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Detail of the Bullerswood Carpet, around 1889. Historical reproduction; not a photograph of the current V&A display.

Behind the scenes · Textiles

A carpet the museum shows only half of

A carpet measuring 4 by 7.6 metres could cover an impressive area of floor. The Victoria and Albert Museum’s Bullerswood Carpet is instead displayed vertically, with only one half visible. That choice is about preservation: the museum says the carpet is periodically rotated to limit fading caused by light.

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William Morris and John Henry Dearle / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) · Resized and converted to WebP. Sources and image credits

A papier-mâché pregnancy model by Auzoux. Museum Boerhaave, Leiden, CC BY-SA 3.0.

World & object

A body of paper that was allowed to come apart

Louis Auzoux’s anatomical models were made to be opened up. They show how a nineteenth-century student could study the inside of a body without dissecting a new body every time.

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A papier-mâché pregnancy model by Auzoux. Museum Boerhaave, Leiden, CC BY-SA 3.0. Image credits

A robe à la française from the Rijksmuseum collection. Collection image: Rijksmuseum, CC0.

Behind the scenes

Why a museum is sometimes sparing with light

A watercolour or an old dress can be beautiful and still be shown in a fairly dark room. There, the museum is rationing something that cannot be given back: the amount of light the object can tolerate.

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A robe à la française from the Rijksmuseum collection. Collection image: Rijksmuseum, CC0. Image credits

Work by Alexandra Puscas, Waar Kleur Stroomt, supplied by MOYA for Boundless.

Discover MOYA · Oosterhout

MOYA: art beneath the church vaults

Contemporary art, a gallery and a church with plenty of room for looking. Discover MOYA and the announcement of Boundless.

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Work: Alexandra Puscas, Waar Kleur Stroomt. Source: MOYA.

Delft bottle painted with birds in a landscape. Rijksmuseum.

World & object

Delft Blue is earthenware that imitates porcelain

The blue and white looks like China. Beneath the glaze lies a different body.

New on 2 October

Detail of the Bullerswood Carpet, around 1889. Historical reproduction; not a photograph of the current V&A display.

A carpet the museum shows only half of

A carpet measuring 4 by 7.6 metres could cover an impressive area of floor. The Victoria and Albert Museum’s Bullerswood Carpet is instead displayed vertically, with only one half visible. That choice is about preservation: the museum says the carpet is periodically rotated to limit fading caused by light.

William Morris and John Henry Dearle / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

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