CONSERVATION OF THE DINING ROOM WALLPAPER
|
Kirna Manor (Gutshof Kirna) is a manor located in Järvamaa county, Estonia established in the 1620s. The late Baroque manor house was likely built at the end of the 18th century under the leadership of Carl Gustav von Fersen. In the 19th century, the manor was transformed into a classical style, and a portico with six columns was added to the central part of the facade.
Currently, the main building of the manor houses a natural therapy and healing center, and the manor park features the largest natural tulip field in Northern and Baltic countries. In the spacious dining hall of Kirna Manor, three layers of historical wallpaper have been preserved. The oldest wallpaper dates back to the 1850s, and two large-format probes were made to exhibit it. The wallpaper pattern is divided into two framed fields of different sizes - the larger field depicts a scene of deer hunting. In the center of the smaller field, various sizes of bottles, fish hanging upside down, and birds are depicted. The scenes are surrounded by fantastic architecture consisting of spiral staircases, volutes, and balustrades. The composition of the deer hunting scene on the Kirna Manor wallpaper resembles a scene from the French panoramic wallpaper "Grande Chasse" (in Estonian "Suur jaht"). The panoramic wallpaper was designed by the French painter Antoine Dury (1819 – approx. 1896) for the wallpaper manufactory of Étienne Délicourt (1809 - 1883). The deer hunting scene depicted on the Kirna Manor wallpaper appears to be a simplified version of Délicourt's panoramic wallpaper, where the focus is on the deer and a hunting dog attacking it, surrounded by other dogs. During the conservation work of the wallpaper, a fragment of the wallpaper manufacturer's stamp was found, from which "HELSIN… TAPETFA…" could be read, likely referring to the Helsinki Wallpaper Factory, founded by Carl Wilhelm Ignatius Sundman. |
