Decorated and Decorative Paper Collection

The Decorated and Decorative Paper Collection is part of the University of Washington's Digital Collections. The online database is a selection of different types of decorative papers from Europe. Most of the papers date from the 17th to the 19th centuries in France, Italy, and Germany, and are either loose samples or the covers or endsheets of books. The database was created using ContentDM, which is a digital collection management software.

The user can either browse through the pattern examples or conduct a keyword search. However, I found that the basic search function does not work and it is very difficult to go back to the home page for the collection. If browsing, the user would find that all of the samples are organized alphabetically by pattern type. Alternative names are also given. A brief written description of the pattern and its history is provided. Most of the descriptive metadata was culled from two books: The art of marbled paper : marbled patterns and how to make them and Marbled paper: its history, techniques, and patterns : with special reference to the relationship of marbling to bookbinding in Europe and the Western world. When the users clicks to view examples, s/he is presented with various thumbnails and descriptions of examples within each decoration type. The metadata includes a description from one or both of the above books on how the pattern was created, the colors used, and so forth.

It is unfortunate that the search features do not appear to be working on this site because the metadata for each sample is very impressive. When the user clicks on specific sample, s/he will get a large, high-quality view of the image and the following metadata information: title, artist, date, descriptive notes, collection notes, paper process/medium, prominent pattern type (keywords such as a escargot, tourniquet, schnecken, etc.), secondary pattern types, object type, physical description, references, digital collection (Decorated and Decorative Paper Collection), unique digital image number, respository (University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections Division), repository collection, unique reference number, digital reproduction information, and full resolution file name. Some of the metadata is obviously automatically generated while others such as collection notes must be manually entered.

As I mentioned earlier, the image quality is very high. The images are not JPEGS but are PHP files (thus, I was only able to link the lower quality thumbnail images to this blog). Users can rotate the images, view them at maximum resolution -- good enough to see the grain of the paper! -- or to fit them on the screen at different size percentages, and view them in a separate window.

This web database is clearly for people who have a deep interest in decorated and decorative papers. I imagine that most users are interested in creating these patterns for themselves and/or want to be better informed in historical decorative paper-making. The collection is particularly nice because it provides users with detailed descriptions on the colors and techniques used for each pattern, the pattern's history, and a variety of vivid images to give artists ideas for their own creations.