Before treatment
Condition Before Treatment
Overall, this embroidery was in poor structural condition due to the highly fragile and damaged silk and associated losses and tears, as well as the stained and brittle lining. It was in poor to fair aesthetic condition with distracting staining on the bottom edge and proper left.
Natchez Silkwork
“E.J,” Natchez, MS
1811
Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
Silk embroidery on silk ground with cotton support, enhanced with watercolor
This is a rectangular silkwork picture with a plainweave cotton support. It depicts a reclining woman beneath trees and a bower in the foreground with a house in the background. The imagery is depicted using embroidery, the majority of which is enhanced with paint. The sky is painted. There is an embroidered inscription along the bottom.
This is a significant piece within the Winterthur Collection, as it is a beautifully executed early American embroidery. The piece is a rare example of a heavily painted silkwork, and it contains much of the imagery commonly associated with American silk pictures of the early 19th century. In addition to having strong provenance information, this embroidery contains evidence of the accepted manufacturing process for these pictures, as it has clear underdrawing. It is important to note the silkwork’s significance as a quintessential and well-executed embroidery highlights the practices of wealthy, likely white and slave-owning families of the American south, with a clear depiction of a plantation-style home and the use of expensive import materials, such as silk fabric and threads.
Unique Challenges
This textile’s manufacture and condition posed numerous challenges associated with its treatment. Because the silk is embroidered to the cotton ground, any underlays for the silk had to be fed underneath it through losses or around the perimeter. In the video to the left, I am feeding crepeline underlays through a loss in the woman’s head. When reactivated using ethanol, the adhesive-coated crepeline was able to mend tears in the surrounding silk and hold any fills in place.
Additionally, due the fragility of the piece, it could not be flipped, requiring me to examine and, at times, work from below through small windows. Finally, examination using high magnification and XRF determined the presence of orpiment, vermillion, and lead white. These all have implications to the health and safety guidelines surrounding this piece. The presence of orpiment also had implications for its treatment and preventive recommendations.
1. The textile was removed from its mount.
2. It was dry surface cleaned using a microduster.
3. Iron staining around the perimeter was reduced using a 1% solution of EDTA on the suction table.
4. The tideline along the bottom edge was reduced on the suction table using a 1% citrate solution.
5. The tideline in the sky was initially reduced using Nanorestore gels soaked in water adjusted to pH 6.
6. The tideline was further reduced using a 1% citrate solution applied via a brush.
7. The edges of the cotton support were lined with crepeline coated in 1:1 Lascaux 360HV: 498HV. It was reactivated using an ethanol vapor chamber.
8. Because the piece cannot be safely flipped, a loss in the cotton support was filled by working underneath. It was filled with a cotton patch and held in place using Lascaux-coated crepeline.
9. 56 Lascaux-coated crepeline underlays were adhered to the silk to stabilize tears and losses. In many areas, the underlays were made from Mylar tracings.
10. Losses in the silk were filled with silk habotai dyed and painted to match the surrounding color and held in place using a Lascaux-coated crepeline underlay (BT left, AT right).
11. Losses in the woman's face and hands were filled using Gampi tissue toned with colored pencil. The tissue was precoated with 1:1 Lascaux 360HV: 498HV and reactivated using an ethanol vapor chamber (BT left, AT right).
After treatment
Condition After Treatment
The textile is now in fair structural condition. While the silk remains brittle and highly fragile, large tears and detached fragments have been stabilized. The edge lining also allows for safer handling of the piece. The textile is in fair to good aesthetic condition. Significant staining has been reduced, and large losses to the silk are filled. The stain in the sky is still present, but has been reduced. Despite treatment, the textile is not stable enough to be handled without a support or flipped.
Images courtesy and copyright of Evan Krape and the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library