Painting on shattered silk

We are in possession of a 19th century battle flag which has a
painted field. At first look it appears that the paint has all
flaked and cupped, but in actuality the paint is adhered to the
silk, but because of action of the paint, the silk where the
painting is has shattered. So it is the textile rather than the
paint that is the problem. On closer examination it appears that the
paint has shrunk enough to have pulled the silk apart. Does anyone
have ideas as to how to make this flag more presentable?

Spencer Waldron,
Objects Conservator,
North Carolina Museum of History


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:37
                 Distributed: Friday, December 19, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-22-37-033
                                  ***