Scenic Wallpaper

Grande Chasse au Tigre dans l'Inde (The Tiger Hunt) Velay Manufactory, 1818

A client acquired a very rare set of The Tiger Hunt, also known as Paysage Indien, Chasse au Tigre, Chasse Indienne or Vues de l'Inde. This wallpaper was formerly attributed to Dufour but has since been attributed to the Velay Manufactory.* The Velay Manufactory was a contemporary of Dufour and active in Paris after 1807. There are very few remaining examples of this wallpaper. 

Working with the architectural constraints of the room, John Nalewaja and Jim Francis created the installation plan to reinstall this paper in a dining room. The plan ensured that the the paper to best advantage, the most dramatic scenes were featured prominently and favored details were positioned in high profile locations.  

In poor condition, this wallpaper required very careful handling and restoration. John and his assistants first stabilized the antique paper, then painstakingly prepared it to be re-installed in the client's dining room. 

This was the second time that John restored a set of Tiger Hunt panels. In the first restoration, the paper was so badly damaged that it required extensive artwork. Below is an example of a small section of the paper before restoration and after restoration. 

The scenes in this panoramic paper, some of which are said to have been taken from William and Thomas Daniell's Oriental Scenery published in London in 1795, depict the right bank of the River Ganges, with tigers being hunted on horseback.  Two temples are taken from Daniell's engraving Hindoo Temples at Bishabun.

After the paper was rehung, an artist touched up aged and damaged sections of the scene.  

In addition to the papers that John has restored in the United States, there are three other documented examples of this wallpaper in private collections in France, Belgium and Sweden.

Interestingly, Gracie has recently created a new version of The Tiger Hunt. You can see pictures of that paper installed here. 
 

*Papiers Peints Panoramiques, Exhibition Catalogue, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 1998, pp. 306-307.

See more of our Antique Wallpaper restorations here.