ABSTRACT

Tapestry is a term normally associated with large wall hangings. This chapter focuses on the conservation of another form of tapestry, namely tapestry-woven panels designed to cover upholstered seat furniture. Such furniture was very fashionable in eighteenth-century Europe and formed an important part of many interior schemes (e.g. Osterley Park House, Isleworth, Middlesex). Many other fine examples of tapestry-covered furniture are preserved, for example at the Wallace Collection (Figure 16.1) and the Victoria and Albert Museum, both in London; Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Frick Collection, in New York.