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Preservation
At the heart of the Morris Museum’s mission is the preservation of historically significant artifacts so that future generations have the opportunity to experience, study and learn from them.
The Guinness Collection
represents a complex mixture of human technical ingenuity and rich musical history, with all of its 750 pieces not only being fine decorative arts, but also designed and crafted to be played; it is the root purpose for which they were created. The collection is one of the largest of its kind in the world, with numerous objects still in crucial need of conservation treatment.
Below are three exceptional pieces from the Guinness Collection in need of urgent care. We invite you to become our partner in their preservation and protection by making a gift to move these special conservation projects forward.
All gifts are fully tax-deductible. We thank you deeply for your support.
If you have questions about these conservation projects, please contact Jere Ryder at 973-971-3724.
Current Projects
“Pianolin”, coin-operated piano (Nickelodeon)
Maker: North Tonawanda Musical Instruments Works, North Tonawanda, New York
Date: c.1906-15.
Object ID# 2003.18.112a-i
Treatment needed: Restored some five decades ago, this instrument would greatly benefit from a through revisit to the entire pneumatic systems.
Cost to conserve: $5000.
Note: Featuring an abbreviated piano with mandolin attachment as well as 44 wind pipes (violin and stopped flutes), this instrument’s forte was performing syncopated, infectious dance music of the day, Rags, one-steps and two-steps, of which, the collection includes a substantial roll library, in excellent condition.
Large Animated Tableau
Maker: “Hoffman Frères” (timepiece) and “Vincenti & Cie.” (animation motor), Paris, France
Date: c.1850
Object ID# 2003.18.728
Treatment needed: Complete frame restoration – remove gold spray overpaint, repair plaster molding, gesso, multiple types of applied (gold leaf) gilding. For the interior: Stabilize and clean oil-painted papier maché scenic structures, animated water scene w/masted ships, repair and remount timepiece into clock tower and cleaning of oil painting-on-tin behind scene. Plus, replacement of lacking protective glass w/reverse-painted & gilded edging, patterned after another original example in the collection.
Cost to conserve: $8,000.
Grand Format, Piano-Forté Cylinder Musical Box
Maker: Nicole Frères, Geneva, Switzerland
Date: c.1856
Object ID# 2003.18.762
Treatment needed: The five sides of the case exterior will require some veneer repair & re-laying of the elaborate marquetry work, done in brass, mother-of-pearl, tortoise shell, and tinted shellac’s, resembling the fired enamel work Geneva was so famous for. Followed by delicate removal of outermost degraded layer(s) of French polish finish, yet retaining of underlying engraved brass detailing, then refreshing of those final layers of French polish finish.
Cost to conserve: $2000.
Note: Mechanically & musically, this example is in excellent condition featuring a refined musical program with overtures by Rossini, Mozart, Bellini and Herold.
Chinese Pagoda Automaton
Maker: Unknown, Canton (?), China
Date: c1850-1880, late Qing period
Object ID# 2003.18.634
Treatment needed: The entire structure needs full disassembly, cleaning of all wooden and carved ivory surfaces, interior clockwork mechanism and applied foliage, replication of minor losses using bone or Derlin, then reassembly using sympathetic and reversable adhesive where required, so as to stabilize the entire structure.
Cost to conserve: $4000.
Note: Chinese-made automata from this period and earlier are rarely found in the West, making this one of two presently known to exist in Western museum collections (ref: National Museum of Denmark, ID# Bc219). Research into the history, manufacture, meaning, use of, and translation of markings on this example are presently underway.
Project Complete: Animated Tableau of Venice canal w/Ponte di Rialto
Makers: Attributed to A. Tharin w/timepiece signed “Henri Marc, Paris”, France
Date:c.1875
Object ID#: 2003.18.725
Dims: 32″h x 46.5″w x 11″d
Treatment needed: Complete frame restoration including plaster molding, gesso & multiple types of applied (gold leaf) gilding; repair & stabilization of oil-painted papier mache scenic structures, animated water scene w/masted ship, waltzing figures in gazebo, etc..; repair & remounting of timepiece into clock tower and cleaning of oil painting-on-paper behind; Replacement of lacking protective glass w/painted & gilded edging.
Cost to conserve: $15,000
Balance to raise: $15,000
Project Complete: “Pierrot Ecrivain”, automaton
Maker: Gustave Vichy, Paris, France
Date: c.1895
Object ID#: 2003.18.281a-c
Dims: 25″h x 21.5″w x 14″d
Treatment needed: Costume/textile cleaning, stabilization & repair; painted surface cleaning; internal clockwork mechanism cleaning, lubrication, linkage adjustment & re-application of original costuming after treatment(s).
Cost to conserve: $4,750
Balance to raise: $0
Our thanks go to Ted & Ida Matejus (Cranford, NJ.), Paul Lacorte (Cranford, NJ.), Elise Roenigk (Eureka Springs, AK), Ellen Hanauer (Livingston, NJ.) and the Guinness Conservation fund for their donations to conserve this automaton.
Project Complete: Large Interchangeable Cylinder Musical Box Full Band Complet
Maker: B. A. Bremond, Geneva, Switzerland
Date: c.1875
Object ID#: 2003.18.255a-e
Dims: 43.75″h (lid closed) x 52.25″w x 26.75″d
Treatment needed: Recreate lacking lower portion of 1 cabriole table leg stabilizing the entire cabinet; minor veneer & marquetry conservation, stabilization & surface cleaning of original french polish finish; Minor mechanical cleaning, adjustment & lubrication.
Cost to conserve: $4500
Balance to raise: $0 –
Our thanks go to the East Coast Chapter of the Musical Box
Society International for making a donation to conserve this musical box.
