The conservation of a 18th-century heraldic drawing.

I recently conserved an eighteenth-century heraldic drawing from the KB-nationale Bibliotheek in The Hague showing the arms of Simon Iohan Steelant (left) and Cecilia Geertruij Mackenzie (right). The drawing was coloured in watercolour and gouache. The annotation was made in iron gall ink, which made it impossible to use water or moisture to smooth out the folds and distortions in the paper. Due to previous water damage, the ink had previously corroded and fractured the paper. As a result, part of the name was written over with black ink. The paper had areas of embedded dirt, tears and creases.

This drawing, dated 1758, in Delft, is part of a genealogical register of the van Steelant family.

The paper was surface-cleaned with cosmetic sponge and plastic eraser. Creases and deformations along the perimeter were locally moistened with a nanomister and flattened under weight. Tears were repaired with Japanese tissue paper.

The fractured area of paper was mended with Japanese paper pre-coated with an adhesive and gently re-moistened with mist. This method reduces the penetration of water to limit the reactivation of ink corrosion.