PRESERVATION OF WALLPAPERS AS PARTS OF INTERIORS

Task of conservation. Case studies
5.4.5. Conservation concept and treatment
The wall covers were conserved by Hilde Neugebauer, a textile
conservator in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Each separate
fragment of the black border that had framed the silk wall covers
was numbered and documented before their removal.
The task of the conservators was to develop a concept of a
new wall decoration scheme for a chinoiserie salon in Rococo
style, which would offer a fitting backdrop for the valuable silk
wall covers. Nothing was known about the historic wall scheme,
except for the short descriptions provided by Margit Kopp.
First textual and photographic material was gathered about
similar salons from all over Europe. Since the Esterházys were
closely connected to the Habsburgs, 442 special attention was given
to Habsburg residences: for example, the Porzellanzimmer 443 in
the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, where numerous framed drawings
had been ordered for a symmetrical composition enriched
by rocaille and chinoiserie ornaments. Another noteworthy example,
the Chinesisches Kabinett, was found in the Eggenberg Palace
in Graz. This study was designed as a kind of print room. The Chinese
silk paintings had been cut into small segments, each of which
depicted a scene, and were framed as miniatures. (Fig. 150) As a
background for the whole illusionistic wall decoration, blue silk
was used. 444 Besides several examples from elsewhere in Europe
– France (the Chateau de Chantilly), Germany (the Schloss Falkenlust
in Brühl and Pagodenburg near the Schloss Nymphenburg)
and Russia (the Chinese Palace near the Oranienbaum) – another
interesting example was found in Drottningholm, Sweden. This
small Chinese Pavilion, built it 1753, combines decorative elements
of European Rococo with exotic illusions of China. 445 In one of the
442
Kopp, The Apartement of the Princess, 5.
443
Österreichisches Institut für China- und Südostasienforschung, Schönbrunn
Porzellanzimmer, accessed January 5, 2013,
http://www.china-kultur.at/content/Detail.aspx?CatalogItemID=28141.
444
Schloss Eggenberg, Indianische Kabinett, accessed January 5, 2013,
http://www.museum-joanneum.at/de/schloss_eggenberg/prunkraeume/interieurs/
indianische-kabinette.
445
Swedish Royal Court, The Chinese Pavilion, accessed January 5, 2013,
http://www.kungahuset.se/royalcourt/royalpalaces/thechinesepavilion/thepavilion/
history.4.396160511584257f21800011172.html.
268