Left: Conservator Hisashi Higuchi consolidates the painted ceiling of a Japanese palanquin. Right: Exhibits Conservator Jenifer Bosworth installs a saddle from the Kremlin Armory for the Sackler exhibition The Tsars and the East.

Conservation

The collections of the Freer and Sackler Galleries include artworks from the Near East and Southeast Asia, as well as the Far East and the United States. The conservators in the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research care for and treat works of art in the collection and prepare them for exhibition. Conservation at the Freer and Sackler is broken into four sections: Asian Paintings, Objects, Paper, and Exhibitions. Together they work to ensure the long-term preservation and storage, safe handling, exhibition, and transport of artworks in the permanent collection, as well as those on loan. Conservators are responsible for conducting technical examinations of objects already in the collection and those under consideration for acquisition. They also collaborate frequently with the department’s scientists on technical and applied research. Training and professional outreach efforts are an integral part of the department’s commitment to educating future conservators, museum professionals, and the public about conservation.