The restoration of the French children's carriage

This beautifully decorated carriage dates from the last quarter of the 18th century. The doors are painted with flowers, clouds and plump putti. Inside, it is elegantly upholstered with pale yellow damask to match the doors. Because of the rich appearance of this little vehicle, you could call it a city or gala coupe. But in children's format.

It is a full-sized carriage in everything. It has a wooden body with leather roof, is suspended by leather straps and has suspension on the front and rear axles. Only it probably didn't have a horse riding in front of it but two billy goats. Common with children's carriages.

But children's carriages of this caliber were not that 'common'. Not at all in the Netherlands. And even in France a carriage of this quality was only for the very rich. Only the children of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette had this kind of toy.

Baron and Baroness Van Zuylen van Nijevelt must have bought it around 1895 for their sons Hélin and Egmont who were toddlers at the time. Unfortunately, we do not have any photographs of the carriage in use.

Restoration

The deplorable state of especially the interior textiles and the upholstery of the billy goat that had completely decayed, detracted from the rich ensemble. The carriage was also seriously soiled by dust, deposits and bat pee. Although the physical condition of the bodywork was not terribly bad, it certainly needed some work.

This object requires conservators with specific knowledge and experience. Oostendorp Meubelstoffering ( Dick Oostendorp) and textile restoration studio ICAT (Sadegh Memarian) are working together to remove and replace the interior textiles. Oostendorp takes out the textiles and researches replacement fabrics and reinsertion. ICAT restores the still usable textiles and in partnership they seek the best middle ground between conservation and replacement.

Restoration studio Enkzicht (Maurice Steemers) for furniture and wood restoration has specific experience in the historical house world, with carriages but also with furniture and statues with polychromy. He tackles bodywork and painted panels.

First activities

First, tests for surface cleaning of both the black and painted parts took place in restoration studio Enkzicht. The tests went well. Parts were cleaned with a soft gel based on a ph of 6.5: Pemulen Tr2. In reality, the improvement is easy to see. In photos a little less.

At the same time, Oostendorp and ICAT are researching the condition of the removed textiles and the possibility of restoration. Because several textile parts have completely disappeared, the existing fabrics must be supplemented with new fabrics. These must, of course, be of the same composition quality and pattern as the original. Research is also being done into the possible self-dyeing of fabrics to achieve the most harmonious whole.

The renovation

The original skirt of the billy goat

Fabrics and fabric from a long time ago

Reproducing a small piece of unbroken piping is extremely expensive

Sadegh Memarian considers cleaning
and capitoning the fabric of the door

The textile parts of the children's carriage consist of two door panels, the seat and seat cushion and the upholstery of the buck.

ICAT started dismantling all parts (decorative bands, buttons, residual nails) of the two door panels, the seat and the seat cushion. The objects have (partly) horsehair stuffing and a jute lining. With the exception of the seat cushion which has a linen lining. During disassembly, many moth remains and dead spiders were found.

All parts, including the fillings and linings were packed airtight and placed in the freezing room under a constant temperature of -21 °C to control the pests present. After the freezing treatment, the material was mechanically cleaned to remove the dust and residues of vermin present. Then everything was wet cleaned.

The removed fabrics were completely doubled with a thin silk fabric; the parts with the greatest damage were provided with an extra layer of support. Then all parts were covered with a tulle/protection mesh. The tulle and support layer were painted in an appropriate camouflage color. Finally, all parts were reassembled.

One of the biggest challenges is the conservation of the textile parts of the coach.

The largely decayed seat of the buck contains a decorative fringe at the bottom that needs a lot of attention. The first step was to disassemble the decorative fringe which is attached with glue to a leather-like material, this glue has decayed. The glue residue has been removed and the next step is to mechanically and wet clean the trim and fringe edge.

Moth eggs found after disassembly

After wet cleaning

Upholstery of the goat

Dismantling