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27th June 2002

BAFRA-SONNEBORN & RIECK AWARD 2002

by Derek Hollier

Geffrye Museum Trust,
Kingsland Road,
London,
E2 8EA.

The Entrants, judges and sponsors at the BAFRA-Sonneborn & Rieck Student Award, 2002 are shown below:

From Left to right:
Back row: Rob Tandy, Michael Rosedale, runner-up, Paul Tear, head of conservation, The Wallace Collection, Michael Steele, runner-up, Dirk-Olaf Van Geenen, winner, Timothy Long, BAFRA member and judge, William Scott Harvey, runner-up, Mark Cass, Benedict Clegg, BAFRA member and judge.

Front row: Adrian Smith, The Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, Simon Phillips, Ronald Phillips Ltd, Richard Charles, third , Malcolm Morrisen, second, Peter Rieck, David Dewing,director, The Geffrye Museum, Angela McDowell, runner-up, David Lewry, president BAFRA, Eoin Ryan, runner-up, Allan Baker, runner-up

For the first time, a foreign student has won the BAFRA-Sonneborn & Rieck Student Award, one of the most prestigious awards in furniture conservation.

Dirk-Olaf Van Geenen, from the Netherlands, who has just completed his conservation course at Bucks College, High Wycombe, beat off a strong challenge from the biggest field in years.

The competition was intense. Said Peter Rieck, managing director of Sonneborn & Rieck, leading producer of advanced furniture coatings: "The entries have been outstanding, superb quality. In a number of cases the students have conjured something out of almost nothing."

Entries ranged from early Windsor chair to Dirk Van Geenen's mahogany Regency secretaire bookcase. The judges were particularly impressed with the reconstruction that had taken place. Dirk bought his piece of furniture, dilapidated and missing much of the bookcase section, at an antique fair. He then spent 840 hours restoring it.

A former jockey, Malcolm Morrisen, from Rycotewood College, was a runner-up with a chest on stand, dating from around 1682. Not much of the stand remained, however, and he built most of it himself.

Richard Charles, of Rycotewood ,was the runner-up with the restored Windsor chair, a new leg being added, virtually undetectable from the others.

The judges, senior figures in the furniture conservation field, were impressed - and hard pressed to decide on a winner. Said David Dewing, director of the Geffrye Museum, London, where the awards were made, and leader of the judging panel: "Some entrants showed a remarkable skill in recreating what was not there. When a piece of furniture may be a wreck, these skills are sorely needed". It was tribute to the detailed research that underlies many of the BAFRA entries, all expressed in the written material that accompanies them. Sometimes too much material, according to David Lewry, President of BAFRA and co-ordinator of the judging team. "We ask for four A4 sheets of written text, not 54. Judges just don't have time on the day to go through all of that". Tutors, he suggested, should impress on their students the virtues of brevity.

In the meantime. Dirk Van Geenan's future is clear. He is continuing with an MA course at his college, intends to join a furniture conservation company, and will later, he says, set up his own workshop.

18th April 2002

A GRAND TOUR OF THE FREDERICK PARKER COLLECTION

by John and Elizabeth Ross, Friends of BAFRA

Sherborne House,
Newland,
Sherborne,
Dorset
DT9 3JG.

Following an introduction by the BAFRA Chairman, Michael Barrington, three speakers guided us through aspects of the collection and early 19th Century upholstery techniques.

Michael Legg, well known restorer, conservator and furniture historian was champion of the campaign to save elements of the collection - a generous donation from BAFRA helping to achieve this aim.

The beginning and development of the collection, mainly late 17th and early 18th Century chairs, was outlined, starting with Frederick Parker's idea that well designed chairs of the past could inspire his designers and craftsmen to turn out better products. The collection eventually numbered some 300 chairs and settees.

Items made by Frederick Parker and Sons and examples from the collection were illustrated and discussed, including a saloon on the liner Aquitania furnished with Parker chairs and an early photograph at the factory.

Silver chairs are a rarity since the silver leaf was covered with varnish against tarnishing; years later the finish appeared as though painted white and brown, so that in many cases the whole surface was removed and the piece gilded.

A so-called 'shaving' chair was unusual for its time in that as much care had been given to finishing the back as to the rest of the chair - why?

These and many other examples introduced us to the collection as a foretaste of what was to come.

Adam Bowett, many times a speaker at BAFRA events, opened by comparing Michael Legg's extensive knowledge gained through a lifetime of keen observation and practical hands-on experience with his own more academic approach, pointing out how complementary were the two disciplines.

Using stools and chairs from the collection, together with such documentary evidence as is available, the history and development of some of the chairs was demonstrated. The records from the Royal Palaces have proved invaluable since in many cases they provided a year-on-year picture of changes in style and production methods.

From the basic Mediaeval chair of box frame construction with pinned mortice and tenon joints and minimum decoration, a change was introduced about 1672 of raking the back legs to improve stability, terminating in a compass heel.

The much lighter cane chairs soon coming into use started to include a carved forerail, double-scroll front legs and turned back posts, giving rise to the name 'Bannister Chair', shown in Figure 1 (below left).

Changes continued apace, including by 1709, moving the top rail from between posts, to a crest rail on the top, the extended posts becoming taper turned. To provide stability for these taller chairs, the back legs were splayed, the rake starting at the seat and finishing with a compass heel shown in Figure 2, (above right).

