A six-sided tresoor for castle Hernen - part 3: the large side panels

While the tresoor is nearly finished; all woodwork has been done and it is awaiting the hinges and lock, the blog is somewhat lagging behind with the story on how it was made. In this post I want to focus on the large side panels. The four large side panels were planned as gothic tracery work - but blinded, not open as in the scapradekijn for Amsterdam Castle (Muiderslot). Previous posts on the tresoor for Castle Hernen can be found here (Part 1) and here (Part 2).

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An Austrian armoire with circular patterns on the doors as well as on the feet and crown of the armoire. Originally from around Salzburg, now in Schloss Seebarn near Wien, Austria. Made from stone pine and limewood. 261.5 x 192 x 50 cm. Dated second half of the 15th century. Photo scanned from Franz Windisch-Graetz - Möbel Europas band 1 - Romanik - Gotik.

I you look at single late medieval furniture pieces containing tracery panels, most of them have tracery panels that within each furniture item are slightly different. The basic pattern is the same, but the details vary. For example, one panel may contain four roundels, while the panel next to it contains six. I intended to do the same with the four large panels for the sides of the tresoor. 

I created a basic template for the panel in which the large round 'window' would contain a different pattern for each panel. Furthermore, two versions of the lower part of the template were designed, one containing a four-leaved flower (rosette), the other pointed tracery elements.

The chest from Castle Spöttrup in Denmark, now in the Danish National Museum in Kopenhagen, showing the four circular patterns that were used for the tresoor. The chest is dated around 1512-1519 and made from oak. 62 x 169 x 70 cm.

 

 

 Detail from a door of the Austrian armoire mentioned above showing two circular tracery patterns.

For the round designed I looked at historical patterns and decided to use those found on a 15th century chest in the Danish historic museum. Similar designs could be found on an late medieval armoire from Austria (and multiple others). To find the thickness of the panels, and the depth of the tracery, I used the few medieval panels that I own. Note that the panel thickness of the (square) tresoor of castle Muiderslot was about twice the thickness of my own panels. As both thicknesses are historically correct, it became mostly an economic decision for me - thinner panels being cheaper, aside from being easier to handle.

Sketching the tracery designs on 5 mm grid paper (i.e. full size). The (top) red part of the design was later cut out with a scissor and used as a drawing template for the first layer on the oak panel.

The basic design including the design for the first round 'window'. The colours represent the depth of each design part: red - the original thickness of the panel, green - 3 mm below red; white -6 mm; black -9 mm. Note that the right bottom pencil windows contain the design with the rosettes, while the left contain the pointed tracery pattern. Of course each panel only contained one of these two types.

The three other round 'window' designs used in the panels for the tresoor.

The oaken boards I used were quarter sawn, with an even grain pattern and thinned to 2 cm. The panels were 23 cm wide and much longer than the 43 cm needed. The surplus material was used for the carving smaller (middle) side panels, while they were still attached to the large panel.

 (Left) Both my original medieval panel and the panel for the tresoor have the same 2 cm thickness. (Right) Inside the dressoir at Muiderslot, showing a thickness of around 4 cm.

There are two (historic) ways producing blinded tracery panels: (1) making an openwork tracery panel and then blinding it by glueing another thin board at the back; and (2) carving it from one piece of wood. The first method has the advantage that you can use saws and files, as well as work from both sides. The disadvantage is that the panel becomes very thin at the deepest layers and prone to breaking. I used the second method.

 
The six-sided dressoir at Chateau Langeais, France showing a damaged tracery panel. That the tracery panel consist of 2 glued boards can easily seen by the undamaged underlying 'blinding' panel.

Both methods historically involve removing a lot of material by hand (chisel or perhaps a router plane. Luckily, we now have the electric hand-router at our disposal to help with that, although the machine needs some modifications before it can be used. The resting platform of a hand router is small. Too small for freehand routing to be of use in making tracery panels, so it needed to be enlarged. The router platform had to be more than twice the width of the panel, in order to have support from it sides. I did use 9 mm multiplex board to create the platform, and used the same cut-out /screw-hole pattern as the original resting platform.

The larger platform needed for the router, anded smooth and waxed for easy of gliding. The sawdust collector can function as normal in this setup.

 

I first did consider the use of a template and guiding ring for the router, but this is not very useful here. It is very time consuming to make an mdf template for each pattern (and there are many). Also extreme care is needed for the positioning and fixation of the template (and thus even more time consuming). Any mistake - say half a mm, both horizontal or vertical - in positioning is unforgiving. Freehand routing is much easier, faster, and provides a much better view of what you are doing, but the machine must be pushed gently and carefully over the panel.

 

I used a pine test panel to see if my design and working method would work. Here I also tried to use an mdf template, but discarded this idea quickly.

The router was used freehand till a distance of 1-2 mm of the drawn pattern line, and then cleaned to the drawing line with carving knife, chisels and gouges. A 45 degree chamfer was cut along the edges. When one layer was ready, the patterns of the next, deeper layer was drawn and the process repeated with the router set at a larger depth. Using this method, making the tracery patterns was really fast and easy, and proved even quicker than making the linenfold panels. The following photoset shows the different stages in creating the tracery panels.

