Conserving Indian Manuscripts in the Royal Collection

The Royal Library at Windsor Castle houses an exquisite collection of South Asian paintings and manuscripts. Among them is a series of paintings from Rajasthan reproducing verses from the 12th century Sanskrit devotional poem, Gita Govinda (‘Song of the Cowherd’) by Jayadeva. 

These artworks are full of beautiful, intricate detail but become inherently fragile as they age. Conservation was undertaken to painstakingly re-secure lifting paint flakes under the microscope and complete different types of repair to the delicate papers.

Watch our film for a behind-the-scenes look inside our paper conservation studio, where hidden demons figures are revealed and insights into the creation of these beautiful manuscripts come to light.