This month’s object is a new museum acquisition: paper samples from Bosques del Papel in Peru. The museum collects sample books and swatches like these to document the wide varieties of paper made around the world. These sample books are resources for historians and artists to be able to see first-hand the kinds of papers available and used in different places and times.   

This month’s Artifact of the Month is a penmanship copybook from the 19th century (#1993.006.50). The covers are a single sheet of paste paper with a pattern of men in boats in the background, while in the bottom third of the sheet there are soldiers with rifles and a cannon. This whole scene, however, is dominated by the hooves and body of a saddled horse in profile along with the leg of its rider. The owner of the copybook, Emanuel Fiddler, wrote his name on both covers.

This month’s Artifact of the Month is a Christmas card from Twinrocker to the Paper Museum in 1974. The single folded sheet of handmade paper contains the printed words “Christmas 1974” and the Twinrocker logo as well as a handwritten note in blue ink: “Warm wishes in 1975 Kathryn and Howard and everyone at Twinrocker.” The central figure of the paper is a blue five-pointed star made of paper pulp.  

This month’s Artifact of the Month is a woodblock designed by Kate Faulkner in the late 1800s (#1989.2118). The block consists of three layers of one-inch-wide wood planks laminated with nails and screws. The top layer is carved around the edges and there are outlines of a floral pattern made of brass and copper wire along with felt.

This month’s Artifact of the Month is an artist book from 1985 made by Ruth Laxson (2021.10.010). Laxson’s book is folded like an accordion and is comprised of six panels on an off-white paper with a neatly torn edge. The subject of these panels is a landscape of yellow, blue, purple, pink, and green scribbles and torn, adhered paper from which red strings sprout. In the upper third of the middle panels, flying blue and red hummingbirds have been stamped.

This month’s Artifact of the Month is a collection of Indian mica paintings (A#1993.005.641.A-O). These fifteen 19th century paintings were created by Indian artists during the colonial period for the Anglo-American souvenir market. Along with other local art, they were so popular amongst government officials, merchants, and missionaries that they came to be known as “Company Paintings” collectively.

This month’s Artifact of the Month is a sheet of Turkish marbled paper, ebru, made by Mustafa Esat Düzgünman in 1977 (2019.09.0010). This ebru example consists of three red tulips and four white tulips on a single green stem with leaves on a dark blue-green stone patterned background. Düzgünman signed in pencil to the right of the stem’s base. He was one of the foremost ebru makers of the 20th century along with his mentor, Necmeddin Okyay. Okyay revolutionized floral designs, çiçekli, with the new style eventually being named after him.   

This month’s Artifact of the Month is a sheet of Chinese dressing room wallpaper from the 20th century that was painted and woodblocked by hand. The pattern is comprised of shimmering gray-green moths, vines, and gourds on a rust-colored background. The single color of the pattern indicates that only one woodblock was used for printing. This wallpaper was clearly handmade as evidenced by the slight misalignment of the pattern on the sheet, the brushstrokes of the red background, and the varying values due to uneven pressure application.