A SIX-FOLD PAINTED AND CHINESE WALLPAPER DECOUPAGE SCREEN, THE WALLPAPER LATE 18TH/19TH CENTURY

The practice of cutting out motifs from wallpaper panels to apply to other surfaces dates back to the 18th century. In the 1760s Mary, Duchess of Ancaster used birds, plants and flowers from Chinese wallpaper to decorate the Birdcage Room at Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire, and during the 1820s Lady Hertford hung a set of 18th century Chinese wallpaper at Temple Newsam and proceeded to embellish the panels with birds cut out of Audubon's Birds of America (see S. Sloboda, Chinoiserie, Manchester 2014, p.129-31).