An Italian sgabello

'The so-called Strozzi-chair, above all, a pearl of the collection, a world-renowned uniqueness, a truly enchanting masterpiece, one of the most beautiful Florentine pieces of furniture. Under the hand of an artist - who could not think of Benedetto da Majano? -  the profiling, tasteful intarsia, the magnificent 'schiacciato' carving of the medallions that crown the backrest, which are yet lifted by delicate gilding -  a real work of art has been created. Even in the princely Palazzo Strozzi this chair has been regarded and guarded through centuries as a family treasure.'

This (translated) praise of a three-legged chair from around 1489, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (gallery 500), comes from F. Schottmuller in his book 'Wohnungskultur und Mobel der Italienischer Renaissance' from 1921. At that time the chair belonged to the collection of Dr. Albert Figdor. He acquired the chair from the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. When the Figdor collection was auctioned in 1930 the chair - along with some other furniture - was bought by the New York museum.

This beautiful 15th century chair is made of walnut, with maple, ebony, ebonised wood, fruit-wood and gilded details. The octagonal seat plate rests on three oblique, upwardly rejuvenating triangular edged legs. The also oblique backrest is small and high, and spreads upward. All parts are decorated with geometric intarsia strips. The backrest is crowned by a circular medallion, surrounded by a row of  pierced carved rising moons of the Strozzi crest. Both sides of the medallion bear the crest of Strozzi in low relief (so-called schiaciatto) carving: the front with a buckler occupied by three half moons on a cross bar, covered by a helmet crowned with an eagle with raised wings; the back side has the buckler alone with the Strozzi family coat of arms of the three half moons on a cross bar.

The chair was made by the workshop of Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano, who were also responsible for the portrait bust of Filippo Strozzi, as well as the sculpture of his funerary chapel, and the designs of the Strozzi palace and its furnishings. The chair is 147.3 cm high, 42.5 cm deep and 41.9 cm wide.

The front (left) and the backside (right) of the medallions of the Strozzi chair. The rising half moons are omni-present in the 'schiaciatto' carving. Images by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 

The side of the Strozzi chair. You can see that the octagonal seat is enlarged at the back to accommodate the backrest. Also can be clearly seen that the backrest is angled backwards. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

This photo shows the intarsia strips that decorate the backrest, seating edges and legs.The dark lines are ebonized (painted like ebony) wood. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

A detail from the intarsia of the photo above.

A modern version of the Strozzi sgabello

In 2006, I did not have these detailed colour images, or had any background information of this famous chair from the Dr. Figdor auction catologue. I only had  one black-and-white photo from the book 'Oude meubels' (old furniture) by Sigrid Muller Christensen, with no more information than that it dated around 1490, that it once belonged to the Strozzi family and that it resided in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. No dimensions were given, nor anything else. But I liked the appearance of the chair, and decided to make two modern versions of this chair, using modern wood glue and finish. For the rest, the construction could be like the Strozzi sgabello, but as said before, the only piece of information was the photo in the book.

The photo on page 55 of the book 'Oude Meubels' by Sigrid Muller-Christensen.

Using this photo I tried to reconstruct the dimensions. I used a standard seating height of 42 cm and based the rest of the dimensions on that. I also guessed the angles (10 degrees) using a protractor. The total height of the photo chair was 109 cm, 36 cm short compared to the real Strozzi chair.

Measurements of the chair based on the black-and-white photo and a 42 cm seating height.

I had some leftover wood from a (non-medieval) rocking dragon I made, which I wanted to use for the two chairs: European maple for the chair itself, and walnut for the intarsia - the opposite of the Strozzi chair. The same leftover wood has been used for the playing board of the 'game of the Four Seasons called the World' described in an earlier blogpost. Instead of a round medallion at the top of the Strozzi backrest I used an octagonal one, also the intarsia decoration used on the chairs was designed by myself.

I made only rough sketches of the furniture I made at that time. I have put the dimensions on a photo of one of the two chairs. The legs of the chair are triangular. The backrest also has an angle of 10 degrees, like the three legs.

The plan for the walnut intarsia at the top of the backrest. The decorative plan for the octagonal medaillon and the seating was drawn more precise in 2006. The dimensions were added in 2012. The two diamond intarsia on the backrest were skipped in the final plan.

The intarsia plan for the seating. You can see that the octagonal seating is elongated at the back to accommodate for the backrest.The walnut triangles at the bottom and the two left and right at the top are the places where the legs of chair connect to the seating.

