An art-technical examination of a chair made of papier maché and hardwood from Nääs castle

This thesis is about a case study on a nineteenth-century chair from Nääs castle. The study regards three main focuses 1) to examine which methods that was used in the process of production, 2) to investigate the chair’s origin. 3) to propose further preventive actions. The chair is found today at Nääs castle, northeast of Gothenburg in Sweden. The object was borrowed to the Department of conservation at Gothenburg University, where the study took place. The methods of analysis XRF, Raman spectroscopy and solubility test were used in this study. For the use of Raman spectroscopy and the solubility test a small lacquer sample was collected. Otherwise, non-destructive methods were used. The analytical results were compared with reference data to come to conclusions. To determine the chairs origin, style and manufacturing method art-historical literature has been used to compare the chair with other furniture from the same century. The result showed that the chair has the style of chinoiserie which can be seen on the black lacquer, mother- of pearl inlays and the gilding and rococo style with its soft, curvy design, both styles are typical for the 1850’s. The manufacturing method of the backpiece of the chair was probably made in a cast with papier-mâché pulp. The rest of the chair, legs and frame is made of light hardwood, all the pieces have then been joined together to one furniture. It’s origin indicates that there are two manufacturers, that could have produces the chair The result suggests two kinds of lacquers. One transparent lacquer and one black ground layer, presumably made with a japanning technique. The transparent lacquer has a protective function and is made of shellac or gelatine. The chair is made of papier-mâché and light hardwood. The combination of papier-mâché, japanning and the design of the object suggest that it’s manufactured at Jennens and Bettridge.Uppsats för avläggande av filosofie kandidatexamen i Kulturvård, Konservatorprogrammet 15 hp Institutionen för kulturvård Göteborgs universitet 2018:0