Conserving Context

The conference papers contained in this volume explore the manner in which the significance of objects relates to their context(s). Interacting or conflicting contexts – such as dispersed or destroyed collections and settings – affect the decisions for their treatment and, consequently, the chosen methods of treatment performed on the decorative surfaces of objects can preserve or change the entire context of the collection and setting. Consideration is given to the challenges encountered in order to maintain a consistent approach between the intentions guiding the treatment of a setting and the objects therein, and to the question of whether it is appropriate for objects to be considered and treated out of their natural or wider context. Contents: Foreword; Acknowledgements; Context and understanding in country house collections – Christopher Ridgwayl; The decorative surface within the working royal palace – David Wheeler; The Picture Gallery and Grand Staircase at Attingham Park: to gild or not to gild? – Sarah Kay; The conservation and reproduction of neo-classical window seats designed by Robert Adam for the Library at Kenwood House – Ann Katrin Köster and Laura Houliston; The two make a pair: differentiated treatment of a pair of gilded stools displayed in the furniture gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum – Zoë Allen and Lea Wegwitz; Re-altering the glazing alterations of a Burne-Jones frame – Alastair Johnson; Working with complex collections: the Staffordshire Hoard – Deborah Cane; Making Mrs Soane’s Morning Room ‘permanently magical’ – Jane Wilkinson.