Some pics from a rare book

[Martin Roper]

I've wanted this book for a long time. It was $75.00 when it was in the bookstores and then skyrocketed in value after it went out of print.

A clean copy will run you upwards of $300 or $400. I got it from my local library through interlibrary loan and because of the virus have been able to hold onto it far longer than I planned. I thought I'd share some scans I made for some things I'd like to make some day if my skills ever catch up with my taste in furniture. Some of these pieces are from the 16th and 17th centuries which explains their condition.

Detail of a bench leg and corner.

Cabinet. I'm envisioning a lower version of this as a home for stereo components. The grating would serve to allow air flow through the heat sinks on the amps, and at the same time the living room wouldn't look like a stereo shop. I'd have to figure out a material for the grating. There has to be something out there.

Side view.

Other than the taper, this one looks easy enough. I might put some rails on the sides to keep the books on the shelf.

I'm not sure about the context for this, and I have no skills at carving, but I love the aesthetic. The scrolly bit is all one piece and fits into a slot cut into the leg. It serves to strengthen the leg attachment and adds visual interest to the table.

This lovely piece is called an incense table. I don't really want to build one, but I like design elements from this that I'd like to incorporate into something else. I like how the frame that holds the top is almost a mirror image of the detail around the top edge of the table.

Incense table detail.

 

[Martin Roper]

Some Chinese woods from the same book:

 

[Dan Bowman]

Hi Martin - I was fortunate to see some original Chinese furniture in Shanghai and Xi'an museums - very impressive. Their craftsmen often used very unique joinery in their furniture. Check out this video with Andrew Hunter for an example:

 

[Martin Roper]

Hi Martin - I was fortunate to see some original Chinese furniture in Shanghai and Xi'an museums - very impressive. Their craftsmen often used very unique joinery in their furniture.

Awesome. You'll be happy to know the Chinese have kept that same furniture-making tradition right down to the present day.

Some of that furniture was meant to be assembled with no glue so it could be knocked down and transported to a new residence and reassembled without tools. It's really ingenious.

I brought a whole houseful of that stuff back from Hong Kong when I did a tour over there. A light rosewood dining room suite; a dark rosewood living room suite with two end tables, a coffee table, and a sofa table; and a teak bedroom set with end tables, dresser and armoire. All use those identical corner joints to those pictured in the video. The rosewood floating panels in the dining room table are made of a single piece, each 20" wide with no glue ups.

 

[Oka]

IF any of you ever get to San Francisco, you should check out the Legion of Honor Museum . It is located at the Golf course near the golden gate bridge You head west on Geary and I turn rt on 34th ave. It dead ends into the Golf course. But........ in the lower level they have an amazing display of Renaissance and Baroque furniture. Totally worth seeing.

They may have limited hours, so check, but it is a very cool art museum.

 

[Martin Roper]

IF any of you ever get to San Francisco, you should check out the Legion of Honor Museum........ in the lower level they have an amazing display of Renaissance and Baroque furniture. Totally worth seeing.

Oka, you might like some pics I took in Lisbon a year and a half ago.

 

[Oka]

Don't lie this is your Garage I can tell --- Beautiful indeed, thanks for the link.

Oka, you might like some pics I took in Lisbon a year and a half ago.

 

[Martin Roper]

Interestingly, there is a nice selection of reproduction Chinese hardware on Amazon.

 

[Gotcha6]

Oka, you might like some pics I took in Lisbon a year and a half ago.

I believe acquiring any of that inlay will require a lot of outlay. Beautiful stuff.

 

[Martin Roper]

I believe acquiring any of that inlay will require a lot of outlay. Beautiful stuff.

I could've started at 12 and by now at 65 would still never got to the point where I could comprehend making this. I wish I had a better camera so you could see the delicate quality of the inlay work, especially the flowers on the drawers.

As for affording it, Calouste Gulbenkian was one of the richest men in the world at the time of his death in 1955. He was known as "Mr. Five Percent." He was Armenian, but spoke a number of middle eastern languages as well as English and French and had many contacts in the oil business around the region. He left high school at 15 to attend Cambridge University from which he graduated at age 20 with a degree in petroleum engineering.

In 1907 he arranged the merger of two companies that became Royal Dutch Shell, now simply Shell. As a result he became a major shareholder. His commission for negotiating contracts was 5% of the total value of the deal.

He was a philanthropist and art collector. He lived in Paris in the '30s but left due to WWII and settled in Lisbon where he died in 1955. His financial assets were estimated to be worth over $800 million at his death, about $7.7 billion today.

His museum houses a wide range of art and furniture he collected over a 60-year period. It's incomprensible to imagine it had all been in the residence of one man.