Persimmon juice in the air

The exotic smell of persimmon juice has haunted the University's conservation centre in recent weeks following the completion of an unusual structure designed to dry delicate scrolls.

The karibari board is modelled on a fifteenth century lattice devised by the Chinese and later adapted by the Japanese to allow silks, scrolls and other works of art on paper to dry flat and slowly. The complex frame of woven wood is gradually covered in seven layers of paper carefully built up and pasted down in sequence. Once the multi-layered structure is complete it is waterproofed with the fermented juice of the green persimmon - a juice with a very particular and penetrating smell - then left for several months to mature. So strong was the aroma however that the screen has been banished to under the library stairs to complete the maturing process.

Chief conservator Ylva Player-Dahnsjo says: "There is something very special about a karibari board. We're all rather excited about it. The whole studio has been involved."

The project was overseen by Johanna Langerova from the Czeck republic who is currently working at the centre on a one year placement as part of the graduate conservators internship scheme.

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