work focused of the consolidation and the cleaning of 24 statues made out of clay filled with bitten paper and two statues in copper repoussé, gilded with mercury. It is difficult to date all the statues, but some are attributable to the 15th century while others can be dated even earlier. Thick layers of aged varnish as well as heavy deposits of butter lamp smoke and mouse dung covered all statues. All the precarious elements of the clay statues and their broken parts were fixed through the consolidation process using different solutions of acrylic binder. The cleaning was then performed using cotton compresses soaked in organic chemicals. In some cases the soot was so resistant that the compress had to be left on the area to be cleaned for very long time before the varnish could be dissolved. After the compress was removed, cotton swabs soaked in the same chemical were used to clean off the aged varnish and very thin bamboo sticks were used to get rid of the soot from the carved patterns and the intricate jewelry. Following the monks' request, missing parts of the sculptures that were possible to be reconstructed were reproduced using the same technique of execution but they were left unpainted. Spatulas were used to shape the reddish clay mixture and the missing parts were slowly shaped.
carved and painted slates are kept in four rooms of the monastery. They are present in different sizes and they are dated back from different centuries: it is clear the difference of style in many of them. All slates were carved and subsequently painted with natural pigments using a water-based binder. A thick varnish darkened by aging and smoke from butter lamps covered them all. The conservation work consisted only in the cleaning of the slates although it was a time consuming operation for the varnish accumulated inside the carving was quite difficult to be removed. The cleaning was performed with cotton swabs soaked in organic chemicals. Their wooden frame was cleaned too, following the same procedure.