The two modern Strozzi chairs without final their coating. The chairs were finished with an oil-wax mixture (Osmo Hardwax oil - satin finish).

Two details of the construction. Left: The backrest of the chair is connected to the seating with dovetails, which in turn are fixed by the walnut intarsia strip. Because of the angled backrest, the  dovetails are also set at an 10 degrees angle. Right: The walnut intarsia strip at the seating. The strip is around 3 mm thick. The groove for the strip was made with a router.

The legs stand at an angle of 10 degrees on the seating, which means that the mortise has to be set at the same degree. I used a block of wood set at the same degree to guide the chisel when cutting the mortise. I started the mortise at the top of the seat at the place of a walnut traingle. I then calculated where the mortise would appear at the bottom. After the mortises were made, the legs were glued in and the mortises wedged. At the top of the seating the mortise was covered with the walnut traingle.

Some more views of the chair and the intarsia. The grooves for long walnut strips on the backrest were made with a router, the grooves for the short strips were made by hand.

The intarsia of the octagonal medallion were made by hand. The walnut diamonds were made slightly tapered to fit exactly in the corresponding hole. After glueing, the medallion was planed flat.

Both my modern Strozzi chairs at Castle Loevestein in 2012..

Woodworkers guild chests

Not only wills and inventories are are great sources of information for which tools medieval woodworkers used, also images of woodworkers at work with their tools can provide knowledge of how and which tools they used. However, when such images are made by miniaturists or painters one can doubt the accuracy, as the artist does not know the exact working and looks of the tools. But when the artist himself is the woodworker, there can be no doubt that he knows his tools. This can be seen for instance at the intarsia of woodworkers tools at the choir stalls of the San Petronio Basilica in Bologna, Italy, the image of the insarsia worker Antonio Barili at work, or the woodworker on the choir stall of the cloister in  Pöhlde, Germany.

Intasia by Antonio di Marchi showing a variety of woodworkers tools at the choir stalls of the San Petronio Basilica in Bologna, Italy. Images from J.M. Greber 'Die geschichte des hobels'.

Another great image source is the furniture used by the woodworkers guilds. They can be very illuminating by showing the tools they used. You can also be very sure that the tools depicted are very accurate - the makers of the chests are also the users of the tools! The following examples are two Austrian/Tiroler woodworkers guild chests and table with a large variety of tools. Last example is a Dutch woodworkers guild chest from the 17th century from Deventer, the Netherlands with only a few tools. However, what these images do not show is how many of each tool the woodworker owned.

The guild table and the guild chest made by the the Bozen (Bolsano) joiner Hans Kipferle in 1561. Walnut, maple, and other woods were used for the intarsia..The table and chest are supposed to be in the Stadtmuseum in Bozen (Bolsano), Italy.. The table measures 125 x 108 cm.

The table top of the Guild table by Hans Kipferly. Image from Mobel Europas 2 - renaissance - Manierismus by F. Windisch-Greatz.

The tools depicted on the guild table by Hans Kipferle are (clockwise): a frame saw, an auger, a mallet, a try square, a smoothing plane, a claw-hammer, a wooden screw-clamp, a chisel, a straight bevel crossed with what seems to be a depth measuring tool, a bench support, an axe, a shoulder-knife, a compass, a gluepot, a moulding plane, a rule, a double marking gauge and finally in the middle the work bench on which another hammer and chisel are shown as well as some bench hooks.In fact the gauge depicted is even earlier - and more accurate - than those shown in the post on the squantillion.

Front and backside of the Guild chest of the joiners guild of Graz, Austria dated 1600. It is made of walnut, maple, ash and ebony and measures 30 by 50 by 32 cm. It can be found in the Landesmuseum Joahannum, Graz, Austria. The panels on the front and backside show the tools of the joiners trade. Image from Mobel Europas 2 - Renaissance - Manierismus by F. Windisch-Graetz.

The tools shown on the four different panels are: Top left: an axe, a claw hammer, a rule, an auger and a straight bevel.Top right: a gluepot, a compass, a mallet, and a shoulderknife. Bottom left: a frame saw, a square, chisels and a gouge. Bottom right: a crew clamp, a smoothing plane (very similar to that of Durer on his engraving Melancholica), a double marking gauge.

