Gilt Leather Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

A Charola do Convento de Cristo apresenta em diversos locais pequenas áreas da superfície mural pétrea decorada com guadamecil, uma tipologia de cabedal decorativo e artístico europeu. Estes são os guadamecis mais antigos conhecidos em... more

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- Heritage Conservation, Gilt Leather, Guadamecis
- by Eloy F Koldeweij
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- Historic Interiors, Enkhuizen, Gilt Leather

In Zwolle, the capital of the Dutch province Overijssel, there were several gilt leather hangings in the past. Even though none of these has survived, there are some interesting artifacts that do recall the penchant for this material: a fascinating painting, an unique chasuble, some archival references, and a few revival paper wall hangings inspired on gilt leathers.

- by Eloy F Koldeweij
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- Gilt Leather Imitation, Gilt Leather

Among the various types of wall decorations used in the Western world during the 16th to 18th centuries, gilt leather belonged to the most fashionable and costly ones. Despite its appearance, it is not real gold that creates the golden shine, but typically a silver leaf which is coated with an orange-brown lacquer to obtain the characteristic golden lustre. Due to its fragile character, only a fraction of the gilt leathers have survived in situ or in museum collections. Even though some of these gilt leathers are hanging in prominent locations, it is both nationally and internationally an overlooked part of our cultural heritage. Conservation work on gilt leather is a real challenge due to the complex nature of the material, historical craft-led conservation practices and the lack of systematic analytical research of degradation processes. This white paper presents an overview of the current state of the art in gilt leather research and conservation, and identifies future research directions. It is the result of a cross-disciplinary collaborative research project on gilt leather started in 2015. As part of this an international group of experts in gilt leather met at a Symposium in Maastricht, The Netherlands (March 2016). One of the outcomes of this meeting, covering the topics of art history, conservation, material dynamics and diagnostics, was a research agenda for gilt leather 2017-2025.

- by Eloy F Koldeweij and +6
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- Heritage Conservation, Historic Interiors, Gilt Leather

“Corame d’oro”, “cuoio dorato”, “pelle di Spagna”... gilt leather appears very often in the inventories of Italian palaces. By reading these archives, it is possible to deduce their use and their importance, even when they have all disappeared. The paper will focus on three of the most famous and richest palaces in Roma: Palazzo Ricci-Sacchetti, Villa Medici and Palazzo Farnese, dated between 1561 and 1644. Wall-hangings, door curtains, carpets and tablecloths of gilt leather were widely used and their disappearance is a great loss for the aesthetics and comprehension of the rooms’ decors and atmosphere.

Gilt leather has always been regarded as a rich and prominent material both for wall hangings and for upholstery purposes. It has been widely used in various ways by the European upper classes and aristocracy. This article gives a short... more

- by Eloy F Koldeweij
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- Cultural History, Furniture History, Historic Interiors, Gilt Leathers

Up till now, knowledge of the history of gilt leather is still inadequate. It is little known that there was a huge production outside Spain in different centres in various European countries. This was particularly the case during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the period when the Spanish industry declined severely. This is also the period from which large quantities of gilt leather survive. This paper is intended to give an insight into the role of Spain in this international situation.

An historical overview of the production of gilt leather in the Southern Netherlands during the 17th and 18th centuries, in cities as Mechelen, Antwerp, Brussels, Liege, Gent and Lille. Together with a short overview on the various types... more

- by Eloy F Koldeweij and +1
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- 17th and 18th century European Decorative Arts and Design, Historic Interiors, Gilt Leathers, Gilt Leather

In this study, a multi-technique approach was developed to characterize the different components within gilt leather. A series of 40 gilt-leather hangings from different countries made between the 16th and 18th centuries were selected for analysis to learn about the manufacturing techniques and to better understand their degradation process. The analytical methodology had to take into account the complexity of the material with the presence of thin multilayers made of organic and inorganic compounds. Techniques that could provide non- or micro-destructive identification, high-sensitivity, and high spatial resolution were employed, that is: ion beam analysis, synchrotron infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron micros-copy/energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX), attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) imaging and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GCMS). The analytical methodology is discussed based on the results obtained on three selected gilt-leather artifacts, revealing some discrepancies and correlation in the appearance, chemical composition, layer thickness, and deterioration.

