Decorative and Functional Uses of Paper on Furniture

In this article we will give an introduction to the wide variety of papers used on wooden surfaces and examples of examination and treatments which were undertaken at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It is important to address the treatment of paper on wood surfaces because of the significant information, context and value that paper components add. The presence of paper on wooden surfaces can pose unique challenges because of both its fragile nature and the relative infrequency with which it appears on furniture. The delicacy of paper requires conserva-tors to take special care when treating a wooden object that includes a paper component. It is important to emphasize that any treatment of the object must consider the effect upon the paper portions in order to avoid exacerbating problems and to ensure the future stability of the paper. Solutions that improve the structural stability of the furniture but neglect to consider the paper components are incomplete. Careful consideration of the survival of paper components is an important aspect of furniture treatments. Over the past few months we were able to study and treat several wooden objects with attached paper in the extensive collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Once this project started we continued to investigate examples available in other museums and private collections. The opportunity to work on a large group of such objects has given us an understanding of the techniques of paper manufacture, deco-ration and typical types of damage