The guild chest (cassette) and lid of the chest of the Deventer woodworkers guild of 20 March 1685 lavishly decorated with geometric carved patterns. At the bottom of the chest is a small drawer. Image from the website of the Deventer historic museum, Deventer, the Netherlands.

The lid of the Dutch guild chest shows only few tools compared to the Tiroler and Austrian counterparts: a hand saw with pistol grip, a try square and a compass. below are an axe and the typical Dutch 'gerfschaaf' a small smoothing or scrub plane. Note that the brass lockplate has been moved.

Medieval and later woodworkers inventories

Medieval house inventories (of deceased or banished inhabitants) and wills can give an insight in what people owned or valued. It also gives a good indication how much of certain items are in the house or the workshop. In the case of inventories often prices are given how much value (groups of) items have. However the information in these wills and inventories should be treated with care. That items are not mentioned does not mean that they did not exist in the house. It could be that they were considered worthless - for instance wooden items that could easily be made by the household members themselves.

Several wills and inventories have been found of medieval woodworkers, but they seem to be rather scarce. I have found two dating from the fifteenth century. They become more common during the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Below, for comparison, also a few wills/inventories from these periods are shown. The images are from the Hausbucher of the Mendelschen and Landauersche Zwölfbrüderstiftung.

Jan Heynemanszone

1422. Inventory of Jan Heynemanszone from Helle (near Sluys), wheelwright (In old Dutch).  

Wouter Coolman, Jacop Wychaerde, Jan de Weghe ende Jan Poppe, hebben ghedaen arresteren tgoed bleven naer Jan Heynemanszone, die ghevloon es. Eerst 2 haexen, 1 bochude, 1 diesele, eene baerge, 2 scaven, 11 hanghen, 3 snimessen, 2 yserine staven, 1 cloofmes, 2 spikerboren, 1 handtzaghe, 1 kerfzaghe, 2 grouf haken, 2 ketels, 11 avegheers, 4 wetsteene, 1 groot spikerboore, 3 vilen. 

(Rijksarchief te Brugge, Belgium, Brugse Vrije, Register van Verbanden 1421/1460, nr. 16.937, f.4, printed in Frida van Tyghem 'Op en rond een middeleeuwse bouwwerf' ).

Translated from old Dutch the woodworking items would be:

•  2 Axes
•  1 Bochude?
•  1 Adze
•  1 Baerge?
•  2 Planes
•  11 Hanghen?
•  3 Carving knives
•  2 Iron staves
•  1 Froe
•  2 Braces
•  1 Hand saw
•  1 Small (tenon) saw
•  2 Grouf haken? (large hook = holdfast? or square?)
•  2 Kettles (for glue?)
•  11 Augers
•  4 Whetting stones
•  1 Large brace (breast auger?)
•  3 Files

There are several items of which I do not know what tools they are like the bearge and the bochude.

Thomas Vyell

Woodworking tools were handed down from father to son with other possessions. The following is a copy of the will of Thomas Vyell, of Ixworth in Suffolk, of 1472:

Radulph Penteney al’ Sporyer de Ixworth 1402
Lego ad vsum gilde S’c’i John i’s Bapt’e in Ixworth. Iij s iiij d.

Thomas Vyell 1472.

In die no’i’e. Amen. I Thomas Vyell of Ixworth the yeld’, the xj day of the moneth of October, ye yeer of oure lord m’cccclxxij of very sad and hoole mynd and good avysemente, make myn testament in this wyse. Fyrst I beqweth and bytake myn sowle to almyghty god, to yet blessed lady and to all the Seyntes of heven, and myn body to be beryd in the parysh cherche of Ixworth be for sayd befor the auter of Seynt James. Also I beqweth to the heych awter there ijs. Also I beqweth to ye stepyll of the same cherche vj marcs. Also I beqweth to ye pryor of Ixworth ijs, to the Suppryour xxd. Also th Sire Edmund Stowe xxd, to eu’y chanon preste ther xijd and to eche movyse vj. Also 1 beqweth to the newe freers of Thetford to a trentall xs. and to the same hows ijbs of whette and a combe of malte. Also I beqweth to the holde hows of the same town to a trentall sx. Also the sreets of Babwell to a trentall Ns. Also I beqweth myn mass hyngfatte to ye gylde of Seynt Thomas, so that myn wyffe and John my brother have the kepyng thereof ther lyve. Also I beqwethe and assigne to myn beforeseyd wyffe alle the ostylments of myn howssold.  Also I beqwethe to Thomas myn sone, myn splytyng saw, myn brood axe, a luggyng belte, a ffellyng belte, a twybyll, a sqwer, a  morteys wymbyll, a foote wymbyll, a drawte wymbyll, a compas, and hande sawe,a kytting sawe. Also I geve and beqwethe to Thomas myn sone myn place that I dwelle jn wt. all the purtenance and to his heyers wt. owtyn ende, and yeffe he deye wt. owtyn heyers the seyde place to remayne wt. the purtenance to John myn sone, and to his heyers wt. owtyn ende. So that myn beforeseyde wyfe have the seyde place wt. the purtenances outo the tyme myn assyned ever be of age to meynteyne it by him selffe. As I gave and beqwethe to Crystyan myn wyffe by forsey myn place wt. the purtenances that was John Knotts for terme of her lyffe, and aft her decesse to remayn to John myn sone to his heyers and assignes wt. owtyn ende. But yeffe it happe the seyde John to Hereryte myn other above seyd place, thanne I wolde and assigne that place wyche John Knotts hadde be solde and dysposyd for myn and for myn frendes sowly, to execucion for this myn laste wylle and testaments. I make and ordeyn befor seyde wyffe and John Vyell myn brother.

