Change or Damage? Effect of Climate on Decorative Furniture Surfaces in Historic Properties

Within historic houses furniture surfaces are often richly decorated which can lead to an increased risk of damage due to the different environmental responses of materials. These composite objects are extremely difficult to study and a systematic work assessing the damage caused by changing humidity and by exposure to light still needs to be performed and is the focus of this proposal. With wood having been assessed as the second most damaged material in English Heritage collections, a number of curatorial questions arise, which need to be answered in an interdisciplinary context. The management of furniture collections, particularly decorative surfaces which are extremely costly to perform conservation interventions on, could become even more difficult due to climate change.

Although these objects are well known to be at a great risk of damage, the unanswered questions are still very fundamental. How dry does the environment need to be for damage to occur? How fast does damage occur? How long does it have to be dry for damage to occur? There are also questions about what constitutes damage. Understanding how conservators, curators and the public feel about these questions can also inform decisions about how to manage and care for the collection and its display environment. Intensive cooperation with English Heritage curators and interpretation officers is therefore planned to answer these questions.

Experimental, as well as in situ research will be carried out in order to understand the effect of the display environment. Since small changes are difficult to measure, sensitive equipment is required in situ. The impact of modern scientific equipment within a historic interior also has to be assessed. After the sensitivity of objects to the environment is modelled, the integration of these models with environmental modelling will be attempted. This will allow for examination of various scenarios, informed by climate change predictions.

The outcomes of the project will be intensively disseminated, however, to increase project impact, studies will be performed on how to integrate the new knowledge on the sensitivity of decorated surfaces into heritage management practices, standards and guidelines.

The research will benefit policy-makers, including both British (BSI) and European (CEN) standards and public sector organisations, including project partner English Heritage, by identifying adverse environmental conditions, at which the risk of damage is unacceptable, for furniture collections with decorative furniture surfaces. Representatives from these groups agreed to become members of the Advisory Board, in order to maximise project impact.

The impact will be further strengthened through publications, presentations and the conference reporting the results and helping improve management practices. The results may also help develop loan conditions and standards for these collections similar to those for paintings by the Bizot group of museum directors.

The definition of damage for these collections and the production of environmental models predicting their behaviour into the future will benefit international conservation groups (e.g. ICOM-CC and IIC) as well as UK professional and practice groups (e.g. ICON). It will also be relevant to furniture manufacturers, private conservators and furniture restorers, but particularly to furniture collection managers helping them to reduce the costs of furniture conservation and restoration. To ensure these groups benefit fully the project will be communicated via journals published by and presentations at conferences organised by the professional bodies. The website, video and final conference will also be available to provide further details. The project will also be disseminated through the Net Heritage EU project, particularly through its Heritage Observatory.

Museums, galleries, heritage organisations (e.g. National Trust) and private historic house owners will benefit from the proposed research as a result of the improved understanding and management of these collections. The thresholds and damage functions, as well as informing standards, and improved management practices will give greater awareness of the care of the collections. The damage seminar and definition of damage for these collections will help elucidate curators, conservators and scientists' opinions. Publication of these details and definitions will also inform risk assessments of collections. To ensure the impact is maximised the research will published in journals and presented at both UK and international conferences, as well as at the project conference.

Tours of Kenwood House and the exhibition on the project will inform visitors and the home and antiques media about the research. The project outcomes will be communicated to these groups by the video, website and publications.