CCI2014050708

I u-

I u-

oman leather helmet f the 14th century BC.

•nu-: niocuKAsiNC of a skp of cii:r i.iv\tiii:u wai .miano ino:; in tiik

UI.IKSMUSiaJM, AMJTKKDAM l >. Mi 11 ler, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

’I1iq Rij ksmuseum accjuired a set of gilt leather wallhangings In 1946. Each panel displays a pattem of four putti carrying flcwers in their hands and surrounded by various plants, flowers, fruit and feathers on a green and grey ground. A smali laurel wreath, which at first sight seems to be the middle motif of the pattem, is in fact, situated niLghtly to one side of the design.

'11 ii.s type of omamentation was common in our country and was as well found in other forms of the applied arts, such as textiles and silver, and indicates that the gilt leather was certainly the product of a Dutch workshop. This is borne our by the fact that in a painting of "The Card Players" by Pieter de Hooch, which is in the collection of the Louvre, an interior can be seen where gilt leather with the same pattem is illustrated. This is important for several reasons. It can be seen how people formerly used gilt leather not only on the walls but also on the chimney breast. Pieter de Hooch has given the gilt leather so much importance that it is possible to see which is the top of the pattem. Another reason why the painting is so important is the dating. It must datę from about 1665 and was therefore produced in Amsterdam and the location of the room must have also been in the viscinity. It is very possible that we are dealing with gilt leather from an Amsterdam workshop from about 1660.

Preyious Treatments

In the period following the arrival of the gilt leather in the Rijksmuseum, it was treated several times with raw linseed oil and also sometimes as well with other oils. An over-fatting can easily be recognised on gilt leather by damage on the paint-layer through an effect of craąuelure and of the appearance of a "sweat". To do nothing would mean that in time the whole of the paint layer would become loose. The extra grease had to be removed from the layer and of course from the underlying structure of the leather.