(Bury and West Suffolk Archaeological Institute and Suffolk Institute Archaeology, Vol. I, p. 108 reprinted in H. Cescinsky and E.R. Gribble 'Early English Furniture and Woodwork'). His woodworking possessions were:

• A rip-saw with large teeth
• A broad axe
• An adze
• A felling axe
• A twybyll
• A try square
• An auger or a brace for boring holes
• A large auger
• An auger with a guide for accurate boring
• A compass or divider
• A hand-saw
• A cross-cut saw>

Very interesting is that the carpenter is named Thomas, as is his son and that he bestows his mass to the Guild of Saint Thomas - likely the same patron saint as our woodworkers guild..

Cornelius Eversen

This is an inventory of tools left by an Essex joiner at his death in 1592. Although he is an Essex joiner, the name sounds very Dutch. It is known that many Dutch and Flemish joiners worked in the United Kingdom in these days and influenced the style of the 'Britsh oak furniture'. 

• 15 Joiners planes of divers woods
• 2 Jointers
• 2 Foreplanes
• 1 Smoothing plane
• 4 Squares
• 1 Mitre square
• 1 Adze
• 1 Hatchet
• 1 Handsaw
• 1 Frame Saw
• 1 Hammer
• 2 Holdfasts
• 2 Gauges
• One brace and 5 bits for the same
• 3 Files
• 2 Broad pairing chisels
• 3 Mortise chisels
• 3 Small Flemish chisels (perhaps this also point to the Flemish origin of the joiner?)
• 1 Gouge
• 3 Ripping chisels
• 1 Line rowle with the line upon it (chalk line)
• 2 Staples or bank hooks (bench dogs)
• 2 Rules of two foot apiece
• 3 Mallets
• 2 Spare planing irons

From the Newsletter of the Tool and Trades History Society 47, pp. 41–43, and found on internet.

John Thorp of Plymouth

The tools of joiner John Thorpe of Plymouth, died 1633, mentioned in his inventory included:

1 Great gouge, 1 square, one hatchet, One Square, 1 short 2 handsaw, A broade Axe, An holdfast, A handsaw, 3 broade chisels, 2 gouges & 2 narrow chisels, 3 Augers, Inch @ 1/2, 1 great auger, inboring plaines, 1 Joynter plaine, 1 foreplaine, A smoothing plaine, 1 halferound plaine, An addes, a felling axe. 

From C.H. Simmons 'Plymouth Colony records: wills and inventories', printed in Jennie Alexander and Peter Follansbee 'Make a joint stool from a tree - an introduction to 17th century joinery'.  

In total there are:

•  3 Gouges, of which one large

•  2 Squares
•  1 Hatchet
•  A short handsaw
•  3 Handsaws
•  5 Chisels, of which 2 narrow
•  A broad or side axe
•  A holdfast
•  4 Augers of which one large one
•  Moulding planes
•  Jackplane
•  Smoothing plane
•  Round plane
•  An adze
•  A felling axe

Missing from this list are braces and tools like dividers and measurement tools.

William Carpenter senior 

William Carpenter passed away in Plymouth in 1659. Among the items he had listed in his estate were the following tools. They were given a specific worth as well.

