Conservation of the Side Table

Identification number:  109494

Title/ object:  side table, name unknown

Attribution: America, artist unknown

Object date: 19th century (?)

Materials: Walnut, surface paint

Supervisor: John Childs, Christine Thomson, Mimi Leveque

Project date: July to August, 2018

Historical Background and General Description

This side table was originally in the Crowninshield-Bentley House, in the corner of the hallway of the back door. It has been used to hold guide materials by tour guides of the house for years, with one leaf lowered. Its location at the door used to let in visitors placed it in harm’s way and the outer section of a drop leaf was knocked off (see Incident Report IR2017.1_109494)

The round top of the table is divided into three parts, two of them are drop leaves, and the central piece is fixed with the main frames. The leaves can be raised and lowered separately, and each leaf is made with two pieces of wood joined with animal glue and dowels on the edge. The table has finely turned gate legs that swing out easily to support the drop leaves. Other structures, like aprons, stretchers, knees, legs and feet are mostly joint by mortises and tenons with nails.

The table has a thick, painted decorative surface, imitating marquetry decoration as wood grain on the top and turned legs. Under long wavelength UV light, there is greenish yellow fluorescence on the edge of the central piece of the top, lower frames and turned legs, where there is loss of paint. The fluorescence might be varnish that was applied after one of the repainting campaigns. Then the table was partially repainted again (mainly on the top and turned legs), but unvarnished, or the varnish has worn out over many years.

According to John Childs, Christine Thomson and Mark Anderson, the wood was identified to be walnut. It has always been presumed that the side table was an early historical piece of furniture due to its 18th century William and Mary Style. However, the jointed drop leaves, the use of walnut wood, and the decorative patterns of the painted surface, may indicate the side table is unlikely to be an early 18th century piece of furniture, but a reproduction from the 19th century.

Condition Prior to Treatment:

The side table is in fair condition generally. The main issues of instability are the flaking and loss of paint layers and the detached edge piece of the drop leaf.

Painted surfaces

Through visual observation and cross-section microscopic analysis (for detailed report, please click here), it can be determined that there are at least 3 generations of painting campaigns on the top and turned legs, at least 1 generation on the other parts. These painting and repainting campaigns built up thick paint layers on the top and turned components, where most of the flaking and loss occurs. On the other parts with only one generation of the paint, the surface is much more stable. On the top of the table, there is also staining and blanching. The top layer of the paint is deteriorates heavily and it scatters the light, making the surface look dirty and gloomy.

On the top of the table, there are several large areas with complete loss of paint, exposing the wood substrate, and also small areas with loss of surface paint on the edge, exposing the ground layer underneath. On the turned components, there are losses of paints overall, but only exposing the white ground layer or the black paint layer underneath. The central two turned legs are in better condition than others. The edges of all the loss areas of paints are flaking and unstable. Paint fragments keep falling off all the time.

Structure:

As it mentioned above, the drop leaf was joined by two pieces of wood with animal glue and dowels. The edge piece of the rear drop leaf fell apart, and one dowel is broken, the other one is missing.

Treatment

Consolidation of the surface paint

Consolidant test: Lascaux 4176 medium for consolidation and Aquazol 500 (2g/50mL DI water and 50mL ethanol) were tested for consolidation. Both of the consolidants worked well providing with enough strength. Considering the reversibility of Lascaux, which may use acetone that might damage the paint layers, Aquazol was chosen for consolidation of the paint.

1. Use brush to apply Aquazol along the edge of flaking and loss area of the paints.

2. Use tacking iron (setting temperature 50°C) to reactivate and flatten the surface after the consolidant is dry, with silicon released mylar as padding.

Rejoining the top

Removing the animal glue residue with 5% Laponite in deionized water

Making jigs, rejoining the top with fish glue, and clamping

Cleaning

1.       Cleaning the dust and grime on the surface with vacuum and brush.

2.       Use swabs with mineral spirit to clean the surface to remove wax and dirt.

3.       Use swabs with surfactant (0.1% Triton X 100 in water) to pick up soil on the surface after mineral spirit dries.

4.       Use swabs with mineral spirit for clearance.

Reducing staining/blanching:

1.       Apply benzyl alcohol with brush on the staining and blanching, to dissolve the surface of varnish and fill in the micro-cracks, reducing scattering of the light.

2. Use 400 grit sandpaper to reduce gloss from benzyl alcohol when it’s dry.

Inpainting/Toning

1.       Solubility test: the surface is insoluble in either acetone or ethanol.

2.       Tone the loss area of paints with Golden acrylic paints for conservation.

After Treatment