Norwegian Painted Furniture: Chests, Cupboards and Regional Evidence
Identify Norwegian painted chests and cupboards through regional provenance, paint layers, inscriptions, construction, ownership dates and conservation evidence.
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Materials & Techniques
34 published guides on repair, care and the stories behind well-made things.
Dutch Floral Marquetry Furniture: Identification and Conservation
Identify Dutch floral marquetry cabinets and tables through veneer patterns, carcass construction, documented makers, dating evidence and conservation clues.
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Oil Gilding and Gilt Surfaces Explained
Oil gilding uses a tacky size to attach metal leaf. It is durable and suited to carved wood, metal, architectural elements and areas that cannot be burnish
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How Traditional Water Gilding Works
Water gilding lays extremely thin metal leaf over a prepared ground, commonly gesso and coloured bole. Burnishing can create a mirror-like surface while ma
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Cast Brass Mounts and Furniture Hardware
Cast brass handles, escutcheons, sabots and decorative mounts protect vulnerable areas and enrich furniture. They may be sand-cast, moulded, chased, gilded
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How to Read Dovetail Joints in Antique Drawers
Dovetails lock two boards together with interleaving pins and tails. On drawers they can reveal how a piece was planned, made and later repaired. Compare f
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Rush and Cord Seats: How They Are Made
Rush, grasses, paper fibre and cord can be wrapped around seat rails to create a resilient woven platform. Materials and patterns vary by region, date and
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Why Conservators Still Use Animal Glue
Traditional animal glues were standard cabinetmaking adhesives for centuries. They set hard, can be reactivated by controlled moisture and heat, and are of
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Japanning on Furniture: History and Care
European japanning imitated admired Asian lacquer using layered coatings, painted or raised decoration and often gilding. It appeared on cabinets, clock ca
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Why Antique Wood Shrinks, Swells and Splits
Wood exchanges moisture with surrounding air. Across the grain it expands as humidity rises and contracts as it falls, while movement along the grain is mu
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Marquetry Explained: Pictures Made in Veneer
Marquetry builds decorative images or patterns from shaped pieces of veneer and sometimes other materials. Flowers, foliage, architecture and geometric ban
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Mortise-and-Tenon Joints: A Collector's Guide
A tenon formed on one member fits a mortise cut into another. The joint is fundamental to chairs, tables, doors and framed furniture because it provides a
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