Restaurierung Rönsch

Description, sociology and dating

The wardrobe is two-storeyed and has a base with drawers. Its front is architecturally designed, hence the German term Fassadenschrank. The base holds three drawers and stands on ball feet. The two-doored wardrobe is architecturally structured by three two-quarter columns on high pedestals. The crown is designed with elements of a classic pediment-zone: a triglyph-frieze that holds moresque-like scrollwork symmetrically spreading around a cabochon instead of metopes, a denticulation frieze and a cornice.

The doors carry an aedicula motive. Instead of pilasters the aediculas have a cranked, moulded frame, the pediment is replaced by scrollwork-covings that spread around a central elliptic cabochon, a similar ornament can be found at the pedestal of the aedicula. Its frieze is decorated with scrollwork similar to the one on the crown. The same ornament can be found on the drawers. All veneered areas are divided by marquetery into square fields framed by contrasting veins of various width. 

The decoration combines both elements of the Renaissance and the Baroque. The architectural design of the front as well as the scrollwork are definitely of Renaissance origin, the design of the aediculas transforming architecture into ornament already shows Baroque influence. According to these characteristics and regarding comparable wardrobes the object has to be dated to the beginning of the 17th century. There are for   example a Fassadenschrank from Bayreuth from 1620 (Schwarze, W. (1983). Alte deutsche Bauernmöbel von 1700 – 1860. Band 1: der Süden vom Main bis zum Inn. Wuppertal: Dr. Wolfgang Schwarze Verlag, P. 114, Fig. 149a.) and one from Bern from 1643 (Kreisel/Himmelheber. (1981). Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels. Erster Band: Von den Anfängen bis zum Hochbarock. Munich: C.H. Beck, Fig. 443.) that carry great resemblance to the one on hand regarding their type, decoration and overall design.

Considering the comparable wardrobes as well as the materials used the wardrobe is of south German origin. The materials also indicate that the wardrobe belongs to the bourgeois milieu as do the techniques used. The wood is of European origin, the techniques simple but carried out accurately.

Construction and surface

The wardrobe has a quite large frame with a height of 217 cm, a width of 188 cm and a depth of 65 cm.

The crown is constructed from three boards, stabilised by a crossrail in the back that is fixed by a wedged mortise and tenon joint. The boards are joined by through dovetail joints. The mouldings on the top and the bottom of the crown are nailed to the boards with iron nails. The front is veneered, the ornaments and the denticulation frieze are glued to the veneer.

The corpus of the wardrobe can be split into two structurally alike parts that are joined by tongue and groove as are the back boards of the parts. They are additionally fixed with locker wedges on the top and bottom. The two parts of the corpus consist of butt joined boards, the corner joints are carried out as through dovetails. Back and front are butt joined with the sides and fixed with treenails. The crown settles in a rabbet on the upper edge of the corpus. On the inside of the corpus there are dovetail battens that served for holding shelves. Traces on the surface of the wood indicate that the wardrobe used to have a middle panel that was held by battens on the top and bottom.

For the doors a frame-and-panel-construction was used. The panels are nailed to the rabbet of the frames with tree nails. The rabbet ledge is part of the right door and is constituted by the overlapping column.

The base has a frame construction on the inside that the outer boards are nailed onto. The front consists of a frame of battens connected with overlap joints that bear the drawers. On the inside there are also traverse-boards that serve as runners.

The entire front of the wardrobe, apart from ornamental applications, is veneered.

Judging by the veneer used for crown and base, which is sliced veneer that was not produced until around 1860, these two components were added later which makes the two-doored corpus the sole original piece from the 17th century.

The surface coating of the front is only fragmentarily preserved, relics indicate to be a satin-finished varnish. The surface of the sides seems to have been painted with a dark brown lacquer. Some of the oak applications of the front such as the bases and capitals of the columns, the frames and the mouldings are stained dark brown.

Damage

When the wardrobe arrived at the institute it was literally in pieces. The construction was entirely unstable, the veneer had major loss and woodworm infestation. The constructional damage as well as most of the loss in the veneer was repaired by another team of restorers (Max Hermann, Violetta van Geldern, Donata von Gizycky, Stefan Seifert) at the institute. The base, for example, was equipped with a supporting structure to help carry the massive corpus. The majority of the wormholes was not filled in. Although the stability was restored, the components of the wardrobe were not yet assembled. There was also no shelving installed. Due to the wood and veneer replacements the wardrobe appeared patchy and uneven in colour as did the varnish. The surface of the sides had major loss, too, and thus had a patchy appearance.