(Left) The first layer routed, it has to be cleaned by gouges and chisel to lines drawn. (Middle) Layer 2 circular window, drawing with drawing marks at the sides of the board for the positioning of the centre of the circle. The circle was drawn with a pencil compass. (Right) Layer 2 circular window, routeing done but not cleaned up.

 

(Left) Layer 2 circular window mostly finished with rounded knobs at the centre of the small circles. The rosettes and triangular holes at the side of the large circle are finished, the central rosette is being carved. (Middle) Circular window layer 2, not yet cleaned up.  (Right)  Same circular window, with cleaned layer 3. The rosettes of layer 2 still have to be carved.

(Left) Layer 3 circular window, drawing pattern has been added. (Middle) Layer 3, circular window, showing the small decoration on top of the circle. (Right) Drawing of a circular window of another panel.  

(Left) Layer 2 circular window, routed but not yet cleaned. (Middle) Layer 3 circular window, everything is routed and in the process of being cleaned. (Right) Layer 3 circular window, drawing pattern, the central rosette is finished.  

(Left) Layer 2 bottom, drawing added. (Middle) Layer 2 bottom, after routing and cleaning; the large chamfer from layer 0 to layer 2 at the bottom has been made. (Right) Layer 3 bottom, drawing pattern for the non-rosette pencil windows has been added.

(Left) Layer 3 bottom, all routed, but only the bottom part is cleaned. (Middle) Layer 3 under, the lower part is routed and cleaned, the top part contains the drawing with the rosettes. (Right) Layer 2 bottom, the pencil windows are being cleaned; the large chamfer at the bottom has already been made. 

 

(Left) Layer 2 top, routed and cleaned; the cuts at the top of the ‘pencils’ have not yet been done. (Middle) Layer 2 top, routed and cleaned; here, the cuts at the top of the ‘pencils’ have been added.(Right) Layer 2 top, the line on the left side of the panel shows the place where the ‘bottleneck’ of the third layer will be placed in the thin windows.

 
(Left) Layer 2 top, routed and cleaned; the cuts at the top of the ‘pencils’ will be done after layer 3 as they are relatively fragile. (Right) Layer 3 top, the finished pattern.

 

(Left) Detail of the rosettes at the bottom of a panel. (Right) Process of carving a triangular hole with a knob (originally I planned a rosette, but changed it as there would be too much rosettes on this part of the panel).

The rosettes were made by hand using different sizes of gouges. Any knobs in the design were rounded using a small chisel along the grain, and sanding it smooth using a piece of 180 grid sandpaper. The triangular deep spots were made using a straight fishtailed gouge (F1). The tracery panels were finished by removing the plunge marks of the router bit on the bottom layers with a chisel, and adding special accents with a carving knife where necessary.

  All four tracery panels with their carving finished. On top you can already see the designs drawn for the smaller middle panels.

The panels were then sawn to their correct height. The backside of the panels were chamfered using a 2 inch round moulding plane in order to fit in the grooves of the tresoor frame. Finally, the panels were oiled with linseed oil. The oil on the tracery pattern was applied with a brush in order reach the deepest parts that could not be reached by a cloth with oil.

Applying oil with a brush to the panels for the tresoor outside castle Hernen. Copyright photo Ton Rothengatter.

Some more engravings of late medieval Tiroler furniture

In this post I would like to show some more furniture pieces from the plates in the books 'Die Zimmergotik in Deutsch Tirol' by Franz Paukert. As previously mentioned, due to my scanner size limit each plate consists of two scans that are 'glued' together.

The bench (with turnable backrest) and the chest, two works of Tyrolean joinery that are already being sought out of the country, are shown with the use of  dimensional sketches and photographs made available to the publisher by Mr. Ueberbacher from Bolzano, Italy.

 

Canopy bed from the Castello Principesco, or Landfurstliche Burg, Merano, Italy.

These two folding chairs are in the Figdor collection in Vienna. One of them (Figure A), coming from Bozen, shows the old, quilted leather seat belt and its shape is reminiscent of the faldistorium of the women's monastery on the Nonnberg near Salzburg. The armchair of Figure B, like the previous one, has crossed legs but with partially suspected monkey- and crab-like knobs and comes from St. Michael in Eppau. (The Figdor collection was auctioned in the early 20th century; the auction catalogues can still be found in second hand book stores)

 

On the other hand, the design of this cabinet does not differ insignificantly from the usual furniture shapes. The straight end of the upper frieze, the framing of the door wing and the somewhat clumsy ornamentation characterize the piece as a late form of medieval art. 

 

Cabinet in the possession of  Mr. J. Strasser in Merano. In terms of its origin, this piece of furniture is one of the few surviving pieces of its kind. A real Tyrolean work and despite its relatively later origins unaffected by the imitation of architectural details that are so popular elsewhere, it is evidence of the fact that the Tyrolean carpentry did not tend to indulge in miniature replicas of the facade construction, but rather focused on healthy construction, and flat cuts, engraving, tracery carved into the wooden base and moderate painting are the only means to which this cabinet owes its very handsome appearance. The upper and lower parts of the cabinet are firmly connected, and the sides are completely smooth. Metal bars never seem to have been there at the door. Merano, Italy.

