PRESERVATION OF WALLPAPERS AS PARTS OF INTERIORS

Historic types of wallpaper and decorative schemes of interiors
or on wooden battens attached to its perimeters. Such wall covers
might have been painted in situ after mounting or in a workshop.
Well-preserved examples of painted canvas wall covers
are still found in German-speaking countries. One of the most
magnificent objects of its kind is situated in the small guesthouse
Stadt Mannheim in Kaub, Germany.
Other examples from the second half of the 18th century
show the tonality and patterns characteristic to Rococo. Fragments
of four Rococo wallpapers were found in Uus 21 in Tallinn
under a baseboard in 1980. All the examples were block-printed
with distemper. Although it is not possible to reconstruct the
patterns completely, it is clear that two of the patterns are made
up of linear stripes intertwined with laurel leaves and berries
on light blue and orange backgrounds. (Fig. 38) Fragments of
another wallpaper show dark green leaves, flower petals and
rocaille motifs on a light green background.
So far no evidence of Chinese wallpapers, which were
popular in Central European Rococo interiors, has been found
in Estonian interiors. It is probable that the high cost of the wall
covers prohibited their extensive spread to the peripheral areas
of Europe. The fashion of chinoiserie seems to have reached Estonia
during the 19th century, when it was used to decorate small
intimate rooms. The chinoiserie salon of the Aaspere manor has
been mentioned as one of the best examples of its kind in Estonia.
It was created in 1893 134 and was used as a billiard room of
the house owner, Baron Nikolai von Dellingshausen (1827–1896).
Except for the fact that the walls of the room used to be covered
with the portraits of the family’s ancestors, 135 nothing else is
known. Nowadays only the painted ceiling and polychromatic
doors have survived of the original decorative setting.
The best example of chinoiserie wall covers of European
origin was found during a conservation project in the Puurmani
manor in 2010. The wallpaper has a repeating pattern made up
134
Kultuurimälestiste Riiklik Register, Aaspere mõisa peahoone, accessed June 1, 2013,
http://register.muinas.ee/?menuID=monument&action=view&id=15626.
135
Eduard von Dellingshausen, Kodumaa teenistuses: Eestimaa rüütelkonna peamehe
mälestused (Tallinn: Eesti Päevaleht, 2011), 24.
80