• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2015

Seated Amitabha Triad at Muwisa Temple (Treasure No. 1312) had been known as wooden Buddha statue, but a precise safety inspection revealed that the statue is terracotta Buddha statue made with clay. The clay layer of Amitabha Triad was conserved due to its severe damage. In this study, experiments were conducted to produce the most appropriate filler for the conservation treatment of the seated Amitabha Triad. Mixed clay samples with various ratios were produced and surface hardening state, crack, color change, and shrinkage of the samples during dry process were measured. Loess, fine sand powder, and cotton were used to produce the mixed clay for the filler with six different ratios and then 12 different concentration glues made with glutinous rice glue, Pachymeniopsis Elliptica glue, and animal glue were added as adhesives. Total 72 types of samples were prepared and comparative study was conducted. As a result, when the mixed clay contains 2.5% cotton compared to the weight per cent of loess and fine sand powder and also loess and fine sand in the mixed clay have a 15:1 ratio, the mixed clay had the lowest shrinkage. Animal glue is considered as an appropriate glue since it had small color change, low physical property change and shringkage. Therefore, mixed clay (loess:fine sand=15:1) mixed with 15ml animal glue is likely to be a suitable filler for conservation treatment of the seated amitabha triad at the Muwisa Temple.