Moving a Masterpiece
By: Your Special Delivery Service Uk
Tags: Museums, Fine Art, Transportation, Art, Transport

High value art and fragile sculptures require special attention and care to ensure they’re delivered in pristine conditions. You could be working with priceless paintings, ancient artefacts or even pop-culture classics, meaning a plethora of risk assessments before you even consider moving them!

Whether it is large paintings for a gallery exhibition or miniature sculptures for a museum, each delivery is unique. Every piece of art needs to be packaged, labelled, transported and handled differently. For example, smaller pieces can be encased in purpose-built boxes and if they are particularly valuable they can be flown hand carried on a passenger flight, with its own seat in business class!

Whereas, larger artworks will need custom made crates that fit the piece perfectly to ensure stability throughout. We even have the capability to create crates that tilt the artwork to a specific angle, allowing them to travel on a passenger plane. This reduces the cost of transportation significantly when compared with freight flights.

Airport Complexities

Airports face two major challenges to the safe delivery of artwork. The consignment will not always be handled by trained experts and most paintings and sculptures involve a complex customs procedure. For heavier works, a forklift may be needed to lift the crates which is a risky process. We have our experts on hand to monitor the drivers and ensure they are taking the utmost care when moving our crates. Our specialists are always prepared with customs, tax and duties documentation for a seamless customs process.

On the Road

For the final part of the journey, the pieces are driven to their destination. The vehicles are equipped to handle delicate packages, using air suspension to mitigate damaging effects of vibration, alongside temperature and humidity controls to prevent any damage to the artwork. Live tracking systems allow for accurate management of the journey and provides constant location details.

White Glove Service

Alongside our customary art transportation offering, we also offer a white glove service, which is a premium service for specialist projects that involve either very high value or delicate goods.

The work of art will be monitored by two individuals from collection, all the way to installation. The most important aspect when shipping fine art is the packaging and handling throughout. Once our experts have chosen the most appropriate form of packaging, to protect all surfaces, the specialists will carry the piece with protective gloves. They will also conduct regular inspections of the package to safeguard the integrity of the work.

YSDS has specialist offices in New York City, Zurich, Amsterdam and London and we work with some of the most prestigious art galleries and museums in the world. We recently assisted one of London’s most esteemed contemporary art galleries to transport three oversized pieces of art, exceeding lengths of over 5 metres, from London to Taiwan. We then built a custom fabrication large crate in a specialised workshop and loaded it onto a temperature controlled container in the centre of London. The artwork was successfully shipped and delivered to its final destination..

If you would like to find out more about our expertise in art transportation, then get in touch with one of our team members today!