Having a closer look at the veneer and mainly at the wormholes it became obvious that the wardrobe was reworked at least once by extensively sanding the whole surface which led to open-lying worm tunnels.

All original metal fittings were lost and were replaced in forged, blackened iron. Their shape was chosen following the marks visible on the surface of the     wood.

Scientific examination

Owing to the wood replacements that had to be carried out the various constructional woods and veneers were determined microscopically (The wood was determined microscopically based on Grosser, D. (1977). Die Hölzer Mitteleuropas. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer.). The main constructional wood is pinewood (Pinus sylvestris). Mouldings, frames, the shafts, bases and capitals of the columns are made from oak wood (Quercus robur), scrollwork-applications from walnut wood (Juglans regia). The types of wood used as veneer are: oak (Quercus robur), (baked) poplar (Populus tremula), bog oak (Quercus robur), acer (Acer pseudoplatanus), Hungarian manna ash (Fraxinus ornus), walnut (Juglans regia), cherry (Prunus avium).

To analyse the surface coat ultraviolet light examination, microscopic analysis of a section of wood and varnish as well as testing of the solubility were performed. The results of the analyses suggest edthat the surface coat of the front was not original, it was also severely damaged and so the decision fell to take it off. The surface of the sides of corpus, base and crown was quite intact and was decided to be kept.

The orange fluorescence of the relics of varnish under ultraviolet light suggested that the varnish used is based on natural resin. In some areas of varnish loss, a light blue fluorescence was visible which could point towards a protein-bound priming. The ultraviolet light made the fragmentary state of the surface coat even more obvious. Microscopic analysis of a sample of the surface led to the same conclusions.

The testing of the solubility showed that the varnish was ethanol soluble, which corresponded with the assumption of varnish based on natural resins. The underlying priming was water soluble, it could be best taken off with water mixed with vinegar concentrate (pH 5.5). The sides were water soluble as well and thus had to be cleaned with non-polar solvents, the left side with isopropanol, the right side with shellsol T. The stained areas had the same surface coat as the rest of the front and were thus not treated differently.

Restoration

First the woodwork was done. A new shelving using pinewood was fitted and installed. The middle panel was equipped with dovetail battens to carry the shelves and a cut-out to make room for the door latch. The surface of the shelving was treated with wood stain (positive wood stain by Rosner) and afterwards polished using an agate. Loose veneers were glued down, partially lined with self-made wood dust putty. Open wormholes were consolidated by massaging in hide glue mixed with aluminium hydroxide and filled in with wood putty (Stucco Kitt by Signorello) mixing a suitable colour to blend in with the surrounding wood. The replaced ornaments of the crown that were not yet fixed were stained to suit the colour of the original ornaments and glued onto the crown. Hide glue (skin and bone 1:1) was used for all bonding.

Then the works concerning the surface were done. The surface of the front was cleaned with water, the one of the sides was dry cleaned with a natural latex sponge. The fragmentary varnish of the front was removed with ethanol gel using non-woven abrasive, subsequently cleaning with ethanol. For the removal of the protein-bound priming water mixed with vinegar concentrate (pH 5.5) was used. The colour-wise unfitted replenishments were stained with Körnerbeize, a special variety of water-based wood-stain made from the brown coal pigment Kasselerbraun (Nussbaumbeize by Kremer Pigmente). The Körnerbeize was tinted with the water-soluble metal complex dye Irgasperse (by BASF) in lemon, yellow, red or green depending on the type of wood. Where needed retouching was done with watercolours (by Schmincke). Some areas of the original veneer that appeared washed out after the removal of the surface were stained with Körnerbeize as well to match the surrounding wood. Countless tests of stain mixtures on various types of wood went ahead of the actual staining on the replacements on the wardrobe itself. The biggest challenge was to guarantee that the stained and the original wood were the same colour after applying the layers of varnish.

After these works were completed the application of the new surface coat was to be commenced. As a result of profound research concerning the types of finishes used around the date of the wardrobe’s origin the application of a priming of linseed oil blended with turpentine (1:1) and an oil-wax-varnish was chosen. It consists of 80% boiled linseed oil, 10% carnauba wax and 10% beeswax (all sourced at Kremer Pigmente). The finished surface was polished with horsehair.

The completion of the restauration was the assembling of the wardrobe including the fixing of the doors with the new metal fittings. All fittings visible on the outside were fixed with forged nails, the ones on the inside, especially the hinge bands carrying the heavy doors, with filister head screws.