Badly Damaged French Jumeau Doll Head This rare and costly French Jumeau doll head was damaged and poorly repaired many years ago.
Photo illustrates the condition of the head after we removed heavy layers of overpaint. Since the person who did this work did not align the pieces accurately as they were assembled, he/she resorted to sanding the unprotected edges in an attempt to compensate for poor alignment. Sanding is never acceptable, as damage to the original artwork always results - damage that can never be corrected. Note eyebrow! Also, there are areas where pieces were lost and voids were filled in with a repair material that discolored over time.

French Jumeau Doll Head Cleaned and Ready to Assemble


On your right, the Jumeau head has been dismantled. This phase is extremely time-consuming, as it is necessary to remove every trace of old adhesive and paint; otherwise the pieces cannot be accurately assembled and edges will not line up.

Accuracy is of paramount importance; excessive coatings would be needed to cover up poor workmanship at this stage.
French Jumeau Doll Head Invisibly Restored Here is the finished restoration.

Pieces were assembled with clear, non-yellowing adhesive, missing pieces were replaced with durable resins. Then, matching colors were airbrushed and hand-brushed as required to render the work essentially invisible. Coatings and colors are all especially designed for art conservation applications and resist fading, yellowing and peeling.

All of this was accomplished without any damage or alteration to the original.

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