Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 27. (Budapest, 2009)

Györgyi FAJCSÁK - Andrea FÜZES: Chinese Embroidered Screen from the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries

strengthening of the border, thin linenweave silk cloth and silk sewing thread was coloured with Lanaset Braun B acid dyes. Its condition did not necessitate backing of the entire surface, and so reinforcement was confined to frayed, broken and missing parts. Blue silk fabric of similar colour to the lining of Chinese attire was chosen for assembly of the pieces. The tunic fragment and border was sewn on to the cloth cut with some overlap to the internal dimensions of the fireplace screen frame by invisible running switch using silk thread of the same colour as the base fabric. For the restoration of the wooden frame of the fireplace screen, the legs and the screw-cover buttons were dismantled and the dust removed by brush from the wooden parts.

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1 The parts of the broken leg were repaired to the original shape with bone glue. The more strongly-adhering dirt was cleaned from the frame; the feet and the screw cover buttons by mechanical polishing. Minor voids in the wood were filled in by factory-coloured liquid wood and polished flush. After assembly, the legs were first fastened to the frame by screws and then fixed with bone glue. The decorative buttons and turned copies to replace the missing buttons were fastened by glue over the screws. After ebony stain lacquer, varnish was applied to give the wood its final, glossy finish (fig. 18). To restore the mandarin buttons removed from the frame, the metal and glass parts had first to be separated. After unscrewing the lower and upper metal settings, the glass spheres and metal settings were cleaned with deionised water and Hostapon T anionic detergent. Strongly bonded soiling was removed from metals in good condition by soft round brush in a micro polisher. After cleaning the parts of the mandarin buttons, the lower and upper parts of the metal settings were screwed together enclosing the glass spheres. Finally the mandarin buttons were fastened to the restored wooden frame using copper rivets (figs. 19-20). To prevent further damage to the cloth, it could not be stretched on the screen frame in the original way. The restored fabric decoration was thus mounted on acid-free card, whose back side was fixed with rice starch to the turned-over edges of the blue silk cloth. A blue silk-covered acid-free card cover was also made for the back of the screen, in the same way as for the front. The assembled back and front panels were then placed between sheets of glass and mounted on the wooden frame with thin pine laths and small nails. The thickness of the fabrics together with their protective glass and mounting laths corresponds to the mounting recess in the frame (fig. 21). The restored fabric panel of the Chinese fireplace screen, now protected by sheets of glass, has thus been returned to its old frame, showing off this badly cared-for, but particularly fine textile artefact in its original beauty.

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