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ABSTRACT
In 1872 the most lauded invention promoted at the International Exhibition in London, was felted paper. The firm, tough material, remaining ‘soft enough to fall readily into graceful folds’ was invented by Pavy, Pretto and Co. as a cheap alternative to cretonnes or chintz fabrics for curtains, roller-blinds and bed-hangings. One hundred and fifty years later a rare example of a paper curtain ensemble was examined at Mount Stewart, a National Trust property in Northern Ireland, and prioritized for conservation treatment. Research unearthed samples of felted paper in the UK and US, and increased our understanding of their manufacture, distribution, and consumption. The multi-disciplinary project involving textile and paper conservators in decision making and carrying out complex treatments is described, including discoveries made about the curtains’ construction, and previous use. Innovative textile printing onto new fabric was used to support the fragile paper, replicating the reverse pattern of the original paper curtains.
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
Auf der Internationalen Ausstellung in London im Jahr 1872 zählte das gefilzte Papier zu den herausragendsten Erfindungen. Das feste, zähe Material, welches „weich genug bleibt, um leicht in anmutige Falten zu fallen“ wurde von Pavy, Pretto und Co., als günstige Alternative zu Cretonne- oder Chintz-Geweben für Gardinen, Rollos und Bettvorhänge, erfunden. 150 Jahre später wurde ein seltenes Beispiel eines Papiervorhang-Ensembles in Mount Stewart, einem Anwesen des National Trust in Nordirland, untersucht und für eine konservatorische Behandlung ausgewählt. Das Forschungsprojekt untersuchte Exemplare von gefilztem Papier im Vereinigten Königreich und in den USA und vertiefte dadurch unser Verständnis über die Herstellung, den Vertrieb und der Nutzung des Materials. Das multidisziplinären Projekt bezog Textil- und Papierrestauratoren in die Entscheidungsfindung und Durchführung komplexer Behandlungen ein. Im nachfolgenden Bericht werden Erkenntnisse über die Konstruktion und die frühere Verwendung der Vorhänge beschrieben. Um fehlende Bereiche im fragilen Papier der Vorhänge zu sichern und das ursprüngliche Muster nachzubilden, wurden Gewebe mit Hilfe von innovativem Textildruck bedruckt und hinterlegt.
Acknowledgments
Conservation was carried out by freelance paper conservator, Emily O’Reilly ACR, and Rosamund Weatherall ACR, Senior National Conservator Textiles (Interim), NT, and Terri Dewhurst, Textile Conservator, NT at the National Trust Blickling Textile Conservation Studio. We are grateful for assistance from Phaedra Komodromou, student conservator, University of Cardiff, Grace Parkinson-Johns, student textile designer, Cardiff Metropolitan University and Justyna Medon, student conservator, City & Guilds of London Art School.
Additional historical research was undertaken by Adja Jalan during a NT/University of Oxford partnership micro-internship, and we are grateful for the generous time and insights afforded by curators, conservators, conservation scientists, paper historians and search room staff at institutions in the UK and the US, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, Museum of the Home, The National Archives, The British Library, the British Association of Paper Historians, the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York and Historic New England, Boston, USA.
The NT project team included: Frances Bailey, Senior National Curator, Northern Ireland (Social & Irish History), Claire Magill ACR, Regional Conservator, Northern Ireland, Nicola Walker ACR, Senior National Conservator Paper & Photography, Neil Watt, Property Curator, and the property team at Mount Stewart, and Rosamund Weatherall ACR, Senior National Conservator Textiles (Interim).
Thanks to Anna Plowden Trust and The Clothworkers’ Foundation for their support in enabling Emily O’Reilly to attend the IADA XVth Congress in Halle/Leipzig, October 2023.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Figure permissions
© National Trust Images / Nicola Walker
© National Trust Images / Emily O’Reilly
© National Trust Images / Rosamund Weatherall
Nicola Walker, 2020 with kind permission of the V&A
Nicola Walker, 2023 with kind permission of Museum of the Home
Suppliers list
Preservation Equipment, Vinces Road, Diss, IP22 4HQ Tel: + 44(0)1379 647400, Tengujo Kozo Spider Tissue 5gsm, 965 × 20 m, Lascaux 498HV acrylic adhesive.
Dukeries Textile and Fancy Goods LTD, 15A Melbourne Road, Nottingham NG2 5BG Tel: 01159816330, Nylon net.
Sanders-Kauffmann GmbH, Maschstrasse 2, D-49565 Bremsche, Germany, Cotton Cambric.
Ciba-Geigy Fabric Dyes.
The Silk Bureau Ltd, Enterprise Way, Vale Park, Evesham, Worcestershire WR11 1GS Tel: 01386 86 11 22, Printed Silcott habotai.
High Street Textile Testing Services Ltd, 118 Lupton Avenue, Leeds LS9 6ED.
First4Magnets, Magnet Expert Ltd, Walker Industrial Estate, Ollerton Road, Tuxford, Nottinghamshire, NG22 0PQ, Neodymium magnets.
Jacksons Art Supplies, London, UK www.jacksonsart.com Magic Colour acrylic ink.
