Remontage d'une sculpture moderne présumée détruite : le cas de "Buste impérial", petite statue en mâchefer de Jean Dubuffet (musée des arts décoratifs, Paris) : étude des propriétés du matériau constitutif et sélection d'un adhésif

Buste impérial, sculpture made of clinker and created in 1954 by Jean Dubuffet, belongs to the series of the Petites statues de la vie précaire, spanning the period from March to October of the same year. As the first sculptures in Dubuffet's works, they are created with various materials such as papier mâché, sponge, clinker, coal, driftwood and lava. After its spontaneous collapse in 1981, the many fragments and the unusual and fragile constitutive material seemed to compromise its restoration. The study of the historical context allowed to understand the changes suffered by the sculpture during its short life. A photography was used as a reference for the reassembling. From the results of the scientific study, aiming to find the properties of the clinker, a binding technique was choosen for the restoration.