ALISON STANTON
17th century verdure tapestry
This beautiful verdure tapestry from Nunnington Hall was fully conserved on behalf of the National Trust.
​
Tapestry before conservation
Before conservation: colours of the weft were still bright on the reverse.
After conservation: reverse of linen support.
Tapestry before conservation
Project gallery
Condition
The tapestry was assessed onsite and found to be mostly structurally sound although it had undergone some previous repair in the form of reweaving in the main field.
Areas of needle weaving were evident in the top and bottom galloons which had since faded and causing distortion in places.Some slits were opening but the majority appeared good.
Very little surface dust was noted on the front except along the lower border, closest to the carpet. The reverse was dirty to the touch but the colours were still discernible.
​
The wool weft was in fairly good condition but showed evidence of historic light damage with fading to the areas depicting foliage and plant forms resulting in greens fading to blue where the yellow dye had degraded. Fading of the red/pink weft was also visible.
Isolated areas of degraded dark brown weft had resulted in the exposure of the bare warps
​
Previous stitched repairs to the brown weft in the lower third of main field had faded slightly although was not immediately visible.
​
The majority of the silk weft was in good condition and the colours stills bright; some small areas were tender.
​
Some small holes were apparent in the top galloon and into the upper edge of the central border which could be the result of previous insect damage or an earlier fixing mechanism.
​
The front lower left side galloon was damaged and fraying in part. The previous rewoven repairs were now faded, some to pale purple and others to pale grey, possibly indicating two separate instances of repair. This fading marked obvious areas of previous damage along the entire lower edge of tapestry and to a lesser extent the top galloon.
Treatment
Onsite, the tapestry was surface cleaned front and reverse using low suction vacuum. It was then rolled, packed and sent to Belgium for wet cleaning.
In the studio, a full support of linen was prepared and applied to the reverse of the tapestry. Conservation stitches were worked through both the tapestry and support fabric in sections of 20cm.
The slit stitches were reinforced using the original stitch holes. In areas of weft loss, brick couching was used to strengthen, stabilise and delineate the original design.
The faded repairs that were distorting the galloons were removed, revealing number of broken warps
Once fully supported, the tapestry was lined with downproof cotton cambric to protect it from penetrating dust.
A new hanging mechanism of Velcro stitched to cotton webbing tape was attached to the top edge to evenly spread the weight of the tapestry when rehung.
​
The tapestry is now awaiting reinstallation at the property.