Notes
1 Internal discussions with NT conservation and curatorial colleagues March 2019–July 2023.
2 Pelmets and valances can be interchangeable as words to describe the decorative fabric (sometimes swagged) that is used to cover curtain poles. The textile conservators on the project referred to the stiffened, trimmed sections of the bed-hangings as valances. Where we refer to them as used originally as window hangings, we have described them as pelmets.
3 Many thanks to Frances Bailey, Senior National Curator, NT for providing historical background information on Mount Stewart and her careful and insightful reading of the draft paper.
4 Visits to V&A Print Room made on 4 April 2019 and 23.7.2019. Museum numbers: E.21165-1957, E.21167-1957, E.21161-1957, E.21166-1957, E.21162-1957, E.21163-1957, E.21164-1957, E.337.1971, E.338.1971, E.336-1971, E.339.1971, and Museum numbers: E.1281-1910, E.35-1910. Search Results | V&A Explore the Collections (vam.ac.uk).
5 Visit to Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, New York made on 25 September 2019. Museum numbers: 1944-92-1a/e, 1995-50-387, 1967-11-1-a/v and 1967-11-1-w/x. I am grateful to former Curator, Greg Herringshaw for providing such generous access to the stored collections at the Museum.
6 Information provided by Greg Herringshaw from: Boston Recorder (1830-1849), 1 April 1842, 27, 13, American Periodicals, p.51, and Maine Farmer (1844-1900), Aug 14, 1856, 24, 34, American Periodicals, p.4.
7 V&A Museum number: E.331.1971.
8 Confirmed through searches at TNA and visit, see below.
9 Visit made to TNA on 9 March 2020. Information from The Register of Designs and the Representations Book BT/43/100. Many thanks to Sonja Schwoll, Head of Conservation and Natalie Brown, Head of Audiences: Collection Care.
10 Visit made to Museum of the Home (formerly the Geffrye Museum), London on 12 April 2023. (Museum number: 2/1987 1-5). Thanks are due to Abigail Winslow, former Project Assistant for providing access and detailed catalogue information.
11 Although the date 8 October 1872 tallies with the information in the TNA Register of Designs, the example in TNA is numbered 266978. While there is a clear, stamped number 266977 on one of the pieces at Museum of the Home, a different floral design on blue grounded paper bears this number and the same date in TNA’s collection.
12 Email correspondence with Laura E. Johnson, former Curator, Historic New England, March 2020. Museum number: 1959.500 A-O. https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/collections-access/gusn/46216 See also in their collection a bed valance made from wallpaper backed with newspaper, Paper Bed Valance | Historic New England https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/collections-access/gusn/2816
13 The paper used for the hangings in the collection at Historic New England can be seen at TNA, BT 43/100/276270.
14 Email correspondence with Neil Infield, Manager, Business & IP Centre, The British Library. Patent 1002, 1853, supplied through the British Library Reference Services. A second patent (no. 21172, 2 July 1868), referred to by Alan Crocker in his article for the BAPH, 1990 has so far not been found at The British Library.
15 Advert for Pavy's Felted Fabric Depot, print on paper, printed by James Dilkes,1885, Evanion Collection of Ephemera, The British Library (shelf mark Evan.7529). Results (bl.uk).
16 Thanks are due to Geogia Genco, Senior Conservation Manager and Marc Vermeulen, Senior Conservation Scientist at The National Archives for their assistance in organising and undertaking analysis of paper fibres and constituent materials from small, detached fragments of the bed hangings.
17 Discussions with members of the British Association of Paper Historians, BAPH are always illuminating – thanks are due to Peter Bower, Neil Robertson and Phil Crockett for their ruminations over the processes used by Pavy, Pretto & Co.
18 Discussions with members of the British Association of Paper Historians,
19 See article by Alan Crocker, and Receivers Accounts at TNA C 30/3654 and C 30/3655.
20 I am hugely grateful for the support of Claire Magill, Regional Conservator, Northern Ireland, for her support throughout and her skills in coordinating all aspects of the project.
21 The idea to replicate the original green fret design lining the side curtains on the Naples bed-hangings was a result of conversations with Clare Stoughton-Harris, Regional Conservator (Wales), NT.
22 Advertisement for Pavy Pretto & Co.’s Japanese Curtain Depot, Dublin, in Freeman’s Journal, Dublin, Tuesday, 5 January 1875, supplied by Adja Jalan.
23 Conversation with Lady Rose Lauritzen, March 2019.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Nicola Walker
Nicola Walker ACR – With a background in paper conservation and extensive experience of collections care, Nicola has led on numerous conservation, storage and exhibitions projects. Having worked for over 30 years in the cultural sector, Nicola currently works part-time as Senior National Conservator: Paper & Photography (job share) for the National Trust, undertakes freelance consultancy work and teaches on the City & Guilds of London Art School, Book and Paper Conservation course.
Emily O’Reilly
Emily O’Reilly ACR, FIIC – Graduated from Camberwell College of Arts, London in 1995 and since then has worked as a paper conservator in public institutions in the UK and Australia and as a freelance paper conservator since 2017. Emily worked for over 15 years with the Art collection at the National Museum Wales and for 4 years at the State Archives of New South Wales in Australia. She became an ACR – accredited conservator/restorer in 2006 and an FIIC – Fellow of the International Institute of Conservation in 2017.