- by Céline Bonnot-Diconne
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- SEM-EDX, ATR-FTIR, Gilt Leather
- by Eloy F Koldeweij
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- Gilt Leathers, Gilt Leather
- by Martine Posthuma de Boer and +1
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- Heritage Conservation, 17th and 18th century European Decorative Arts and Design, Gilt Leathers, Gilt Leather

In 1739 the mayors room in the town hall of maatricht was redecorated with an unique gilt leather hanging, a few years later decribed as 'as'Indian wall covering'. The painted scenes do however show mingled Chinese and Japanese elements.... more

An analytical methodology involving Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) and Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (RBS) was implemented to respectively characterize the composition and the thickness of silver leaves on gilt leather decors. These objects, ancestors of our wallpapers, are nowadays still difficult to date and their provenance is generally determined from stylistic studies. The initial aim of this study was to identify markers that could be correlated with the object provenance to help distinguishing the different gilt leathers workshops in Europe. The analytical methodology was validated on modern samples and applied to a corpus of 58 ancient gilt leathers from four countries. This study provided an assessment of the sensitivity of the ion beam techniques used, and highlighted the complexity of such analyses on thin silver leaves due to the different factors affecting them, and the composite nature of the object. Thus, the thicknesses calculated from the RBS analyses presented a great variability that seems to be related to the leaf characteristics, the manufacturing process and/or the life of the decor. Nevertheless, observations suggest that silver leaves coming from the Netherlands are thicker than the ones from Spain, Italy or France. Concerning the elemental composition, the results discarded previous hypotheses and the focus was made on gold and mercury trace elements, thus it was shown that leaves in Italian decors seem to have generally a low content of these two elements. Despite the large number of decor analyzed, the corpus should be expanded over to confirm the hypotheses raised by this research. Nevertheless the results gained from this work bring new light on the factors affecting thin metal leaves in general, which will be beneficial to all fields dealing with their analysis.

- by Céline Bonnot-Diconne and +2
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- Ion Beam Analysis, Gilt Leather

Les divers inventaires de la Villa Médicis2 nous livrent les indices de la présence de ce type de décors en cuir. Dans le nouvel appartement créé par Ferdinand à la suite de la construction de la grande loggia (1577-1579), les trois chambres, celles des Éléments, des Muses et des Amours de Jupiter, présentaient un décor assez semblable de «corame di Spagna» à motifs de grotesques, avec des pilastres sur fond or et argent. Les tentures de la chambre des Muses et de la chambre des Amours de Jupiter comportaient en particulier des harpies.

- by Céline Bonnot-Diconne
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- Gilt Leather

Neste artigo apresenta-se o estudo químico dos taninos usados na curtimenta vegetal de duas tipologias de cabedais históricos e decorativos europeus pertencentes a acervos de colecções portuguesas, os cabedais adamascados e os guadamecis, datados dos séculos XVII e XVIII. Foram analisados extractos preparados a partir de fibras recolhidas nesses cabedais através da técnica de espectroscopia de infravermelho com transformada de Fourier (FTIR) em modo de reflectância total atenuada (ATR). Os resultados obtidos foram comparados com os dados de diversas amostras de referência de taninos que, de acordo com fontes documentais, se encontravam, na generalidade, em uso na Europa na Idade Moderna. Este estudo permitiu caracterizar, na maioria dos casos, os taninos utilizados na produção dos cabedais estudados e, paralelamente, detectar uma alteração química dos cabedais, neste caso a hidrólise do colagénio, a qual não era perceptível visualmente.

