Ms. Valentina MARABINI
Conservator
Chinese Paintings
The British Museum (London)
Fellowship Project
Ms. Valentina Marabini spent twelve months at the Shanghai Museum in China, where she received training on the conservation and preservation of Chinese paper and silk.
Biography
Ms. Valentina Marabini is a Conservator of Chinese Paintings at the British Museum in London, U.K. She joined the Hirayama Studio of The British Museum in 2003 and began assisting Master Qiu Jinxian in exercising her long-held traditional scroll mounting skills. Detailed works have been carried out using both traditional and modern materials and techniques, including digital processes. Prior to joining the British Museum, Ms. Marabini had worked at the Louvre Museum and the National Library of France in Paris. She pursued art studies in Florence.
Recent Development and Achievement
- Ms. Valentina Marabini has worked on a project on alternative productions of artificially-aged silk for conservation purposes. She has been involved in conservation works for various exhibitions and projects, including Treasures of the World’s Cultures and A History of the World in 100 Objects.
- In 2014, she assisted in the redisplay of Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladie, marking the end of a 5-year project that included investigation, consultation, conservation and re-housing of the hand scroll. In the same year, she was involved in the exhibition, Ming: 50 years that changed China, which featured loans from 10 Chinese institutions and 25 international lenders. She worked on the conservation of two of the paintings, for which an article appeared in the Arts of Asia journal.
- From 2014 to June 2015, she assisted in the conservation and remounting of two large-format Chinese silk paintings, with the support from the American Friends of Shanghai Museum.
- In 2017, she assisted in the conservation and remount of paintings for the rotating exhibition at the newly refurbished Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery of the Museum of China and South Asia (Room 33).
- Ms. Marabini has also conducted demonstrations and organized outreach activities on social media, offering an introduction to the world of scroll mounters for students, young conservators and museum visitors.
