Capturing the Materiality of the Prize Papers: a set of 19th-century textile samples from Canton and Batavia as a case study

获奖论文是由英国国家档案馆（TNA）收藏的一个庞大、独特和偶然的收藏：早期现代生活的时间胶囊，参考了全球不同社会和文化背景的人们的日常生活。这些藏品是在1652年至1815年的各种欧洲战争中，英国私掠船和军舰战利品（或合法捕获敌舰）的结果。为了声称合法捕获并将自己与海盗区分开来，海员们不得不没收船上的每一张废纸，并将其带到伦敦海事高等法院。几个世纪以来，该法院积累了大量未投递的信件、贸易和海事文件、殖民管理文件、笔记本和旅行日志。此外，该系列还收藏了一系列人工制品，包括信件中的小物件（珠宝、纽扣、丝带、刺绣织物），为物质研究和公众参与提供了独特的机会。我们提出了一个项目，利用TNA的capco资助的设备，开发创新的方法来分析获奖论文收藏中物品的材料组成，以更好地了解它们的生产和使用，并支持它们的保护和保存。关键的是，我们建议通过与被调查对象的文化起源有联系的社区接触来完成这项任务。该项目将重点研究一件迷人的物品：Jan Bekker Teerlink的钱包，这是1803年5月31日在从中国返回欧洲的普鲁士船只Henriette上装载茶叶的超级货物，该货物在荷兰海岸附近被捕获。他的钱包里有荷兰语和中文的钞票，一绺黑发，来自南非的种子，以及一套色彩鲜艳的中国丝绸和印度印花布样品。遗产科学和保护的研究人员将开发、测试和应用非/微侵入方法，使用包括capco资助的仪器（TNA的多光谱成像系统和拉曼显微镜，维多利亚和阿尔伯特博物馆（VAM）的Hirox 3D数码显微镜）在内的分析和成像套件来分析纺织品样品。在我们的合作伙伴网络的支持和专业知识下，我们希望深入了解纺织品的生产背景，基材和染料的状况，以及它们对光线和其他环境因素的脆弱性。随后将对其他收藏（如VAM）中同一时期的中国和印度服装的图案和材料进行比较研究，以尝试将获奖论文中发现的织物样品置于背景中。该项目还将巩固TNA与诺丁汉特伦特大学和米兰大学的研究人员之间的有益合作，这些研究人员正在开发用于纺织品染料微或非侵入性分析的新方法，他们热衷于将他们的发展应用于实验室条件下的模拟样品，优化它们用于历史样品。研究的每个阶段都将是一个持续的全面的公众参与项目：从为钱包中的文件寻找社区翻译人员，向英国的华人和印度人社区学习他们对自己历史的理解，包括他们对亚洲纺织传统的了解，到为这些社区的家庭提供纺织染色和印刷实践讲习班，以及一个制造者驻场项目。

The Prize Papers are a vast, unique and serendipitous collection held by The National Archives (TNA): time-capsules of daily life in the Early Modern period referencing people from diverse social and cultural backgrounds across the globe. The collection is the result of prize-taking (or the legal capturing of enemy ships) by English privateers and warships during the various European wars between 1652 and 1815. To claim a legal capture and distinguish themselves from mere pirates, seafarers had to confiscate every scrap of paper aboard and take it to the High Court of Admiralty in London, which over the centuries accumulated a huge archive of undelivered letters, trade and maritime documents, colonial administration papers, notebooks and travel journals. Furthermore, the collection holds a range of artefacts, including small objects enclosed in letters (jewellery, buttons, ribbons, embroidered fabrics) which offer a unique opportunity for materiality research and public engagement.We propose a project that uses TNA's CapCo-funded equipment to develop innovative ways of analysing the material make-up of objects in the Prize Papers collection, to better understand their production and use and to support their conservation and preservation. Critically, we propose approaching this task through engagement with communities with a connection to the cultural origins of the objects under investigation.The project will focus on a captivating object as a case study: the wallet of Jan Bekker Teerlink, the supercargo on the Prussian ship Henriette returning from China to Europe with a cargo of tea, which was captured en route off the Dutch coast on 31 May 1803. The contents of his wallet include notes in Dutch and Chinese, a lock of dark hair, seeds from South Africa and a set of vividly dyed samples of Chinese silk and Indian chintz. Researchers in Heritage Science and Conservation will develop, test and apply non/micro-invasive methods to analyse the textile samples using the analytical and imaging suite that include CapCo-funded instruments (TNA's multispectral imaging system and Raman microscope, Victoria and Albert Museum's (VAM) Hirox 3D digital microscope). With the support and expertise of our partner network, we hope to gain insight into the production context of the textiles, the condition of the substrate and dyes, and their vulnerability to light and other environmental factors. Comparative studies of the patterns and materials of Chinese and Indian garments from the same period held in other collections (such as the VAM) will follow, in an attempt to contextualise the fabric samples found in the Prize Papers. The project will also consolidate beneficial collaborations between TNA and researchers developing new methods for the micro or non-invasive analysis of textile dyes at Nottingham Trent University and the University of Milan, who are keen to apply their developments beyond mock-up samples in laboratory conditions, optimising them for historic samples.An integral part of every stage of the research will be an ongoing comprehensive public engagement programme: from community-sourcing translators for the documents in the wallet, learning from Chinese and Indian communities in the UK about their understanding of their histories and including their knowledge of the tradition of textile making in Asia, to hands-on textile dyeing and printing workshops for families in those communities and a Maker in Residence programme.