What's the "spit" test???

Hi everyone, I just bought this small still life, artist unknown "Still Life with Violin" with an elaborate (but newish) gold frame. It think it will look lovely in my study. It's painted on what looks like a thin board. It's out of the frame now and the "oil" looks quite flat and lifeless, also very dirty, and I now wonder if it is acrylic. I've seen someone talk about testing acrylic/oil with the cotton tip and "spit" test, but I am not sure what this is or what I should be looking for. Any advice or help before I clean the painting would be appreciated.

 

It looks like another Luan plywood piece in which case it's a recent import. (I'm not sure where they come from... Phillipines, Indonesia, China?)

Spit can be used as a cleaner because of the enzymes it contains. Using some on a Q-tip on a small test patch might give an indication of how much grime there is and how the painting looks under it, but when you tamper with stuff like that, there's always the potential for damage.

It doesn't look like high quality work to me. A nice enough decorator piece. Essentially factory art.

 

Thanks mos. Now I understand. The Q-tip came off extremely dirty, even on the outer edge which would sit behind the inner frame. The pic is nice enough, but I agree with what you say. It's extremely dirty so I'm not sure how it got to that state. Just not well cared for perhaps? I'll see what it looks like clean and repost. It even has a more colour and shine now. Thanks.

 

Hopefully just DIRT came off and no COLORS from the painting?????

 

Yes, thank heavens. Just dirt came off on the Q-tip as far as I could tell and I cleaned it this morning with just a lightly damp makeup sponge and distilled water. It looks much better. It appears that just dirt and no colour came off with the sponge.

 

AuDragon, That's great!!! I hope we can see the results when you're done!!!!!

 

Thanks A. It's just drying in our very cold 12 degree winter's morning. I'll post when it's back in it's frame.

 

YEEESH......don't need to hear about 12 degrees 'til it's about December again!!!!!!....my bones rattle too easy when the temp drops even NOW!!!!!

 

I can see a lighter colour in the nicks on the back, but I can't see if it is luan. It looks very light yellowish brown, not reddish like luan.

Luan is from Malaysia and Indonesia. We call it by the Malay/Indonesian name of meranti (much nicer), I suspect luan could be the Chinese name for it.
The name is used for dozens of types of trees, all with wood with a reddish colour. It has been exported worldwide for a long time. Luan plywood has also been around for some time, so the painting could have been made anywhere.
This panel is rather open grain, if it is indeed luan that means it came from a younger tree. They started to harvest those when it became more difficult to find old trees.
The Netherlands has had quality control for luan since 1989, no young wood is allowed. It now has to be FSC certified as well.
I'm sure many countries have the same, so if this was painted in a country with good quality control and certification, that could help to date it.

I don't know if this is actually a factory painting, but in China, supplier of factory paintings, FSC certification is not yet compulsory. They are working on it, which is good news.

 

Like this?

 

If the dirt is where the frame should have protected the picture it is a sign that the dirt is artificial. When the newly made painting has dried, you wash it with your special dirt oaint for an instant aged look.

 

On the right you can see where the frame used to be, so I don't think the dirt is artificial.

 

RIGHT ON!!!! Too real for comfort!!!! Brrrrrrrrrr.....now ya've gone and done it..........