Study On The Value Of The Ideal State Of Antique Furniture And Its Conservation

This paper starts from the current situation of the antique furniture conservation and restoration.It compares the conception of antique furniture conservation between China and foreign countries and tries to understand the meaning of the information the antique furniture contains.It puts forward the Ideal State theory of the anqitue furniture conservation based on value analysis and does some exploratory researches on the methods and crafts of antique furniture restoration with the guidance of the Ideal State theory,combining with the writer's furniture restoration practice.The research is important for the antique furniture field to keep a sustainable and healthy development.The value of the antique furniture is embodied by the material and non-material information contained in the antique furniture.The information to be gathered involvs both its material and non-material aspects.It not only includes the material aspects such as its material, structure, decoration, craft, technology history and material science, but also involves the non-material aspects like its using and preserving background, the related history, art, culture and education aspects. The essence of antique furniture conservation is to preserve its value. The antique furniture value bears four key characteristics:diversity, main effect of role, knowability and variability. The diversity of its value reflects in its Use value, Art value,Aesthetic value, History value, Research value, Education value, Emotion value and so on. Due to their different historical background and the information they preserved,different antique furniture own their main elements that reflect their value, and the main effect of value determines its comprehensive value. The value of antique furniture will change with the change of time, history, market and its owner, but it does not necessarily correspond to the inevitable changing way of furniture material state.The value of the antique furniture will alter regularly with the time passing, and different types of value have different change laws. In the process of furniture material decay cycle, the comprehensive value of the antique furniture rises high during some period and rises low during other period. The state that the antique furniture reflects the highest comprehensive value, which is called the Ideal State of value in this paper. Namely the Ideal State lies in the period the multiple values show in a balanced way, and the comprehensive value is the highest.Combining the antique furniture Value-Time and present value lists, we can effectively determine its ideal state, find the period when its comprehensive value is relatively higher, and its appearance and state. The Ideal State theory determines the detailed goal of antique furniture conservation.It highlights such principles like the main effect of value, Minimal intervention treatment, Reversible treatment, Selecting safe and effective materials and so on.After analyzing the damage causes of the antique furniture, we can choose an effective restoration method from the normal conservation technology and restoration crafts to preserve the antique furniture ideal value.With the guidance of the Ideal State theory of the antique furniture value, we have treated three restoration cases,the flower table, lotus lacquer bowl, and painted wardrobe. The results show that the decisions based on Ideal State theory can restore the antique furniture's ideal state and reflect the value and effects that they should have.The antique furniture Ideal State theory based on the value analysis proposes the idea that restoring the value should be put at the first place and restoring the ideal value is the goal. Meanwhile, this theory has practical significance.It supports the decisions on the antique furniture conservation and restoration.