Further alterations included making the top and front rails different - previously these had been the same. The stretcher rail was moved forward and the knees of the front legs were angled outwards at 45 degrees. By 1715 - 1720 a chair at Canons Ashby exhibits these features with major differences in that the front legs have become cabriole and a scroll has been added to the top of the back.

The first references to the so-called 'India Back', later described as Chinese, appeared in 1717 and in the following years became the typical Queen Anne shape with a bent back and cabriole front legs, which by the 1720s had adapted to the French style, the back legs remaining of English design and a back cross-rail added just above seat level.

Through deft explanation and illustration many pieces of the jigsaw had been put in place.

Bert Chapman, whose talks on upholstery are always informative and stimulating, resulting from a lifetime in the highest quality end of the business, gave us a fascinating insight into the restoration of pieces from a set of furniture, dated 1822-1823, 80% of which had the original upholstery.

Manufactured by Morel and Hughes for Northumberland House, they were being restored to retain as much as possible of the original upholstery and yet remain suitable for everyday use.

Original upholstery was carefully removed and documented; this project allowed contemporary techniques to be closely dated, including the lack of chamfers on the rails and no knots being used in the stitching. Holland material, no longer available, was used beneath the top cover and the back upholstery was supported only by horizontal webbing with no vertical webs. An unexpected discovery concerned a sofa which had evidently been shortened before the first upholstery was applied - reasons unknown.

Starting with the re-upholstery, the original webbing was found to be weakened so was repaired as practicable, refixed to the rails and the original base canvass then replaced. On top of this, new webbing and new canvass was secured, providing strength for everyday use, while maintaining the previous external appearance.

Horse hair formed the seat, covered with new scrim with two blind stitches, two top stitches and a feather stitch to establish the shape and a firm edge.

The story of the documentation and restoration of these important and dated pieces of furniture was most intriguing and perfectly rounded off the morning session.

Afternoon Promenade

Seven consultants, full members of BAFRA, each with several pieces from the collection, enabled those attending the Grand Tour to obtain a close-up view of the chairs, manipulated by the white-gloved consultants so that all areas of interest could be seen and discussed.

On a George III mahogany Open Arm Chair shown in Figure 3(below left), the upholstery proved of interest, having webbing from front to back only and the seat curving gently down over, with discussion as to how this was achieved.

The George II mahogany Arm Chair had aroused considerable interest during Michael Legg's talk, since it was shown that, when purchased by Frederick Parker, the top rail was incorrect. From close study of similar chairs, a new top rail had been designed, made and fitted. A copy of this chair had also been made and could be compared. Shown in Figure 4 (above center) & Figure 5 (above right).

Consisting of original painted decoration over ebonised beech a George III Open Arm Chair was much admired, including the very light open construction of the back, which however, had stood the test of time. Shown in Figure 6 (below left).

From discussion over the Silver Chair, shown in Figure 7 (above right) referred to earlier, it was learned that gesso rot, a fungal growth due to dampness, has occurred; also through worm attack, loss of timber was evident. For similar problems, treatments using rabbit-skin glue size had been tried successfully to stabilize the gesso and consolidate the timber. The possible use of Paraloid B72 for consolidation was also discussed.

This BAFRA event had proved to be another 'winner' and thanks are due to the Trustees of The Frederick Parker Foundation and the Sherborne House Trustees and for the use of the building and for the facilities to study the collection. Thanks also to those whose efforts had ensured such a successful day, especially Michael and Polly Legg and to our three eminent speakers and seven very helpful consultants.

27th February 2002

WOOD FINISHING WORKSHOP II

by Dr. Rose Newsom

Geffrye Museum Trust,
Kingsland Road,
London,
E2 8EA.

The fully subscribed workshop was held in the pleasant ambiance of the Geffrye Museum whose Director David Ewing was much in evidence. An excellent aspect was the museum's exhibition on "London after the fire" to which several lecturers referred. Adam Bowett guided us around it in the afternoon; stressing how much furniture was mass produced with a carver making pieces and a joiner assembling them.

It was suggested that sometimes a new replica of an object should be made for museums rather than "restore" and spoil the history of an old object. A specially commissioned chest with oyster veneers in stages of production was in the exhibition. A part of this chest was used by Malcolm Betts to demonstrate the intricate application of the Best White Varnish that preceded the excesses of French Polishing and was set out in the Treatise by Stalker and Parker 1688. This treatise included Japanning at which Margaret Ballardie now excels. We found her samples and stories fascinating.

Her acute allergic reaction to urishi reminds us of the health hazards of many traditional materials. Can we learn to avoid unhealthy aniline dyes, turpentine and inflammable liquids?

Bruce Luckhurst demonstrated how water compatible acrylics are used to colour and decorate. Antiquing a new screw was just an example. He suggested that water in emulsion with wax could replace carcinogenic, inflammable turpentine.

An important reminder came from Christopher Claxton-Stevens to treasure the patina of all the parts that make up a piece of furniture. How interesting to look for the raised grain of hardened oil, which is forced out when wood shrinks. He urged us to pursue 'Minimum Intervention'.

After the top quality sandwiches and cake, the seven tables were set up for the afternoon Consultancy, where delegates could discuss problems with experts.

These vivid practical demonstrations sent us home inspired after an excellent day.