RESTORATION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF PAPIER-MÂCHÉ DECORATION
|
Suure-Kõpu Manor (Gutshof Gross-Köppo) is located in Viljandimaa. The main building, which still stands today, was completed in 1847. This two-story stone mansion with articulated facades is built in the late neoclassical style. The manor's interiors have preserved a hall with faux marble walls, several representative rooms with rich paintings, and a salon decorated with papier-mâché. Currently, the main building of the manor houses the Kõpu primary school.
The neorococo-style papier-mâché cornice and rosette of Suure-Kõpu Manor adorn the salon adjacent to the manor's marble hall. The decoration can be roughly dated to the late 19th or early 20th century. The approximate date was determined by an earlier layer under the papier-mâché ornaments – an Art Nouveau painted frieze. The manor's papier-mâché decor consists of two layers: a base ornament and individually sewn upper ornaments. The base ornament, composed of several decorative friezes, is attached to the vaulted ceiling with wooden strips and divided into panels. The upper ornaments (seashells, flaming amphoras, acanthus) are sewn onto the base ornament with linen thread, covering the joints of the panels in the middle and corners of the walls. During the restoration, I cleaned the ornaments of thick chalk paint. The grayish tone of the ornaments and the bronze-colored details were excellently preserved under the paint layer. Since one-third of the decor was extensively damaged or destroyed, I had to replace it with reconstructions. To do this, I modeled copies of all the decorative parts and took plaster molds from them. The reconstructions, finished with linseed oil paint, were installed in the required places following the original method. |
