| Here we will look into how to identify the best ways to recognize the furniture whether they are good or bad and old or new. This can be done through the general appearances, the coloring, construction, etc. All these could help you to identify the best and the worst. General appearance The general look of a piece of furniture tells the expert whether it is old or not, but this is a matter of experience. If you are interested in old furniture see as many genuine pieces as you can; go to museums where you are certain of the authenticity of the articles. Slowly the eye and mind can be trained to recognize whether the appearance of a piece is true or not. Coloring The ageing of wood alters its colour according to the timber from which it is made, and according to the treatment it has received over the years. Even the hidden inside parts change with time; if a drawer-lining is scraped it will show at once how the surface has aged. Equally, the old polished outside surfaces mellow, and repolishing changes the colour of the wood completely. Construction It is worthwhile studying the methods of making furniture, and how they have changed from time to time. How, for instance, the crude dovetails on the heavy drawer sides of 1600 were modified and improved in the course of the century. When examining a piece of furniture in a strong light, it is as well to look for signs of alteration, and to try to reason what was done and why. New screws differ markedly from old; prior to about 1850 they did not taper to a point, also, the slot in the head was hand-cut and seldom central; in modern machine-made screws it is invariably exactly across the middle of the head. Veneering has been mentioned on earlier pages when it came into use with the introduction of walnut. It may be added that old veneers were cut with a saw by hand, and are consequently quite thick; many of them almost an eighth of an inch. Modern veneers, however, are cut with a machine-driven saw, and are much thinner. This, with other factors, is a useful indication of the genuineness of a piece. The use of some of the rarer woods implies that an article cost more for materials and probably also for labor, and that it was probably made to a high standard throughout. The better-quality eighteenth-century pieces were fitted with oak linings to the drawers, but in exceptional instances this might be mahogany or cedar. Practice varied from workshop to workshop and from period to period, and a guide can give only clues not answers. Books The comprehensive book on all aspects of old English furniture is The Dictionary of English Furniture, by Percy Macquoid and Ralph Edwards. It is in three large volumes, copiously illustrated, and was first issued in 1927. A further edition, revised and enlarged by Ralph Edwards, was published in 1954. An excellent guide to the period 1720-1820 is Georgian Furniture, issued by the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1951. A standard work on French furniture is Les Ebenistes du XVIW Siecle, by Comte Francois de Salverte, of which the fourth edition was published in Paris and Brussels in 1953. Also written in French, but less exhaustive and cheaper in price is Les Meubles Francois du XVIW Siecle, by Pierre Verlet. It is in two volumes: i), Menuiserie, ii), Ebenisterie, published in Paris in 1956. In English the Wallace Collection, London, Catalogue of French Furniture, by F. J. B. Watson, issued in 1956, contain, a great deal of information and many illustrations. Experts in furniture can identify the furniture and tell you that whether the articles are new or old through the appearances of the furniture. The coloring of the woods altered by the aging and the treatments that it receives from time to time determines its appearances. And the types of constructions give you a good idea about the condition of the furniture. The screws the nails and the way the woods are fitted, etc. gives shows what are the conditions. The Dictionary of English Furniture, by Percy Macquoid and Ralph Edwards is the comprehensive book on all aspects of the English furniture. And Les Ebenistes du XVIW Siecle, by Comte Francois de Salverte is a standard work on French furniture. |
| Hobbies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||
