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Monthly Archives: June 2019
A Counterfeit Tortoise Shell Frame
Samuel Pepys’ diary entry for Wednesday 27 June 1666. He (Lovett) did also carry me to a Knight’s chamber in Graye’s Inne, where there is a frame of his making, of counterfeite [sic] tortoise shell, which indeed is most excellently … Continue reading
Picture This CXXXI
Stand down sleuths; there is absolutely nothing wrong with the top of this William and Mary walnut chest-on-stand! I merely offer it as an untouched thing of beauty (click to enlarge). Crossgrain-moulded, veneered and banded chest, circa 1695. (Mackinnon Fine … Continue reading
What One Can and Cannot Do
You may read this as the forward to a book I have a mind to write. When woodworking: One can use kiln-dried timber for most purposes. One can often employ machinery and power tools. One can stick wood together with … Continue reading
Tompion Miniature Table Clock Sold
Lot 103, a table clock, known as the ‘Q (queen) Clock’, made for Queen Mary II by English master clockmaker Thomas Tompion sold for £1,935,063 (AU$3,561,195.85/US$ 2,454,836.67) at Bonham’s The Clive Collection of Exceptional Clocks sale in London yesterday, Wednesday … Continue reading
Picture This CXXIX – Redux
Last night I watched the first episode of The Miniaturist, a television drama set in late seventeenth-century Amsterdam. The period-accurate attention to detail was astonishing. At one point, the young Petronella approached and opened a coffre forte, virtually identical to … Continue reading
A Pair of George II Irish Walnut Side Chairs – Part Four
This morning, Wellard alerted me to the arrival of an intruder: I lifted my eyes from the bench and saw a van trundling up the drive towards the house. I dusted myself down and set off across the yard to … Continue reading
Sawpit Perils
If you were a sawyer in the late eighteenth-century, you might not have begun your day’s work as early as other craftsmen and labourers, for the sawpit could, on occasion, be a hazardous place at the break of day. Duellists, … Continue reading
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