig. 7: Chemical mappings using synchrotron-based μFTIR on a paint
sample from Foladi caves, Afghanistan

The in-situ fragments that led to this discovery had been

neglected, both due to a decline in value placed on the art and,
to a lesser degree, their location in a remote and dangerous site.
Nevertheless, this allowed the fragments to retain a well of
highly authentic material information, along with their own
unique environmental context and settings.

The technical information provided by discovery of the

untouched site has furthered expert understanding of suitable
cleaning and consolidation materials. Furthermore, it has
enabled nearly authentic reconstruction of images of colourful
Buddhist paintings that lost their original shades and hues long
ago.
References

Cather, S 2007, Issues in the conservation of mural paintings: past and

present, in K Yamauchi, Y Taniguchi and T Uno (eds), Mural Paintings of
the Silk Road: cultural exchanges between East and West, Proceedings
of the 29th annual international symposium on the conservation and
restoration of Cultural Property, National Research Institute for Cultural
Properties, Tokyo, January 2006, Archetype Publications, pp.173-180.

NRICP 2004, Protecting the World Heritage Site of Bamiyan: Key issues
for the establishment of a comprehensive management plan 2004, Japan

Cotte, M., Susini, J., Solé, V.A., Taniguchi, Y., Chillida, J., Checroun E.,
Walter, Ph. 2008. Applications of synchrotron-based micro-imaging
techniques to the chemical analysis of ancient paintings, Journal of
Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 23, 820-828.

Taniguchi, Y., Cotte, M. 2008a. Oil-based painting techniques in Bamiyan

Buddhist mural paintings, Ars Buddhica 298, 13-30.(in Japanese)

Taniguchi, Y., Otake, H., Cotte, M., Checroun, E. 2008b. The painting
techniques, materials and conservation of Bamiyan Buddhist mural
paintings in Afghanistan, 15th ICOM-CC Triennal meeting Preprints (New
Delhi 22-26 September 2008), 397-404.

Kijima, T., Sato, I., Kudo, H., Taniguchi, Y., Masuda, K., Nakau, E., Momii,
M., Miyata, J., Toriumi, H., Matsuura, M. 2010, Research and
Conservation for Displaced Cultural Properties from Afghanistan (I),
Bulletin of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, 47,
pp.113-136 (in Japanese).