News

# Chinese wallpaper analysis kicks off Year of the Horse

One of the most comprehensive analytical studies of Chinese export wallpaper has
begun in our conservation studio

Published 12 March 2026

![Colourful Chinese painted wallpaper with birds and flowers on a green ground](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/media/images/IMG_6201_002_magpi.2e16d0ba.fill-1800x720.format-jpeg.jpegquality-60.bgcolor-fff.jpg)

Cutting-edge equipment at The National Archives is being used to analyse hand
painted historic wallpapers, dated between 1770-1812.

The wallpapers are from the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, whose paper conservator
Amy Junker Heslip is analysing their pigments and paper composition using X-ray
fluorescence and fibre-optic reflectance spectroscopy.

The luxury wallpapers were purchased for George IV. They were made in China
exclusively for export and imported to Britain by the British East India company
at a time when a round-trip took approximately 15 months by sea.

They cost the modern equivalent of £300 per roll and were sold in sets of 24 or
40 rolls to an exclusively upper-class European market. When demand for them was
at its peak merchants in the port of Guangzhou (Canton) were shipping around
3000 sheets each season.

Surviving examples can still be seen in stately homes around Britain, where it
was particularly popular for withdrawing rooms and ladies’ bedrooms.

Chinese researcher Jinren Yu, from the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, is undertaking PhD research in collaboration with the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew, and visited The National Archives to identify some of the plants
and flowers on the richly coloured wallpapers.

Ms Junker Heslip’s analysis is supported by The National Archives through the
RICHeS programme and by CHASE (The Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts
South-East England). As part of the UK’s major investment in heritage research,
RICHeS has enabled The National Archives to develop a high-tech heritage science
and conservation research laboratory in Kew, south-west London which is
available for use by other institutions.

> Analysis may show whether the sheets were made in the same or different
> workshops and even show whether they were designed by the same artists. The
> pigments used also tell an important story of trade at this time

Ms Amy Junker Heslip, paper conservator at the Royal Pavilion Brighton

      

![Two researchers use x-ray fluorescence equipment to examine grey Chinese wallpaper](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/media/images/IMG_sSxD9W1.max-1200x1200.format-jpeg.jpegquality-60.bgcolor-fff.jpg)

Researcher Amy Junker Heslip and her supervisor Marc Vermeulen examine the
surface of Chinese wallpaper using X-Ray Fluorescence

       

![A researcher leans over decorative yellow Chinese wallpaper examining the paint](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/media/images/IMG_PUcgnYd.max-1200x1200.format-jpeg.jpegquality-60.bgcolor-fff.jpg)

       

![A beautifully painted butterfly on green Chinese wallpaper](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/media/images/IMG_p9xudCO.max-1200x1200.format-jpeg.jpegquality-60.bgcolor-fff.jpg)

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