- by Céline Bonnot-Diconne
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- Ferdinando de' Medici, Villa Medici, Gilt Leather

While the removal of corrosion products from silver surfaces without damage is not possible for gilt leather, improving our knowledge of the tarnishing of silver leaves and how to prevent it is essential. Silver tarnishing is common, generally localized, and, in extreme situations, total blackening of the silvered areas may occur, affecting the readability of the decors. In some cases, this degradation may be related to conservation interventions. This research investigates the role of the materials and environment

- by Céline Bonnot-Diconne
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- Gilt Leather, silver leaf

ln the second half of the 19th century, gilt leather wall coverings enjoyed a renaissance. Demand was satisfied both with precise copies and also with new designs in a mix of styles and made from various substitute materials in darker colours. The printing blocks, however, barely changed. Many examples of rooms decorated in historicist style have survived.

- by Eloy F Koldeweij
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- Decorative arts 19th century, Gilt Leathers, Gilt Leather

An embossed gilt leather plaque depicting the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf (1594–1632) has been identified as being produced in Amsterdam in the 2nd of the 17th century. The same workshop has also produced similar plaques depicting among others the portraits of Luther and Calvin, even as religious themes as the crucifixion, Mary and St.John, and the assumption of the Mary.

- by Lina Falcão
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- Gilt Leather, Guadamecis, Historic Decorative Leathers
- by Eloy F Koldeweij
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- Historic Interiors, Gilt Leathers, Gilt Leather

Lead carbonates were used as cosmetic and pigment since Antiquity. The pigment, known as lead white, was generally composed of cerussite and hydrocerussite. Unlike most ancient pigments, lead white was obtained by a synthetic route involving metallic lead, vinegar and organic matter. Fermentation of organic matter produces heat and CO2 emission, leading to the formation of carbonates. As lead white is formed by trapping CO2, radiocarbon (14C) dating can thus be considered. We have developed a protocol to prepare lead white. We selected modern pigments for the experiment implementation and ancient cosmetic and paintings for dating. After characterization of the samples by XRD, thermal decomposition of cerussite at various temperatures was explored in order to select the appropriate conditions for painting samples. CO2 extraction yield, SEM and XPS were used to characterize the process. Thermal decomposition at 400°C was successfully applied to mixtures of lead white with other paint ...

- by Céline Bonnot-Diconne and +1
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- Archaeology, Geology, Geochemistry, Radiocarbon

Lead carbonates were used as cosmetic and pigment since Antiquity. The pigment, known as lead white, was generally composed of cerussite and hydrocerussite. Unlike most ancient pigments, lead white was obtained by a synthetic route involving metallic lead, vinegar and organic matter. Fermentation of organic matter produces heat and CO 2 emission, leading to the formation of carbonates. As lead white is formed by trapping CO 2 , radiocarbon (14 C) dating can thus be considered. We have developed a protocol to prepare lead white. We selected modern pigments for the experiment implementation and ancient cosmetic and paintings for dating. After characterization of the samples by XRD, thermal decomposition of cerussite at various temperatures was explored in order to select the appropriate conditions for painting samples. CO 2 extraction yield, SEM and XPS were used to characterize the process. Thermal decomposition at 400°C was successfully applied to mixtures of lead white with other paint components (oil as binder, calcite as filler/extender) and to historical samples. We obtained radiocarbon measurements in agreement with the expected dates, demonstrating that thermal decomposition at 400°C is efficient for a selective decomposition of lead white and that paintings can be directly 14 C-dated by dating lead white pigment.

- by Céline Bonnot-Diconne and +1
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- Radiocarbon Dating (Earth Sciences), Radiocarbon Dating (Archaeology), Lead Pigment, Gilt Leather

The history of the gilt leather wall hanging (1776) in the house of the Waterboard in Leiden.

- by Eloy F Koldeweij
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- Interior Design (Architecture), Gilt Leathers, Gilt Leather