Smale tools att 10s; one axe and a peece of Iron att 7s; a foot and an old axe att 1s; one old axe...; the Lave and turning tools att 13s; 3 Crosscut saws 15s; smale working tooles 12s; smale saws 8s; an adds and 2 turning tooles att 6s; three Joynters 3 hand plaines one fore plain 10s; one bucse a long borrer one great gouge 10s; Rabbeting plaines and hollowing plaines and one plow att 1 pound 3 Drawing knives att 7s; 2 spokeshaves att 3s; Chisells a gouge and a hammer and a Round shave att 19s; 2 adds att 8s; one vise ... 2 beetles...; a grindstone 15s; 2 axes att 6s

Summing up, his tools consisted of:

• 5 Axes
• A foot?
• A lathe and turning tools 
• 3 Crosscut saws
• Several small tools
• Small saws
• 3 Adzes
• 3 Jointer planes
• 2 Hand planes
• A fore plane
• A buck saw
• An auger
• A large gouge
• Rabbet planes
• Hollow and round planes
• A plow (plane)
• 3 Draw knives
• 2 Spoke shaves
• Chisels
• A hammer
• A gouge
• A vice
• 2 Beetles (ringed mauls)
• A grindstone

From C.H. Simmons 'Plymouth Colony records: wills and inventories', printed in Jennie Alexander and Peter Follansbee 'Make a joint stool from a tree - an introduction to 17th century joinery'. 

Joseph Carpenter

An Inventory of the goods and Cattle of Ioseph Carpenter of Rehoboth deceased (1675), exhibited to the Court held att Plymouth the 2cond of Nouember on the oath taken by those whose hands are heervnto. 

Item a Grindstone 00 16 00
Item 500 foot of board 01 10 00
Item spoaks and timber for work 00 05 00
Item 2 broad axes 00 15 00
Item 4 [------] axes 00 15 00
Item a Croscutt saw and a hand saw 00 10 00
Item 2 adds 00 10 00 (adzes)
Item a sledge 00 08 00   (for carrying logs out of the woods)
Item a frow and a hold fast 00 05 06
Item 2 [-----] Ringes & 4 w[ --- ]s 00 10 00
Item 2 hatchetts 00 05 00
Item a viz 00 02 00  (a vice)
Item a spoke shav and Gripers 00 05 00
Item a paire of Chissels and a Gouge 00 05 00
Item a paire of doggs 00 04 00 (bench dogs)
Item a [-]arre and screw & bow[ -- ] and turning tools 00 16 00 (bow lathe with turning tools)
Item plowes plaines & a Ioynter 01 05 00
Item 2 paire of Mallett Ringes 00 03 00 (rings for a maul)
Item a Great Ioynter 00 05 00
Item a [ - ] are screw and turning points 01 04 00
Item a square and spokeshaue 00 06 00
Item a Coopers adds and drawing kniffe & a rond shaue 00 09 00
Item a Round shaue [no value given]
Item 2 bursses 1 Great Gouge 00 18 00
Item Ringe and stapl & foot 00 04 00
Item 5 augers 3 wrybitts 01 01 00
Item 3 paire of pincers 00 04 06 (braces)
Item 2 paire of plyers 00 03 00
3 files 00 03 00
Item 3 plaine Irons 00 02 06
Item smale tools 00 07 00
Item wimble bittls & a sett 00 04 06
Item seiring Irons 00 03 00
Item Calking Chissels & Cold Chissells 00 02 00
Item 2 smale saues & a scribe 00 04 00
Item a hammer and a markeing tool 00 02 00
Item more smale tools 00 01 00
Item a maderell 00 01 06  (is this a woodworking tool? a mandrel lathe?)
Item a brake 00 05 00
Item red occur and Glew 00 01 00
Item smale nailes for wheeles 00 01 00
Item a burning Iron 00 01 00
Item a Coller 00 03 00 (is this a woodworking tool?)
Item 2 paire of Compassas & prickers 00 02 06 (compasses and awls)
Item smale moulds 00 00 06
Item workeing benches 00 05 00

This man was, next to his occupation as a carpenter, also a farmer owning a cider press. The list contained numerous other items, unrelated to woodworking, which I left out. Some items were very unclear to me and left in, as they might be woodworking tools. The worth of the items is given in pounds, shillings and pence after the mentioned items. From the Plymouth Colony Wills 3(2):33-36, found on internet at the Plymouth colony archive project.

