Investigating five totalizing counters manufactured by the Alphonse Darras company of the CNAM collections in Paris

Julie Schröter; Cyrille Foasso; Ludovic Bellot-Gurlet; Laura Brambilla

doi:10.14568/cp29230

Authors

Julie Schröter Haute Ecole Arc Conservation Restauration, HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Espace de l’Europe 11, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Cyrille Foasso Curator, Musée des Arts et Métiers (CNAM), 60 rue Réaumur, 75003 Paris, France https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1567-1379
Ludovic Bellot-Gurlet Sorbonne Université, CNRS, De la Molécule aux Nano-objets: Réactivité, Interactions et Spectroscopies (MONARIS), UMR 8233, 4 place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7995-6261
Laura Brambilla Haute Ecole Arc Conservation Restauration, HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Espace de l’Europe 11, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7197-6524

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14568/cp29230

Keywords:

Transparent lacquers, Copper alloys, 19th-20th century, Non-invasive methods, UV fluorescence, FTIR

Abstract

The paper reports the study of five totalizing counters preserved in the collections of the CNAM (museum of the French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts) in Paris. These artefacts are part of a corpus of over forty counters attributed to the Darras company founded by engineer Alphonse Darras (1860-1936). In the framework of the LacCA project at Haute Ecole Arc, Neuchâtel (Switzerland), dedicated to the characterization of lacquered copper-alloys, our attention was drawn to the different aspects of the object’s coatings. Lacquers were frequently applied to technical objects to both protect them from corrosion and provide an esthetical appearance. Five totalizing counters showing various typologies and surface colours were chosen from the set and explored by a non-invasive multi analytical approach. The comparative study – investigating lacquering processes and materials - contributes to the historical study of these artefacts.

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