Ancient Artifax | Restoration Services

Repair of small cracks, chips and minor losses can enhance your artifact at a minimal cost. Sometimes, just cleaning can help reveal hidden details. Repairs such as these add value and visual appeal.

Nazca Cylindrical Beaker — An exceptional Nazca beaker with trophy heads, tadpoles and hunter figures. Assembled from numerous pieces, small chips missing and with minor paint losses. The losses were replaced, breaks restored and paint lightly enhanced.

Indus Valley Bowl — A large pottery vessel from the Indus Valley with one glued shard and minor losses. It was also heavily encrusted with dirt. The bowl was gently cleaned, the break restored and losses were replaced. The paint was lightly touched up as needed.

Nayarit Seated Figure — Polychrome painted Nayarit figure with minor losses. The tips of both feet were missing and there was a chip on one shoulder. The small losses were replaced and the surface color and patina were matched.

Colima Figure — A fine Colima female figure. The figure was very dirty and assembled from original pieces. It was carefully cleaned revealing a nice burnished surface. The breaks were restored along with the missing portions of each foot.

PNG Sawos Bowl — Large Papua New Guinea Sawos pottery bowl. Broken and reassembled from original pieces. Minor losses were replaced and the cracks were restored. Paint was touched up as needed.

Nazca Bowl — Nazca trophy heads bowl. One broken shard was stabilized and restored along with minor paint touch ups.

Papua New Guinea Figure — Large seated PNG Eastern Sepik pottery healing figure. Breaks and losses were restored as needed. Old indigenous (tribal) losses were left unrestored.

Maya Figure — Classic period Maya female figure. Losses to the headdress and elbow were replaced.

Colima Figure — Very rare seated Colima flat figure. Breaks at the neck and one leg were restored along with an area missing from the torso. Other hairline cracks did not distract and were left unrestored.

Chorrera Vessel — Elegant Chorrera bottle from Ecuador. Small spout chips were restored and the piece was lightly cleaned. Also, close inspection revealed a (never before found) whistle at the base of the handle which was completely filled with dirt.

Cocle Vessel — Lovely Panamanian Cocle vessel. A small probe hole and a single rim chip were restored. The faded paint was enhanced as needed. A custom stand was created to display the vase.

Lambayeque Vessel — Blackware Sican-Lambayeque "Naymlap" vessel with poorly repaired handle breaks. The excess glue was removed and the breaks were properly restored.

Miniature Colima Vessel — Tiny Colima quattro-lobed vessel. Minimal restoration was comprised of the replacement of a missing rim chip along with the repair of a small ding and a hairline crack.

Iron Age Bowl — Early Iron Age cooking pot. Small rim chips and several minor breaks were restored. Surface texture and patina were matched to conceal the breaks.

Chupicuaro Figure — Unusually large Chupicuaro "pretty lady" with a chipped foot. The minor loss was replaced, the surface color was matched and patina added.

Maya Polychrome Plate — Large Peten Maya tripod plate with a central image depicting a stylized "Vision Serpent". Very heavily encrusted with deposits (sometimes referred to as "claieche" or "calcrete"). These deposits, a combination of lime, calcium and salt were carefully removed. Minor restoration to several rim breaks and light paint enhancements.

Miniature Tarascan Tripod — Very small, West Mexican Tarascan tripod vessel. The tops of the flanges and interior of the bowl was encrusted with deposits. The hummingbird design and other painted details were somewhat obscured. Cleaning and minor paint touch ups were all that was needed.

Costa Rican Tripod — A rare Nicoya "papagayo" polychrome tripod bowl with anthropomorphic rattle legs. It was quite dirty, one leg was broken and there was significant paint loss, mostly on the interior. The vessel was cleaned, the leg break was restored and the paint touched up as needed.

Tiwanaku Kero — Tiahuanacan kero from Bolivia with a small stress crack, chips at the base and deposits which were obscuring the rich colors and detailed painted design. The calcium deposits and dirt were disolved and cleaned off, the break and chips were restored and the paint touched up.

Moche Female Figure — This Moche figure had several clean breaks and minor losses. Very little restoration was needed to repair it, but it required a custom display stand. The feet were not level and the figure would not stand on its own. For display purposes, a wooden stand was created with a thin steel rod inserted through the vent hole in the bottom of the figure.

Nazca Polychrome Olla — Nazca striped olla with several cracks and minor chips. The cracks were restored along with other minor repairs. It was also lightly cleaned to remove some of the salt and mineral deposits.

Nazca Bowl — This Nazca bowl had been broken in half and had several chips missing. The crack and chips were restored. It also had heavy mineralization and was partially cleaned of some deposits to brighten the colors and add visual appeal.

Moche Phase IV Stirrup Vessel — Crack & chips restored. Also paint was lightly touched-up to enhance the fine-line details.

Nazca "Harvest Deity" Canteen — A small rim chip and two bad scrapes required minor restoration. Then, by referring to the opposite side, which had a similar figure, the surface was touched-up to enhance the painted design. The other side required only minor paint enhancement.