Cleaning Bulle work

I have a little Boulle 'chest' which contains three glass perfume
bottles. I've had it for years but have never found a satisfactory way
of cleaning the Boulle work. If I use brass polish, I will surely
damage the tortoiseshell inlay? Does anyone have experience of this

Andy Dingley...

Depends on your "brass polish". Brasso is a bad idea, because of the
ammonia content. Rottenstone, or in extreme cases Tripoli, is an
acceptable abrasive for polishing tortoiseshell. If you actually need to
remove damage, then ue the Micromesh abrasives.

If you have light damage though and the typical "bloom" arising on
tortoiseshell then you'll never achieve the same polish as an undamaged
area. Attempting to do so may encourage over-polishing.

As a cleaning solvent, acetone (used judiciously) is acceptable.

kind of thing and how to clean it and to treat the tortoiseshell so it
doesn't dry out?

Andy Dingley...

Ken Watts at West Dean College is apparently a good person to speak to
about tortoiseshell conservation. There are any number of commercial
restorers too (caveat emptor!).

Don't worry about it "drying out" either. Renaissance wax if you insist
on applying something to it, but it's unlikely to really need it.

Sacha...

Very many thanks. This gives me just the sort of information I was
looking for.