A tinkling piece of pottery and a tinkling ring

 

A tinkling piece of pottery

A reader suggested that the rings on the curious piece of pottery described in a previous post was meant to attract the personnel at the bar to refill your cup. We tested this out and our cup made a nice tinkling sound. So nice that we decided to make a (half a) minute movie of it.

A 'tinkling' medieval finger ring

The style of the ring on the hand holding the beaker very well suits the tinkling cup. It is a replica of a medieval ring, of which we also posses the original. We bought this ring through internet, but unfortunately we did not record the accompanying information. The only thing we remembered is that it dates (according to the seller) to the 13th-14th century. The original ring is made of bronze, the replica of silver. The bead of the replica ring is turquoise, the bead of the medieval ring is either a blueish turquoise or coloured glass. Turquoise is a gem that was known during the middle ages. It originated from the orient and travelled trough Turkey to Europe, hence its name Turq-uoise.The rings have a decorative spiral groove on the outside. Spiral grooves are more often found on finger rings of the 14th century, for instance on the golden ring from the Fishpool hoard (Nottingham, United Kingdom) which has a beaded spiral groove.

A gold finger ring from the Fishpool hoard dated 1400-1464. The ring has a beaded spiral groove on the outside. On the inside is an inscription in English 'Uphaf ye entier' with a heart between the last two words. (lift-up your whole heart). 23 by 6.1 mm. Image and object from  British Museum, London, United Kingdom. Hinton (1982) in the book Medieval Jewellery suggests that the ring has a religious context, however the text and the heart seem more reminiscent of  medieval love rings that show similar texts.

Our replica ring was constructed by taking a 0.8 mm thick strip of silver of 60.6 x 4.2 mm. While still flat, the strip was decorated with parallel diagonal grooves: first with a triangular small sweet file, later with a 0.8 mm joint file. After this the ring was roughly rounded on a triblet and the ends were soldered together. Next, the ring was rounded on the same triblet till it was completely round-shaped and had an inner diameter of 18.5 mm - the right size for my ring finger. A small ringlet made of 1 mm round silver wire with an inner diameter of 3 mm (and thus an outer diameter of 5 mm) was first soldered close, an then slightly flattened on one side with a file to create a larger contact zone. Next, it was soldered perpendicular onto the ring with the flattened side. The turquoise bead has a diameter of 5.3 mm with a drilled hole of only 0.9 mm. Like the original medieval ring, the wire for the eyelet to fasten the bead is slightly thinner than the ringlet connected to the ring. In this case, I used a piece of 0.9 mm silver wire to fix the bead neatly to the rest of the ring. Both wire ends are stuck inside the bead, so no soldering - with chances of cracking the bead - was necessary.

The silver replica and the bronze original side by side. 

The original measures 16.3 mm diameter inside, the bead is 5.3 mm.

The tinkling ring. Actually, the ring does not tinkle that loud and nice as the beaker.

The spiral groove can be seen nicely in both rings standing on their side..

Savonarola folding chair

The Sedia Savonarola is a late medieval folding chair that originated in Northern Italy and became popular during the 15th and 16th century. Most extant examples date from this period and were made in Italy and the Alpine region. Though the basics of this chair type are simple, there is a lot of variation in armrest, backrest and feet models, as well as the type of wood used. Usually the chair has eight rows of S-curved legs at each side.

The chair type had a revival in the 20th century, and was factory produced, having iron pins for folding and an elaborately carved back.

A pictorial diversity of Savonarola chairs 

The 15th century Maximilian Room in Schloss Tratzberg,  Jenberg, Austria. The three Savonarola chairs show the variety in height, backrest and number of legs. The one left in the back has 10 legs on each side.

Three 15th century Savonarola chairs in Leeds Castle, Maidstone, UK. The one in front is inlaid with ivory or bone. All chairs are made in Italy and from walnut. Image from the Leeds Castle guidebook.

Two Savonarola chairs from the Museum fur Angewandte Kunst, Koln, Germany.. Left: walnut, height 86 cm, width 96 cm, depth 59 cm. Seating height 52.5 cm. North Italy, 2nd half 15th century. Right: walnut, with oak feet rail and apple backrest. Height  84 cm, width 68 cm, depth 52 cm, seating height 50 cm.  Switzerland, mid 15th century.  The front part of the seating is larger and covers the triangle between the joints. More colour photos of this chair are found in another post Medieval furniture from Koln. Images from museum catalogue MAK Koln.

This chair is from the formerly collection of Dr. Albert Figdor. Walnut, Tirol 1500. height 90 cm, width 68 cm. The armrest has a movable ring at the front end. The foot rail has claws and stands at an angle. Image from the 1930 auction catalogue.

The left chair is also from the collection of Dr. Albert Figdor. Walnut, Southern Alps, 15th century. height 88 cm, width 59 cm. The front is decorated with woodcarvings. The backrest has some carved lines. Image from the 1930 auction catalogue. Right: Chair from the Museum fur Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt.. Made of walnut, oak and beech. 16th century. Image from internet

Two chairs presumably from the Museo San Marco in Florence dating from the 15-16th century. The left chair has renaissance carvings at the backrest. Both chairs have carvings at the front legs. Images from internet.

The chair on the left is also from the Museo San Marco in Florence. 15th century. The chair on the right is from Lombardy. 1500. It is heavily inlaid with ivory or bone, the most likely wood used is walnut. Also here the feet rail stands at and angle. The chair has an exceptionally wide seating. Images from internet.

Right: Walnut chair from Tuscany, Italy, mid 16th century. Height 96 cm, width 74 cm, depth 58 cm.

Burg Kreuzenstern, Vienna. Left: Italy, 2nd half of the 16th century. Walnut, height 98 cm, width 66, width 47 cm. The armrest has deepened rosettes. The backrest falls within the armrest. Landesmuseum, Graz, Austria. Images from Mobel Europas 2: Renaissance - Manierismus by Windisch-Graetz..

Left: 15th century chair from Tirol, Austria. Beech with pine backrest. Backrest with openwork Gothic carving. Height 92 cm, width 59 cm, depth 42 cm. Burg Kreuzenstern, Vienna, Austria. Image from Mobel Europas 1: Romanik - Gotik by Windisch-Graetz. Right: Chair, North Italy, first half 16th century. Museo Nazionale Bargello, Florence, Italy. Image from Oude Meubels by S. Muller-Christemsem..

Left: Chair with a peculiar form of backrest. 16th century. Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munchen. Right: An unidentified savonarola chair. Images from internet.

Folding chair without a backrest and with 12 legs at each side. Beech, end of 15th century Image from Le Mobilier Francais du Moyen Age a la Renaissance by J. Boccador.

Two savonarola chairs from Italy or southern France. Height 94 cm, width 61 cm and depth 51 and 56 cm. Walnut, mid 16th century. Image from Le Mobilier Francais du Moyen Age a la Renaissance by J. Boccador.

Two chairs from Hampel Fine Art auction house, Munchen, Germany. Such antique chairs will cost between 2,500-5,000 Euro. Left: Walnut, height: 86 cm, width: 63 cm, depth: 49 cm. Early 17th century. Right: Beech, 80 cm high, Lombardy, 16th century.

A modern Savonarola chair from the 20th century. These chairs can be bought cheaply at internet (e.g. ebay Italy) for 15-90 Euro. This particular one was borrowed from a friend to have some idea of the dimensions and seating quality. This one is quite frail compared to my oak chair.. The joints are connected by iron dowels screwed with iron nuts.

Construction of the Savonarola chair

My Savonarola chair was constructed several years ago in 2004. I did not take that many photos then, so there are only a few photos of the chair during construction. I still have some spare parts of the chair, as well as some of the jigs in my workshop, so I have added some 'recent' photos of them as well. Basically the plan for making the Savonarola chair is that of Charles Oakley's Peacock folding chair. He has provided clear and accurate instructions for a medieval replica using modern tools. I have only changed some dimensions of the chair - mine has a higher seating, due to an increased length of the legs. This makes the seating height of my chair uncomfortable for most people. Also different is how the feet rail, arm rest and backrest look, however the mode of construction is the same. As already shown above in the pictorial variety of the chairs, they can look different.

My Savonarola chair, European oak, finished with furniture soap. Nowadays it has a linseed finish.

I used European oak (Quercus robur) for the chair. Boards of 23 mm thick for the legs and seating parts and 18 mm for the backrest. Thicker pieces (40 mm) were used for the feet and armrest. The legs were roughly sawn with a band-saw, and then made exactly identical using a router and mdf jig. This is very important as the folding joints will not work when they are different. I drilled the holes for the joints first, so I could also used them to fix the leg with bolts to the jig at the same position. All the 16 (well actually 18, I had two spare ones) identical legs were also rounded using an ogee cutter with the router (table).

Two routing jigs are needed for the legs, one for each side. The leg is fixed in the middle by two bolts, and at both ends with toggle clamps screwed to the jig (now removed). In the middle a mdf model leg is shown, used for drawing the legs on the oak boards.  

The block where the toggle clamp was fixed has some space allowance for the unrouted part of the leg. Right: The type of router cutter used with a top cutter and a guidance ring beneath it.

A tenon at both ends of the leg was shaped as follows: the two flat parts of an end were cut with a spindle moulder (or shaper). Another jig (no photo) was used to hold the leg at an identical position, again making use of the joint holes and bolts. The two curved parts of an end were sawn by hand.

The seating parts (also 16 with 2 spare parts) are rectangular and were the easiest part to make. the 45 degree angle at each end was cut with a circular saw set at a fixed length. The length of the seating parts were also rounded using an ogee cutter with a router (table).

The two spare legs and seating parts with the mdf leg model. The angle of the seating parts is 45 degrees.

The backrest, feet rails and armrest were sawn with a band-saw or hand-held power jig saw and finished with spoke shave, gouges and belt sander. To make the mortises for the leg tenons, holes were drilled with a hand drill at the appropriate places, which were further cut out square by hand with chisels. The exact places for the mortise was determined by building the legs and seating with the dowel joint for the rod and placing them on the leg rails. Each leg was numbered to ensure the same place during final construction. Note that there should be some space allowance (between 0.5 and 1 mm) between the legs, to allow easy folding of the chair.

The tenons at the arm rest side. Each is numbered for and exact fit with the mortise..

The mortises of the arm rest and the slot for the backrest.

Cutting the groove for the backrest in the armrest was done by hand, using a clamped block to guide the saw. A router plane  was used to clear out the groove. At the other side of the armrest decorative rosettes were carved. Each rosette has 10 leaves.

Detail of the groove of the backrest. The groove is 1 cm deep at each side of the armrest.

Carving the rosettes.

Some tests on the number (8, 10 or 12) of leaves for the rosettes on armrest. The ten leaves version was used. 

The final rosette; one of the four - with the linseed oil finish.

The caps for the (joint) dowels were drilled using a dowel cutter to produce 20 mm diameter oak dowels, drilling a 12 mm hole in it with a Forstner drill bit (with a drill press). Then I put a small piece of  Duct tape on a 12 mm dowel rod and added the cap onto it. This way it was fixed relatively stable to the dowel rod. The cap now could be easily and safely be rounded with a large belt sander, using the dowel rod as a handle. By rotating the dowel rod constantly a nice dome-formed cap was created. The cap was carefully glued to the dowel of the joint - spilled glue would glue the joint and spoil the folding of the chair. 

The rounded cap; 8 are needed for a chair.

Some spare oak 20 mm dowels, the 12 mm dowel with tape on the ends to be used as a handle 

and a (smaller) pine model giving an idea how the cap is fixed to the dowel handle.

The glue for the caps is the only glue used in making this chair. The mortise and tenons were not glued at all. They have been stable for more than 7 years of continuous use, and only now are beginning to wriggle a bit loose. The correct solution will be to add two dowel pins at each armrest and leg rail at the position of front and back leg to fix them permanently.

The loose pieces of the chair were finished at that time (2005) with soap. Furniture soap consists of white soap flakes that make a thick creamy 'soap paint' with a little water added. When dried it has a hard protective layer, which makes the wood look a bit bleached. A few layers of soap were added. It is of course not watertight, but stains are cleaned easily with a little water and soap. After all parts of the chair were treated with soap, the chair was put together. Because our other medieval furniture has (later) been finished with linseed oil, I have removed the soap coating with water in 2011 with a lot of water under the shower, and replaced it (after drying) with linseed oil.

The two backrests with linseed oil finishing. The top one is my favourite. 
The round of the bottom one was supposed to have a heraldic sign.

An abandoned scheme for a decorative rosette for the backrest, with 12 or 16 leaves.. 

I made a second, differently formed backrest with the idea of carving a heraldic sign in the central round. It never happened, as I liked the other backrest more.

The  Savonarola chair in a folded state. here it still has the soap finish.

Measurements

Below are the measurements of the chair. The legs are 23 mm thick and around 30 mm wide, the seating parts 23 mm by 27 mm thick.

Armrest and feetrest measurements.

  Backrest measurements. 

  

A third alternative backrest.