Opening up the Chinese Wallpaper Collection

The Prince Regent, the creator of the Royal Pavilion, used Chinese wallpapers in many of his sumptuous interiors. A substantial number of sheets and fragments survive from different stages of the Pavilion’s history, carefully stored but rarely seen until now.

A grant from the Paul Mellon Foundation for Studies in British Art is making it possible for us to take a closer look at this specialised wallpaper collection, one of the most important of its kind in the world.

With Royal Pavilion curator Alexandra Loske, and National Trust curator and expert on Chinese wallpapers Emile de Bruijn, we will carefully unroll and examine these beautiful and rare examples of Chinese pictorial wallpaper from the time of the Prince Regent.

We will be able to accurately photograph, measure and document all of these wallpapers and fragments and carefully wrap and repack the papers in archival enclosures.

We look forward to sharing our findings but for now the images below can give you an idea of what is to come.