Regency Rosewood And Beech Sofa (ca.1820)

The Completed Sofa

A recent piece that I restored was an English sofa made during the Regency period. The sofa was made primarily of Beech and had Brazilian Rosewood veneer inlayed with brass in a process known as Boulle work, named after a French cabinetmaker named Andre Charles Boulle (1642-1732) who specialized in Marquetry and invented the process. The process employed in Boulle work is to layer a sacraficial piece of veneer with a piece of the primary veneer being used and a sheet of contrasting veneer or metal. On top of these layers an image is applied. Using a fine saw, the layers are simultaneously cut through producing a piece of veneer with a positive and negative image as well as a piece of metal or contrasting veneer with a positive and negative image. The image itself is sacrificed in the process and the sacrificial veneer is used to keep the valued veneer from splintering with the force of the saw.  The cabinetmaker is then free to use the veneer as the image and the metal as the groundwork or to use the metal for the image and the veneer for the ground. In fact, pieces can be seen where one image is on the front of the piece and the reverse is on the opposite side. The difference between this and marquetry is that with marquetry, each piece is cut individually to create the image.

During the time when this technique was first developed, examples were seen in silver and tortoise shell. The silver was sometimes also engraved. For most of the 18th century, this practice was out of favor, but it came back into use in the early 19th century in England and can be seen on pieces made during the Regency period. In most of these pieces from the Regency period, brass and Rosewood are used. This is commonly seen in sofas as well as occasional tables and chairs. 

Most of the front facade of the sofa I worked on was covered in Boulle work. Where it was not covered, The primary wood (Beech) was stained and fauxed with India ink to simulate Rosewood. In addition to all of this, the feet were capped with cast brass casters that were extremely ornate and echoed the design of the Boulle work. Below is a photo of the sofa when it entered my shop.    

 The central image on the veneer is seen in the photo below. This was seen in four separate places on the sofa and was probably made all at once. The image is a stylized plant growing around and out of an Urn. The urn is a commonly used symbol in neoclassical furniture forms.

 While walking through a friends garden, I realized that the plant in question was a Poppy plant. Once I looked at the image closely, I could see the seed pod in the center of the image flanked by the serrated leaves. Below is a close up of the seed pod followed by some poppy plants showing their seed pods and serrated leaves.

 

 The piece had some veneer loss as well as some missing brass. In addition to this, the finish was in really rough shape and the joinery in the back and in the feet was loose. One other major problem was that the brass casters had completely seized with corrosion. Below is a close up of one of the casters and the brass inlay held in place with some string.

This photo shows a veneered board that was applied to the skirt of the sofa completely dislodged from the sofa.

The next two photos show some of the brass lifted from the leg.

The many photos that follow show the process of checking for loose veneer or brass, lifting it to clean the old glue beneath it, and clamping it back in place with new hide glue. The hide glue takes about 24 hours to really dry, so there were many clamping sessions that went on for several days.

The photo below shows an area where the brass work was actually missing. The next photo shows that area cleaned of its old glue

On the opposite side of the image was the same piece that was missing in reverse. The piece was lifted so I was able to slide a piece of brass sheet below the original and, using an X-acto knife, trace the image onto the new brass. The image was then cut out and reversed and fit into the area that the brass was missing. The completed image is seen in the last photo. Apologies for the flipped photos in this section, but you get the idea!

This photo shows the brass work and veneer above  being glued in place.

The back of the sofa is a separate frame held in place at the bottom with tenons and at the top with screws. This is to allow the upholsterer to upholster the seat. The joinery on the back of the sofa was very loose. In the photo below you can see the back with each piece marked with blue tape to indicate the orientation and the position of each piece. The back was then disassembled, The glue was cleaned, and the back reassembled. This process is shown below.

Once the repair work was completed, I turned my attention to the finish. The finish was in bad shape and really needed to be stripped. The danger in this was that the Beech wood had been fauxed with India ink and I did not want to loose this. The finish was a shellac based finish and the solvent used was alcohol, so I used alcohol to slowly smooth out the original finish and reverse the damage done to the finish. The result was a finish that was very thin and needed new finish to be added to it. The other result was that the India ink was preserved. One other piece that came out of this was that the finish was removed from the brass and the brass was brightened to contrast the Rosewood. From there it was just a matter of coating the sofa with new finish and waxing it. Here are a few images of  the restored finish before the sofa was sent to the upholsterer.

