U.S. Capitol - The Lanterns

This is a photo before the conservation and restoration sculpture treatment. The US Capitol cast bronze Chinese Lanterns required removal, crating, and shipment to our facility, ART Research Enterprises Inc. in Lancaster Pa.

This photo shows the Chinese Lanterns before the conservation treatment. There are missing elements on the cast bronze lanterns, broken glass (Later in research we discovered that the cast bronze lanterns had German crystal on the side panels.).

ART technicians are preparing the cast bronze Chinese Lanterns for removal to be crated & shipped

Tagging all the missing elements & loose sections of the Chinese cast bronze lanterns.

This is a photo of one of the Chinese cast bronze lantern before conservation and restoration. Notice the missing German cut glass panels.

All of the old anchoring system was removed from the stone & a new stainless steel fabricated system was engineered, designed and installed to match the cast bronze lamp standard.

Conservation & restoration of the cast bronze Chinese Lanterns required making a mold from one of the original lanterns. This was due to the severe damage of one of the five Chinese cast bronze lanterns by heavy storm debris, which could not be salvaged.

The technician is applying silicon rubber over the entire cast bronze lantern for the first step in the mold making process.

The plaster casing, that which holds the silicon rubber in place, is being cleaned before going to the wax department.

The wax replica of the bronze lantern is being assembled & the fine intricate detail in the assembly is worked to match the original. The wax pattern will be used during the lost wax casting process.

The wax cap for the lantern must be precise in every detail & once cast in bronze will be hand fitted, tapped, and new hinges fabricated to match the original cast bronze lantern.

The technician is working on the section that will hold in place the crystal glass for the bronze lantern.

New wax hinges are being sprued in wax. Once in bronze each will be separately fitted for all the cast bronze lanterns. The hinge plate will be custom fabricated & fitted for each bronze lantern.

Work on the wax lantern is nearly complete. It then will be ready for spruing and casting in the lost wax process.

Here the technicians are attaching stainless steel pins to the new stainless anchoring system in the interior of the Chinese cast bronze lamps.

Performing the installation after the conservation and restoration of the Chinese cast bronze lanterns.

The ART installation crew is lowering the restored cast Chinese bronze lanterns and performing a dry run to make certain that all anchoring systems in stainless steel fit as a glove.

This is a view of the entire U S Capitol cast bronze Chinese lanterns turned on & in great working condition. All glass globes, crystal engraved design glass, and hand-blown glass bullets for the bronze lanterns were produced by highly trained US craftsmen.

The cast bronze Chinese lanterns after their conservation and restoration treatment with all electrical systems working as it did when it was originally installed years ago. The entire project took 5 years to complete and was a massive undertaking. It is satisfying to see the bronze lanterns working again.