Chinese lantern

I am a paper conservation intern at the Royal British Columbia
Museum in Canada.  I am working on a Chinese lantern that is covered
in cotton gauze with paper embellishments dating to the 1950's.  The
fabric is extremely brittle, has numerous tears and splits, and is
covered with an unknown coating that is both water soluble and water
repellant.  The paper is lifted, cockled and torn.  The fabric
cannot be removed from the bamboo structure as it is too brittle,
but access to the interior of the lantern is also extremely
difficult.  I would greatly appreciate input from anyone who has
worked with a similar artifact and has ideas on possible treatments.

Manon Sauvage
Paper Conservation Intern
Royal British Columbia Museum
675 Belleville St.
Victoria BC V8W 9W2


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 29:3
                   Distributed: Monday, June 8, 2015
                        Message Id: cdl-29-3-017
                                  ***