ABSTRACT
What sort of historical evidence and information can be derived from a tapestry? The short answer is a lot – but in order to extract this detail, careful observation and recording are essential and then time for evaluation of the findings is required. Consultation between conservators, conservation scientists and textile historians can shed light on many things including the date, the provenance, the subject, history of use, the condition and the specific nature of the materials used. Consequently, the significance of documenting tapestries in detail can be highlighted in several ways: it acts as a way of encouraging a conservator to focus on an often very large object and to become familiar with it; it informs the treatment and conservation decisions; it records important information about previous treatments of the piece that all form part of its history, as well as recording details of current intervention for the future. This chapter focuses on the initial documentation and underlying assessment and analysis of the object rather than the documentation of the treatment that is undertaken.
