Featured Carved Oval Wooden and Bronze Plaque

It's only one of 2 items I own that are a complete mystery to me Maybe someone in here will know for sure.

 

one can only hope !

 

Great piece. I see some bow tie joiners to hold the wood together. Oak? Walnut? I see dowels which may be holding the fancy work on the front. I see awl marks. Why the notch above the central insert on the back side? My first impression with all the birds: Black Forest carving????????

 

Hey, Gus. The last post on this thread was almost 3 years ago.

 

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O368769/frame-frame/
This doesn't do much for E.A. Colquhoun, but it looks like the same artist to me.

 

Hi 808 Raver
Just noticed your magnificent carved plaque ,I feel it is English,date is difficult my feeling 1880-1900,maybe earlier only guessing on age,In the Grinling Gibbons 1648-1721,style , he was recognized as the best ever woodcarver in England,
Your plaque has the best carving of a piece from that period?(when ever it was made) I have ever seen. Not sure if you saw my heavily carved mirror frame I posted under furniture? it puts my frame to shame.
the carving on you frame is some of the best carving in the world,for people that understand these things. The cast gilt section is also fantastic quality ,this is what I based the rough date is has a slight ,Art Nouveau feel. In my opinion it is a very valuable piece

I would send images to the Victoria and Albert Museum

Grinling Gibbons used lime wood in his carvings ,looks like you plaque may be in walnut,the small fan type repairs let in on the back are interesting.




Regards Giotto.

 

And me. Which suggests that Mr E A C was the owner.

 

Is there a peremption date on an interesting post?
Any light for a solve can happen about it years later

 

Hello I have just noticed Flippers ,post ,I think he is correct after seeing the image of the Italian frame. Because Gibbons was so early and amazing his style was copied all over the world,I should have thought of the Italian carvers, as an old customer of mine has a piece that may have been made by Luigi Frullini,who was one of the best carvers in Italy in his day 1839-1891.

808 Raver, the finish on your piece looks a bit dark,does it look like it has been colored over the top?I does not look naturally aged it looks a bit of a recent finish,

What's your feeling on the Finish.

 

This is Medusa, which inclines me to Italian:



The figure on the central plaquette is a bacchante, a female follower of the wine god Bacchus.

 

Hi all, thanks for the nice comments, this post is 3 years on now and I will try and answer what I think is the case with this piece and answer the recent questions 1) the piece is walnut and the notch in the back was an alternative way of hanging it 2) I'm sure E.A. Colquhoun was once an owner not the maker. 3) I wish it was in the style of Gibbons as Gibbons's work was the best I've ever seen, not saying mine is bad but not a Gibbons. So IMHO I think the work is by Pietro Giusti and carved in Siena around 1850 it might of found it's way to the UK when Giusti exhibited at the Royal exhibition crystal palace. The work hung over a coal fire for many years hence the dark finish, you can still smell the coal tar on the front. The V&A weren't very helpful at all, they said an expert would have a look and give an opinion but all I got from them was an initial first email on Giusti's work but nothing on my piece, I never received an expert opinion and when I chased them up they said they weren't expert in Giusti's work and couldn't give an opinion. Luigi Frullini was one of my early candidate's but his work has a distinctive element as does Giusti and Giusti's work has very many similarities with my plaque, far more than I've found with any other carving. I have written to the University where Giusti became a professor and they hold a thesis on Giusti, they said plate 180 (I think) was similar but all his writings and sketch's are held in the library of Siena and it's not in a electric format for me to view online The plaque the V&A have is very close in format but close up inspection of theirs shows the carving isn't as good as mine. I still own the plaque and after years of trying to definitively track down who made it and it's history since then has worn me out. I have been thinking if I did manage to definitively put Giusti's name on it I perhaps wouldn't be able to own it any longer as the insurance would be a fortune (for me anyway) I'm still happy for anyone out there to help and if it were to have proof and I had to sell it then so be it, I could do with the cash but as for now the only way I can see is going to the library of Siena and looking for myself.

 

If one ever needed an excuse for a trip to Sienna...

 

I would but ever since I turned 45 I can't seem to travel without being nervous, around 15 miles is my limit amazing seeing as I went on vast trips all over Europe before that.

 

Hi Raver
It is great that you may have discovered the maker,I had not heard of Giusti,
It is a pity these museums do not help more ,to identify these things.
As I said it is of amazing quality,good luck with your future research.
Regards Giotto.

 

This is a well known work by Giusti living in the Met and bought by Rockefeller, there are 12 carved features on this box that my plaque has they are almost identical.

 

This is another work by Giusti

 

This is mine for comparison

 

Hi Raver
Giusti was an amazing carver,it is great that you have a piece of his work.

As I said in my first post the quality of the carving is sensational.
Re Grinling Gibbons, I have just read that he was born in Rotterdam to English parents,and went to England when he was 19 years old, I did not realize he was therefore European trained .
I always thought he was born in England.

Regards Giotto.