Restorer / conservator
Jan Kosinka
fl. 1988–1991
Rome conservator who directed the 1989 reinstallation of the Orpheus mosaic in the House of Orpheus at Nea Paphos after it was lifted by rolling in 1988.
Biography
Jan Kosinka, a private conservator in Rome, directed the reinstallation of the Orpheus mosaic at Nea Paphos for the joint project of the Getty Conservation Institute and the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus1.
In August 1988 he went to the House of Orpheus with Paolo Mora, the conservators Giorgio Capriotti and Lorenza D'Alessandro, to inspect the pavement and plan its lifting with Demetrios Michaelides, the Archaeological Officer for Paphos, and Nicholas Stanley Price1. The first phase, from 5 September to 14 October 1988, lifted the mosaic by rolling it on a drum, and Kosinka wrote the chapter on detachment and rolling1. Between 1 and 6 May 1989 he cleaned the back of the mosaic and laid the new mortar bed; the mortar recipe and the consolidation with Paraloid B72 appear in his chapter on reinstallation1.
He then directed the second phase, from 28 May to 23 June 1989, in which the mosaic was reinstalled on site on Aerolam honeycomb panels1. Three chapters under his name appeared in the project's 1991 publication, edited by Stanley Price1. Nothing is recorded of his life before or after the Paphos project.
Life and work
- August 1988With Paolo Mora and conservators Giorgio Capriotti and Lorenza D'Alessandro, inspected the Orpheus mosaic and planned the lifting operation with Demetrios Michaelides (Archaeological Officer for Paphos) and N. Stanley Price.
Nea PaphosPrice 1991
- September–October 1988Phase 1 of the project (5 September-14 October 1988): lifting of the mosaic by the rolling technique, combined with training instruction. Kosinka is listed among the instructors/participants for 1988/1989 and wrote the chapter 'Detachment and Rolling of the Mosaic'; the trench along the west side was excavated under Michaelides' supervision.
Nea PaphosPrice 1991
- 1 May 1989 – 6 May 1989Carried out the final cleaning of the back of the mosaic and applied the new mortar bed.
Nea PaphosPrice 1991
- 28 May 1989 – 23 June 1989Directed Phase 2, the on-site reinstallation of the mosaic on its new support (Aerolam honeycomb panels), with the conservators who had taken part in Phase 1.
Nea PaphosPrice 1991
- 1991Three chapters appear under his name in Stanley Price (ed.), The Conservation of the Orpheus Mosaic at Paphos, Cyprus (GCI).
Connections
6 peopleScholarship
- Wrote with N. P. Stanley Price1991
Colleagues & contacts
- Worked with Demetrios Michaelides1988–1989
- Worked with Giorgio Capriotti1988
- Worked with J. Claire Dean1988–1989
- Worked with Lorenza D'Alessandro1988
- Worked with N. P. Stanley Price1988–1991
- Worked with Paolo Mora1988–1989
Sources
- 1.Nicholas Stanley Price (ed.) (1991). The Conservation of the Orpheus Mosaic at Paphos, Cyprus. Getty Conservation Institute.