Lim Tze Peng (林子平) is a well known Singaporean artist who was awarded a cultural medallion in 2023 in recognition of his contribution to Singapores art and culture. He is particularly well known for his Chinese Ink on paper depicting various Singapore scenes such as Singapore River, Boat Quay, Hock Lim Street, Merchant Road, and many others. A talented artist and teacher, his works are widely collected by private collectors, museums, and corporations.
We recently had the honour to support the restoration of one of his classic Chinese Ink on Paper works depicting a typical river scene. As can be viewed in the before restoration images below there was significant build up of large brown mould spots. This is a good example unfortunately of what can happen when a work is not properly framed. When mounting a Chinese Ink on Paper, water is effectively used to help stretch the artwork onto a backing. This water should be purified/distilled water.
Its highly likely that the framer who originally mounted this particular work used tap water or similar which in the long run has caused the brown spots to form.
We were able to fully remove these spots before remounting and adding back to the original frame.
Before restoration
After restoration
