Gilt leather

Gilt leather wallpapers, a precious and sophisticated art form that has continued to shine through the ages. These wall decorations with their shiny surfaces and intricate patterns are a heritage worthy of our care. 

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Combining materials

Gilt leather was made to cover walls of stately rooms, as an alternative to tapestries. The 17th and 18th centuries are considered the heyday of gilt leather production in both the Southern and Northern Netherlands. In the Southern Netherlands, cities such as Mechelen, Ghent, Liège, Brussels, Ypres and Antwerp were important centres of manufacture, while Amsterdam and The Hague were the important cities in the Northern Netherlands. Gilt leather consists of leather covered with silver foil, over which a yellow-orange ‘gold paint’ is applied. The leather is then embossed; in the 17th century this embossing was fairly deep, while in the 18th century it became much flatter. A painted decoration can be applied before or after the embossed leather is pressed. The sheets or strips of gilt leather are sewn together with string.

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Treatment

SRAL has conserved and restored several gilt leather rooms in the Netherlands over the years. These large-scale projects generally involve three aspects: the hanging system to secure the leather on the wall, the leather as structural support and the pictorial layers (silver leaf, gold lacquer, paint and varnish layers). Decisions on how best to treat a specific gilt leather ensemble are always made within the context of the entire interior and its history. Here, preventive measures within the room also play a crucial role, such as the influence of UV light, relative humidity and temperature.