A collection of beautiful umbrellas is being saved for a rainy day thanks to a painstaking conservation project.
More than 230 umbrellas and parasols housed at the Leeds Discovery Centre are being carefully documented and catalogued by students from the University of York working with curators from Leeds Museums and Galleries.
The huge collection, which dates from the late 18th century, includes a range of both practical and stunningly decorative examples which were once used to shield their former owners from the elements or to make a bold fashion statement.
Examples include a delicate pink silk parasol dating from the 1850s, which features a frilled border, black silk lining and a carved ivory handle.
Also part of the collection is a sturdier black umbrella, with a hand-carved Indian ivory handle and a gold cap which dates from around 1865. The umbrella was crafted by JJ Leggat in Harrogate and was donated by a member of the public whose great aunt was presented it by its maker.
Among the more colourful examples is a paper and bamboo parasol thought to be brought from Hong Kong in the 1920s. With a bamboo handle and a frame of bamboo strips, it is decorated with a floral design in red, white, yellow and black.
Once the collection has been fully catalogued, key examples will be photographed and featured online before further work to showcase them digitally takes place.
The Leeds Discovery Centre is home to more than a million objects and is used to store parts of the Leeds collection which are not currently on display, spanning tens of millions of years of world history.
The centre is free to visit by appointment. For more details on how to book, visit: https://museumsandgalleries.leeds.gov.uk/leeds-discovery-centre
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