The Gifts — and Ravages — of Time: Conserving Antiquities at the British Museum Laboratory Available to Purchase

WHAT time leaves to us in the form of relics from the past it often disguises, defaces or destroys by the action of corrosion. The task of preserving and restoring these ancient objects is extremely demanding for, while one mistake could easily mean the loss of a priceless antiquity, the removal of a layer of corrosion product from some antiquity could possibly reveal a picture, pattern or inscription of great historic importance. Since its formation in 1920, the British Museum Laboratory has existed partly to carry out this work.