The RICHeS team recently returned to Hampton Court Palace to meet with the team delivering the RICHeS’ funded HRP REsearch Vault for HEritAge Science CoLlections (REVEAL) project, led by Dr Constantina Vlachou-Mogire. This project is enhancing both physical and digital storage of key heritage science collections ranging from delicate tapestries and historic textiles to pigments of paint from key artists like Rubens and historic building materials. The REVEAL project is opening up decades of specialist expertise and research, helping to drive forward the future of conservation and heritage science.
Unlocking centuries of collections
Following our initial visit in December, where the RICHeS team explored the Great Hall and its tapestries, this return visit provided a deeper look behind the scenes including viewing a room with a Tudor fireplace, where Queen Jane Seymour may have stayed during her pregnancy and labour of Henry VIII’s son Edward VI.
Touring the collection stores, the RICHeS team encounter remarkable artefacts such as wallpaper from the 1560s that vividly depicts St George slaying the dragon. This rare piece is believed to have once adorned to the rooms of a Lady in Waiting under Queen Elizabeth I. Other highlights included 17th-century Tijou ironwork leaves, wooden carvings by Grinling Gibbons and striking examples of Tudor-era architectural terracotta and paste work, each showcasing centuries of building techniques. Because some of these methods were only in use for brief historical periods, the preserved samples offer a unique window into architectural history. For example, Tudor bricks in the collection can be carefully dated, aiding researchers and opening possibilities for future collaborations with architectural historians.
Central to the REVEAL project is improving access to these resources, ensuring that both the academic and wider heritage communities can engage with them.
Bringing modern science to historical collections
In the HRP Heritage Science Laboratory, the REVAL team demonstrated the use of hyperspectral imaging, a technology funded through AHRC’s Capability for Collections Fund (CapCo) and DSIT’s Research and Innovation Organisations Infrastructure Fund, to study artworks and artefacts in new ways.
Credit: Historic Royal Palaces
In collaboration with the manufacturer ClydeHSI, the team has developed a groundbreaking non-invasive method for the analysis of materials on historic tapestries. Samples created during the European Commission-funded project Monitoring of Damage in Historic Tapestries (MODHT) (2002 – 2005) were used in this research providing important external library for the characterisation of the dyes demonstrating the value of reference sample collections in advancing research. The MODHT samples alongside a large collection of historic tapestry fragments will be catalogued and become available for future research through the REVEAL archive.
This same imaging technology was used to analyse St Mary’s Guildhall tapestry in Coventry, to help identify the dyes used and uncovered evidence that Catholic rosaries had been deliberately removed, a powerful reminder of the religious and socio-political changes the shaped the artefacts history. The RICHeS team were delighted by the REVEAL team’s enthusiasm for utilising their existing equipment on collaborative projects and for enhancing the accessibility of their collections. Reflecting this further, the team has created 3D models of items within their Royal Wardrobe collection that are available to the public through Google Arts.
Dr Constantina Vlachou-Mogire shares:
“We were delighted to welcome back the RICHeS Team at Hampton Court Palace and the HRP Heritage Science Laboratory. Over the years Historic Royal Palaces, have generated invaluable reference materials and data however, without a dedicated infrastructure these materials have not been accessible and the associated data are not linked. The REVEAL project will deliver a purpose-built facility, organising and securing fragile samples in
conditions designed for long-term preservation. Another key goal of the REVEAL project is constructing a robust digital environment to enable discovery,
access, and reuse of our heritage science data which will be organised under the FAIR principles. We are excited to be part of the RICHeS programme and look forward to working with the RICHeS team as well as our external partners on the successful delivery of the REVEAL repository an important resource to advance research and knowledge transfer in conservation and heritage science “