Anne-

We put very fragile pottery and similar materials in freestanding cases on
a frequent basis here at the Metropolitan. Needless to say, with 5+ million
people going throught the museum yearly worries about stability and safety
are a real issue for us. While we evaluate each case/object/placement
individually as shows are designed and installed, some of the tricks we use
regularly include:

- Occasionally we use a somewhat larger case than would be aesthetically
ideal. An object might look perfect in an 18" square case, but for safety's
sake we will bump it up to a 22" or 24" square case. Not visually ideal,
but not so egregious that it is worth risking the object. As they say on
TV, "Wider is Better"

- HUGE amounts of weight in the base of the case, as low to floor as
possible. It is not unusual for us to have several hundred pounds of weight
in a  single case. We typically use elevator weights, which are cheap and
heavy. Remember to check with your operations person about the floor's
load-carrying capacity. You don't want to stuff a 18" case with 600 lbs of
weight and then set it on a floor with a load capacity of 200 lbs/sf. Sure,
the case won't tip over... mostly because it'll be too busy plummeting
through the floor to the basement.

- One of the best tricks is to secure the base to the floor in some way. On
wood or stone floors we run strips of masking tape on the floor where the
base will rest, then shmear the strips liberally with Elmer's glue. While
this doesn't sound like much (tape glued to floor, case glued to tape),
you'd be amazed how strong that can be once you add the weights. Using the
tape lets you pull up the case and glue, even after a year, with no damage
to the floor.   (in carpeted galleries, we run strips of hook velcro around
the base to accomplish the same thing)

- we do occasionally use small amounts of weight in the object itself, if
it will be invisible to visitors, but this doesn't do much usually except
slightly lower the center of gravity. More often on "tippy" ceramics we
will carve some kind of "cradle" from ethafoam to hide beneath it, or
fabric-wrap it if it will be visible to visitors. I've also been made aware
of a Japanese product, originally developed for auto crash absorption, that
is being used to secure objects to decks there. The stuff is amazing-
wax-like but crystal clear, silicon based, slightly tacky, and (supposedly)
tested 100% safe for ceramics- no residue, no oils transferring, etc. It
was shown to me by the Director of the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka.
Notably, his was the only museum in Osaka with no objects damaged in the
big Osaka earthquake. I'll try and see if I can get more info, or maybe
someone else on-list knows what it is or where it is from.

In the end, if all of the above in combination aren't enough, we either
place the case nearer a wall and secure it with a painted steel bar to the
wall or we put the object elsewhere. Hope that helps- sorry this post is so
long!

Dennis


Dennis Kois
Design Department
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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