 

Noteworthy is the simplest possible treatment of the tracery fillings in the wash basin: flat cuts with a coloured background, as well as the extremely simple construction of the box, which is common to almost all of this type of Tyrolean Gothic furniture; Jointed boxes with decorative strips placed in front of them on jointed feet and finally the almost continuous painting of the ornaments or at least the flat base of the carved parts. Castello Principesco, or Landfurstliche Burg, Merano, Italy. 

 

A chest owned by the bookstore owner F. Plant in Merano. In spite of its extremely simple structure and in spite of its decoration reminiscent of the Romanesque period, it was found to be of a rather late origin and proof that the Tyrolean gothic art did not reluctantly fall back on very early roots. The lid of the cest is not connected to the other part of the chest by iron hinges, but by wooden pegs which function as axes of rotation, and go through the lateral gripping strips and the sides of the chest.

Among the increase in the number of furniture pieces of the Landfurstliche Burg in Merano over the last few years, the furniture shown in whole or in part on the plates above and below is the most important. The legs of the chests belong to the box, which differs little from the already known pieces of a similar kind and only in the ornaments and the exposition of the fields on the front.

 

A late medieval woodwork book

Recently I bought an antique set of seven 'books' on 'Die Zimmergotik in Deutsch Tirol [late medieval woodwork in Tirol] by Franz Paukert. They were published between 1890 to 1903 and contain many superb engravings on the late medieval woodwork and furniture from Italian and Austrian Tirol. Each of the books contain 32 engraved plates of around A3 size and a similar sized booklet of a few pages containing the descriptions. The engravings are printed in a reddish-brown colour, black, and even some are printed in green ink. My set of books is not complete, a few plates are missing, and some others are damaged, but this caused the lot to be at an affordable price. What makes this book so interesting is that the engravings are very detailed, some engravings focus even on details of the construction. Furthermore, the engravings show a rule, so you actually have the dimensions of the woodwork.

 The seven books contain 32 loose printed engravings and a thin booklet with the descriptions.

Though many plates show furniture pieces, most of the plates concern other carved woodwork, like doors, wooden panelling, ceilings, etc. Also the ironwork on the woodwork is focussed on several plates: hinges, locks, door knockers. Also a few designs of medieval wall drawings are shown. To give you an idea of the furniture included in the book, some of the plates are given below with their original (translated) comments.  As my scanner has an A4 limit, each plate consists of two scans are 'glued' together.

Folding chairs from Campan Castle (Bressanone, Italy) and Bolzano (Italy). Movable gothic seating has hardly come across us in Tyrol. The depicted examples present a form that has hardly been used at least in the German part of the country. Its form has been borrowed from the late Gothic stock of Italian decorative art. Both armchairs are made of beech wood and almost only differ from one another in the cross-section of the ribs.

Despite the extremely heavy shapes, this object is not uninteresting because of its structure. The basic ornaments of the crenellated canopy are very lively in the drawing and emphasized in colour. Burg Reifenstein, Campo di Trens, Italy.

The whole lattice, consisting of four rectangular parts with a common pointed arch, is mainly formed of openwork tracery. The fillings are red, yellow or blue, while the carved frames are painted green. Burg Reifenstein, Campo di Trens, Italy.

Tratzberg also conveyed a gothic light woman - a unique item for this country - to the present. The engravings reproduce the colour-coded model in front and side views to such an extent that the composition clearly can be recognized. Schloss Tratzberg, Jenbach, Austria.

In this piece we encounter a very attractive achievement of gothic small art. The wood of the stone pine, which is used almost everywhere in Tyrol, served as material for the work. The background of the freely treated ornaments as well as that underlaid with the tracery fillings is blue. All of the rods of the epiglottis resemble cords made of dark and light wires. It's just a shame that the work suffered more than it gained from a restoration that was carried out decades ago. A newer, much too low base and completely nonsensical, admittedly neglected elements on the crenellated wreath today spoil the impression of the whole cabinet.

Chair from Tirol castle near Merano (Italy). In his art history of Tyrol and Vorarlberg, Atz describes this piece of furniture as one of the oldest chairs in the country. At present, the chair shown has a praying desk in front, which, on closer inspection, reveals itself to be a new addition. The ornament on the rear wall of the chair is engraved, the decoration on the crown is flat-cut. The two side walls show different contours. The only thing to note about the construction of the furniture, which can be seen in full from the drawing, is that the seat can be uplifted.

The table comes from Burgeis in the upper Vintschgau and has only recently been found in the collection of the Merano Museum Association, along with several wood carvings and carpentry work of religious origin. It is well preserved and only supplemented in some places. 

 

Chest from the collection of the antiquarian Alois Ueberbacher in Bolzano, Italy. The chest is of particular interest, taken from the daily changing material of its owner: the one due to the charm of the varied decoration, this one due to the way the tracery is treated. 

Of what the Fugger room holds in the form of movable household items, one is easily identified as a cabinet holding a wash basin.Schloss Trazberg, Jenbach, Austria.