Monthly Archives: May 2014
Oak and other Furniture at Bonhams
Bonhams have two interesting sales coming up soon: The first, on the 3rd of June 2014 at Kidlington, Oxford, is titled The Oak Interior. Lot 162. A Charles II oak geometric chest of drawers, with painted decoration. The second sale, … Continue reading
In Which My Trousers Catch Alight
Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with my frequent banging-on about authenticity and reluctance or, more often, refusal to reproduce any piece of furniture until I can locate (at least an image of) an extant, unaltered example to … Continue reading
Picture This XXIX
There was a fashion in the late eighteenth-century to dress up oak case furniture with mahogany crossbanding; bureaux and bureau bookcases, low dressers, linen presses, mule chests and chests of drawers were amongst the recipients (fig. 1). Fig. 1. Mahogany-crossbanded … Continue reading
Picture This XXVIII
I recently came across this provincial tripod table dating from the end of the eighteenth-century; made from mahogany and what, from its colour, appears to be alder or Scots mahogany. The circular dished and moulded table top is made from … Continue reading
George II Walnut Ladderback Chair – Part Four
The use of spirit and oil varnishes is documented well before the second quarter of the eighteenth-century whence this chair hails from. However, despite the protection and gloss that varnish affords furniture, chairs of this period often received nothing more … Continue reading
Pegs and 'Tails 