Finished a project

[Brian Holcombe]

Thank you Dave. I will not be at Williamsburg unfortunately. It just isn't in the cards for me this year.

The way I see this piece is that the original owner had money but not a lot. He aspired to show off his "wealth" and good taste, but either didn't have the necessary funds or lived in a rural area without a cabinetmaker to make such a piece with veneer and inlay. So, he wandered down to the local joinery shop and asked for something close. Or the joiner himself knew a thing or two about Boston high style but lacked the skills / tools / materials to make the oyster veneer and inlaid vine work, but had a paintbrush and an imagination.

Had the opposite been the case we'd be looking at ebony and rosewoods I assume, or something much different?

[Zach Dillinger]

Had the opposite been the case we'd be looking at ebony and rosewoods I assume, or something much different?

Brian, given the late-ish date (1720) attributed to the piece, I actually think we would have been looking at something more akin to a high chest, had the original owner been wealthy. That was the high style form of the period and the paintwork on the side panels is said to be an attempt at "oyster veneer", which is prominently seen on some such pieces. The bevel drawer moldings approximates figured banding seen on the drawer fronts of the period. The painted vine work could be an attempt at marquetry / inlay. So, honestly, I think this was a joiner who knew enough about how high style pieces looked to make something he knew how to make (i.e. a joined chest of drawers) look close enough.

The ebony and rosewood decoration on similar joined chests of drawers are common, but on pieces 20 - 30 years earlier, when the joined chest was the dominant case piece of the realm.

Zach,
Excellent choice of an unusual form to build and decorate - I think once people overcome the surprise that these pieces were originally very colorful, there will be a growing appreciation and, hopefully, market for them. To me, the colors add much more vitality and even cheerfulness to the furniture and its environment; not bad for the fairly pious and restrictive people who had it made originally. I'd rank this "lesson" you've given us up there with Peter Follansbee's reproduction cabinet he made for the MFA in Boston, where his work is displayed right next to the original. Their original is even darker and in worse condition, so seeing Peter's "as new" rendition next to it is almost shocking. Thank you for making it and sharing with us.

By the way, what did you use for paint - linseed oil and powdered pigments, hide glue like Peter, or is there another source? I've been working on some traditional decorative woodwork and can't settle on the best paint - especially for painted details; regular artist's oils just take too long to dry when thinned enough to act like 'enamel", and I can't find the right amount of drier to use in small portions.

regards,
Karl

Karl, thank you for the kind words. I've seen Peter's cabinet at the MFA in person and it is a great contrast with the original. I'd love to have mine alongside the original piece at the Met someday, or at least a picture, but I'm not sure that will work out. They did put my pictures and emails in with the object file for future use, so that's something!

The paints I used are linseed oil and powdered pigments. Getting the thickness right is the hard part, especially for intricate detail work, where the paint needs to be thick enough to avoid runs but thin enough to load the brush and carry long lines without reapplying paint to the brush. I mixed the carbon black paint for the case much thinner than normal per the chemical analysis of the original; apparently it was thin enough to really soak into the pores of the wood and leave the grain structure quite prominent on the finished piece. When I mixed it, the paint was about the consistency of skim milk. For the decorative work, it was closer to whole milk, perhaps bordering on heavy whipping cream thickness. Applying the paint consistently and somewhat thinly is the key to success... thick paint coats will run and then never dry.

I experimented a while to get the thicknesses perfect. My method for this is to use small artists paint pots. For the tiny ones (about 1" diameter, 1" tall, round), I would add 4 drops of japan drier (5 if the paint is green), then I add about 1/3 to 1/2 of a pot-full of linseed oil. Then I add pigment incrementally until I achieve a thickness that is just under what I want, then I add stand oil (sun thickened linseed oil from the art supply store) to get me where I want to be. This gives a paint that dries to the touch within a day or so, although for whatever reason my green paints seem to take longer to dry. I'm sure there is a chemical reason for it but I'm no chemist.

Hope this helps!

[george wilson]

Looks very nice,Zach. People in the old days loved color possibly even more than we do today. Color was expensive,and Earth tones more plentiful. Therefore bright colors were more appreciated. Our concepts have changed today since we readily see bright colors on TV,and other places.

You might make the wear patterns on the feet less "exacting" looking,I think,however.

[Zach Dillinger]

Looks very nice,Zach. People in the old days loved color possibly even more than we do today. Color was expensive,and Earth tones more plentiful. Therefore bright colors were more appreciated. Our concepts have changed today since we readily see bright colors on TV,and other places.

You might make the wear patterns on the feet less "exacting" looking,I think,however.

Hi George, thanks for that. I'm not sure what you mean by wear patterns, though... I didn't age this piece. I think there might be a reflection of something on the proper right foot, but the color is consistently red or black throughout. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean.

[george wilson]

I can't tell from the picture if the black on the old feet was worn away on the bulbous parts,or if the brighter areas were left intentionally painted to expose the lighter wood underneath as a hard edged stripe. Usually a simply worn area would fade around the edges in a sort of ragged edge sunburst sort of pattern.(words not good this A.M.!)

[Zach Dillinger]

I can't tell from the picture if the black on the old feet was worn away on the bulbous parts,or if the brighter areas were left intentionally painted to expose the lighter wood underneath as a hard edged stripe. Usually a simply worn area would fade around the edges in a sort of ragged edge sunburst sort of pattern.(words not good this A.M.!)

Ahh, I understand now. According to the museum's analysis, the original had red pigment on the feet in between the lathe-incised lines. I did the lines and painted them red, but have no intention of aging this piece at all, as the shocking newness of it is what gives it its interest in my opinion.

[george wilson]

So,the crisp edges were intentional. Great!!