In the late 1510s, the Florentine sculptor Giovanni da Maiano was commissioned by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey to produce a group of terracotta roundels to decorate the exterior of his palace at Hampton Court (Surrey, England). A number of these portrait busts, which depict Roman emperors, are still in situ, and are among the earliest and finest contemporary examples of Renaissance figural sculpture employed as architectural ornament in England. The management of their treatment is complex from both a technical and ethical perspective, uniquely spanning the specialisms of ceramics and architectural conservation. This paper describes a four-year multi-disciplinary programme linking three strands of work: recording and documentation; curatorial and archival research; and scientific (archaeometric) analysis. All have guided research into suitable conservation treatment options.