Brunel’s Thames Tunnel commemorative printed silk kerchief

Description

The kerchief, part of an archive of original designs of Brunel’s Thames Tunnel, commemorates the opening of the tunnel in 1843.

The rectangular shaped, silk kerchief is approximately one square metre in size and exhibits a design comprising a view of visitors walking along the tunnel, and panoramas at the borders, including line drawings of the tunnel in longitudinal cross-section. 

The design is printed on a plain weave silk; the top and bottom edges of the silk are rolled and stitched; the left and right edges are unhemmed selvedge.

Client brief/role of object

Re-mount the kerchief to make it sufficiently stable for storage, study and occasional display.

Condition before treatment

The kerchief was stretched over and folded to the back of a board.  The silk was badly distorted and under tension, being attached to the board with 81 metal staples and adhesive tape. The staples pierced through the design areas of kerchief and the tape completely covered all four edges of it. 

Overall, the silk was extremely weak; numerous splits and holes had formed, especially along fold lines and around the staples.  In addition, approximately 90% of the brown silk sections were missing from two of the borders, and the centre design had suffered a prominent area of loss. 

The poor condition of the textile cloth is due in large part to the mordants used in the textile printing process, the acidic nature of the board on which the kerchief was mounted and over-exposure to light.

Treatment

Removing the fragmentary silk panel from the board required pre-testing and careful planning to minimise handling and further damage. The staples were released using specialist pincers and spatulas; the adhesive tape and residues were removed using gentle mechanical action and solvents; loose particulate soils and detached, silk fibres were lifted away using low powered vacuum suction and soft brushes. The silk panel was humidified enabling unfolding of edges, reduction of distortions, relaxing of creasing and realignment of partially detached areas. Following this, the kerchief was fully supported onto a panel of silk crepeline, pre-cast with a conservation-grade adhesive; and then stitched to a customised, fabric covered board. For display purposes, the areas of loss were visually in-filled with strategically placed, colour-matched textile patches; they were stitched to the board prior to attaching the kerchief. Further support was provided by a custom-dyed, conservation-grade net overlay. 

To protect the conserved kerchief during handling, and to make it display-ready within a show case, a fabric covered window mount was positioned over and attached to the mount board. A made-to-measure storage box was also provided. 

Condition after treatment

The kerchief is considerably less vulnerable, well supported on its mount, well protected in the storage box, and sufficiently stable for occasional display.

Further Information

The kerchief is part of the collection at the Brunel Museum, Rotherhithe, London. https://www.thebrunelmuseum.com/

Anon. 2020. Textile Society Museum Awards: Commemorative Silk Kerchief at the Brunel Museum, Rotherithe, Devon Lace & Hatworks. Text 47: 2020, pages 75-77. A short report based on the illustrated conservation record made by Kathryn Gill in 2019.

Acknowledgements

Reproduced courtesy of the Brunel Museum; Kate Gill Textile and Upholstery Conservation Services © 2021.

Treatment completed December 2019.