The Art of Positive Thinking

The 17th-century Qing dynasty vases had rested blamelessly on a staircase window sill for about 50 years until Nick Flynn had his now infamous "Norman Wisdom moment" - tripping on his shoelace, he fell into the vases and sprayed about 400 shards of porcelain over 30 steps before looking up to see snaps being taken on a mobile phone. As if that were not bad enough, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge was then placed under the media spotlight for not shielding the vases or, at the very least, insuring them. But it was far from a disaster, according to restorer Penny Bendall. "This is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate how ceramic conservation techniques have improved in recent years," she said at an upbeat press conference yesterday. "I can foresee no major problems and I'm looking forward enormously to working on the vases." Once finished, the three vases - worth about £500,000 - will go back on display restored, but with cracks. "It is standard practice to allow the cracks to be seen to demonstrate the authenticity of the vase," Ms Bendall said. For the full story - click the title Irish Art