The Arthur M. Sackler and Freer Galleries of Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., have announced a $1 million challenge grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to endow a position for an assistant Chinese painting conservator.

The grant, which the museums must match with an additional $750,000 by 2016, will enable the Smithsonian to hire a mid-level conservator to work closely with a senior conservator in the Freer Gallery's Department of Conservation and Scientific Research, the only U.S. program that teaches conservators how to care for delicate Chinese paintings. The endowment also will enable the museums to provide a career pathway for aspiring conservators as well as the mentoring structure needed to prepare a new generation of master conservators in the field.

As a result of the lengthy apprenticeship period required for art conservators and the limited resources and educational opportunities available for such positions in the United States, fewer and fewer experts are available to care for the growing — and increasingly fragile — collections of Chinese paintings at museums around the country. Indeed, there are only four senior conservators of Chinese paintings working in the U.S. today, and all of them are nearing retirement age.

"This program is crucial to the future of Chinese painting conservation, creating the ideal educational climate for research, collaboration and exchange," said Julian Raby, the Dame Jillian Sackler Director of the Sackler and Freer Galleries. "Matching this endowment will be an important investment in protecting some of the most fragile treasures in U.S. museums."