Monthly Archives: August 2012

Embroidered Furniture at Montacute House

Posted on 30th August 2012 by Jack Plane

From my absolute favourite English house, Andrew May, on the National Trust’s Montacute House blog has posted about a suite of embroidered furniture. One of the chairs is protected from the sun by a bold check case which I presume … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiques | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Four London Cabinet Founders and Ironmongers

Posted on 25th August 2012 by Jack Plane

Further to Furniture Brasses, the following London cabinet founders’ and ironmongers’ trade advertisements from the mid-eighteenth-century illustrate the vast array of merchandise they produced. John Giles & Shadrh. Mulliner, Cabinet Founders and Ironmongers, at the Two Candlesticks & Bell, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Cabinet Fittings | 4 Comments

Halloo! Young Glewpot!

Posted on 23rd August 2012 by Jack Plane

A Broken Leg, or the Carpenter the best Surgeon. circa 1800 (artist unknown). Jack Plane

Posted in Distractions | 1 Comment

Kitchen Cabinetmaking

Posted on 23rd August 2012 by Jack Plane

The Lottery Ticket or the Sunshine of Hope. c.1792 (artist unknown). Jack Plane

Posted in Distractions | 13 Comments

Cook’s Discovery of Australia

Posted on 21st August 2012 by Jack Plane

On the 21st of August, 1770 Captain James Cook arrived at Nova Hollandia (previously discovered by Dutchman, Abel Tasman in 1644; several other Europeans before him and various Melanesian and South East Asian peoples around 45,000 years prior to that), … Continue reading →

Posted in Distractions | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

The Case for Protecting Upholstery

Posted on 18th August 2012 by Jack Plane

The eighteenth-century witnessed an immense rise – and imbalance – in personal wealth, spawning the demand for comfortable and fashionable furnishings. Ownership of upholstered chairs and sofas would have come at considerable cost, confirming one’s status. It would have been … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiques | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Cleaning Brasses

Posted on 12th August 2012 by Jack Plane

Curiously, despite recently counselling against the polishing of brasses in Furniture Brasses, a couple of readers emailed me asking how best to go about polishing them. Instanter I referred to Miss Leslie’s House Book for the unequivocal answer which I … Continue reading →

Posted in Cabinet Fittings | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Furniture Brasses

Posted on 5th August 2012 by Jack Plane

In the early seventeenth-century, furniture fittings – handles, hasps, hinges and locks – were wrought from iron by black- and whitesmiths; often with surprising finesse. Whitesmiths also produced tinned iron fittings which, when new, would have shone like silver, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Cabinet Fittings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

The Acts of Union

Posted on 1st August 2012 by Jack Plane

On the 1st of August 1800 The Act of Union (Ireland) 1800 was signed by the Kingdom of Ireland (now the Republic of Ireland) – the Kingdom of Great Britain’s The Union with Ireland Act 1800 having been earlier signed on … Continue reading →

Posted in Distractions | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments