PRESERVATION OF WALLPAPERS AS PARTS OF INTERIORS

Task of conservation. Case studies
rooms, framed chinoiserie scenes are used as over-doors, and it
was considered to be a good example.
Since no decorative details, except for a wooden dado and
cornice, had survived of the original setting, it was decided to
keep the new design as simple as possible.
As discussed in the chapter on historic decorative schemes, a
small number of Chinese wall cover pieces were treated as separate
pictures and were used to create a type of print room common in
England in the 1750s. 446 Separate segments were surrounded by
a plain wallpaper or textile and framed with wooden mouldings
or narrow borders. As a result of the analysis, it was decided to
create a parlour in the style of an English print room and exhibit
each of the seven silk wall covers as a separate picture.
Similarly to historic mounting systems, each piece was
attached to a wooden frame prepared according to the measurements
of the piece, which made it easy to transport or store
them as paintings.
Each picture was framed by a silk-screened reconstruction
of the black border. (Fig. 151) Instead of preserving the removed
fragments of the original in an archive folder and forgetting about
them, they were attached to the reconstructions of the border.
The solution made possible the reuse of the historical material as
a part of the wall decoration, as it used to be before.
A blue canvas in a tone matching the restored wooden dado
and window hatches was chosen to cover the walls. It was attached
to a wooden framework. Besides functioning as a base for the
canvas wall cover, it provided each picture with an opening in a
matching size. The solution allowed for the removal and insertion
of the valuable wall covers when needed. (Fig. 152)
446
Julie Fitzgerald, “The Georgian Print-room Explored”, 14.
270