Paper short abstract:

This paper uses a comparison with the Japanese art of repairing ceramics, kintsugi, to consider the motivations behind repairs on a very different group of metal objects from Iron Age East Yorkshire. In both cases, repairs are much more than the restoration of broken object to a functional state.

Paper long abstract:

Kintsugi ("golden joinery") is the Japanese art of mending broken ceramics using lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver or platinum. This type of repair can create a striking visual effect and adds value to pots, as well as restoring them to their functional states. This value is acquired via a specifically Japanese aesthetic that sees the wear, defects and patina associated with ageing not as flaws but as positive characteristics.

This paper uses the philosophical framework within which kintsugi sits to consider the motivations behind the mending and modification of decorated objects in Iron Age Britain. A case study of the use and modification of composite metal objects from East Yorkshire, such as weapons and jewellery, will be used to show that many were well-used and curated over prolonged periods of time. They were frequently damaged and repaired and, at times, deliberately fragmented and reassembled. Repairs and joins between components were made deliberately visible and the accumulation of contrasting decorative patterns on certain objects was used to emphasise the accretion of relations inherent in the processes of use and repair.

In Iron Age East Yorkshire, I argue, certain objects accrued value over time through developing patinas of age and visible histories. This paper discusses the nature of this value and the role of repair and modification within it through a comparison with kintsugi. I will argue that, as well as representing particular Iron Age aesthetics and relations with people, mended and modified objects also told important stories of their own.