Below are some photos of the sofa back from the upholsterer. The fabric was gold in color and picked up on the brass quite well. The upholsterer also made Bolster cushions for the sofa, seen in the last photo. The result was a stunning sofa that in my opinion was really worth the effort put into it.

Cedar Lawn: Regency Breakfast Table (ca.1820)

This is the second post in a series of posts I am writing concerning the restoration of the furniture from the historic Cedar Lawn Estate in Jefferson County, West Virginia. All posts concerning this furniture have the words "Cedar Lawn" in the title.

This post deals with the restoration of a Mahogany breakfast table from the English Regency period. The construction of the table is circa 1820.

As the 18th century came to a close the rise of the middle class was well at hand and with this demographic change came certain luxuries, like entertaining in the home. With this relatively new found luxury came the need for specialized furniture, like tea tables for example. The use of occasional tables reached its peak in the late 18th  and early 19th century. As there popularity grew, the designs began to multiply and become more specialized. Different tables were made to suit different needs. The one thing in common with occasional tables was the need for versatility in design. These tables were not needed all of the tome , but rather occasionally, so to make these tables more practical, a tilting mechanism was integrated into the designs of many tables so that the top would tilt and the table could be stowed to one side of the room when not in use. Smaller tilt top tables with round tops had been used for most of the 18th century and some even allowed the top to turn, making it easier to serve tea (much in the way a lazy suzan works.)

as the 18th century drew to a close, larger tilt top tables were introduced. These tables served as an extra table for guests, or a smaller gathering. I suspect that the name "Breakfast Table" is a more modern distinction for these tables, but it is universally recognized to describe this design. Also, it does give the feeling of a more intimate use, a table to sit around the morning after entertaining, having a meal with the close friends who stayed the night.

That being said, there is nothing clumsy or unrefined about the design of this table and it would give any formal dining table a run for its money. The top is constructed from two book matched boards of  Cuban Mahogany.  As if a surprise given to us by the cabinet maker, the opened top reveals the top of the pedestal which is a beautiful piece of figured Cuban Mahogany framed by Brazilian Rosewood veneer. Decending down the pedestal is a well turned column of Mahogany which flows into four Mahogany saber legs which terminate in a carved scroll pattern. This is a fancy table!

The condition of the table when I received it was pretty bad, and many years of use were evident. In addition, the tilting mechanism had been fixed by inserting four dowels through the battens under the top and into the top of the pedestal. This hid the Rosewood veneer and figured Mahogany from sight for many years. Luckily, the brass catch mechanism was still there.  The finish was in bad shape and needed to be removed and the top had developed a crack that needed to be addressed. The photos below show the restoration of this beautiful table.

This photo shows the table as it came to me.

The crack in the top can be seen below.

This photo details some of the damage to the finish.

After the finish was removed, the repairs were made starting with the pedestal base. This photo shows the core stretcher of the base being wedged and glued to prevent it from wobbling.

The next step was to glue the loose top of the pedestal. through the clamps you can see the Mahogany and Rosewood top.

A second round of clamping followed on this section.

The crack in the top was addressed from the underside of the table by inserting two butterfly patches perpendicular to the direction of the grain. These patches keep the top from moving . In the first photo, the patches are laid out to be scribed,  The second photo shows the outlines of these patches scribed into  the wood.

This next photo shows the mortices for the patches cut. The narrowest part of the patch is aligned with the crack in the top.

I developed a new way to clamp these patches, which uses reversed clamps strapped to the table with ratcheting tie down straps. This eliminates the need for expensive deep clamps and provides a more effective pressure where it is needed. The photo below details the use of these clamps.

Once the patches were glued, a wedge was tapped into the top surface of the table. After the glue had set, the excess portions of the wedge was  pared flush with the top surface, effectively filling the crack in the top.

Once the repairs were made, the entire table was sanded and stained. This next photo shows the top after sanding. Below that is the base of the table during the finishing process.

These last photos show the restored breakfast table from several angles and with the top up and down.