Featured Stirring the Roux with a Tasty Huntboard

This walnut huntboard is from New York City and was made ca. 1855. It's 6 feet wide U.S. and 8 feet tall. I'm attributing it to Alexander Roux because of similarities with the deer head carving and details with the base that are similar to a Roux huntboard that's for auction at Cisco's at the moment. Plus, I thought of Roux before I even started searching, just because the decorative details look like something from his shop. But.....if you have a better idea on attribution, please let me know!

So why a huntboard and not a sideboard? Huntboards usually have depictions of animals as well as other comestibles. In this case, we have a fully developed stag's head at the apex, and walnuts and leaves on the lower casework.

The finish is shellac, which has predictably darkened over the past 170 years. The piece was definitely used for its intended purpose by the folks who had it in the past, and required some TLC on my part, but I got it for a great deal so I was happy to do it. I believe that the heat and moisture of dishes that were placed on the shelves over the decades and centuries caused alligatoring on the shelves and back panels. To repair this, I used a combination of Howard's Restore-a-Finish for dark walnut and denatured alcohol, used very sparingly on the end of a clean brush. I'd say it remedied about 80-90% of the damage.

Since it's so dark, I considered stripping and refinishing the whole thing, but decided against it because most of the finish is in great shape, and I like the patina of age from the original finish.

 

It's beautiful! I'm glad you left the original color. It's very rich and perfect. All the details are great. Whew it looks like it just barely made the ceiling height!

 

That is absolutely beautiful.

 

measure three times, move once!

 

Superb acquisition and tasteful conservation.

 

That is something else, Hopper. Really handsome piece. Congrats!

I'd be like a nervous expectant father about those antlers during the move

 

There is one very old break on the upper right that has been repaired. Otherwise, they're as clean as the day they were made. The detail on the antlers as they grow out of the stag's head amazes me.

 

that bad boy is really impressive....... enjoy !!!!!!

 

It's amazing that it's in really good shape...and that the ceilings were tall enough to hold it!

 

Amazing! A beautiful striking piece, BRAVO!!!

 

Fabulous !

 

It is in the perfect spot in your home. Enjoy your newest find.

 

Interesting and very dramatic!

While I'm not very good with furniture, I will say that I've always had a different understanding of what a huntboard is. It's been my understanding that it has to do with fox hunting and serving food, possibly outside, to the riders.

But then I live in foxhunt country so it may be more of a local thing.

 

Very cool!

 

I love it. Where I live in the south, shellac always alligators, so you must be in dryer weather than the humidity we suffer with! It's a gorgeous piece and beats a sideboard hands down! Thanks for the info on it and for showing it!

 

@say_it_slowly I think you’re right. Traditionally, your definition is correct. However, over time the definition has become muddled, and a search on eBay under “hunt board” will yield results looking more like mine than the traditional, lower hunt board with longer legs to which you refer.

 

@antidiem : this piece spent 170 or so years in New York, and about a month here in the US Midwest. Both are humid climates, though probably not as hot as your area. There was plenty of alligatoring on spots where they placed hot dishes. Fortunately I managed to straighten most of that out!

 

Very impressive piece, and it fits perfectly in your home.

 

Were you working with shellac? Or old varnish? Please give a brief explanation of what you did to smooth it out. @Ghopper

 

@antidiem

It’s in the third paragraph of my IP, but I’ll reiterate:

I started off with Howard’s Restore-a-Finish for dark walnut, which worked very well for the small dings and finish losses which are inevitable after 170 years.
However, the walnut back panels behind the shelves were a problem on another level. Due to repeated humid heat exposure, the shellac had alligatored severely. I used a new brush lightly dipped in denatured alcohol to repeatedly brush these areas in a feathering fashion to avoid brushstrokes and melt the outer layer of shellac. Once it set up it looked more like wood grain and had evened out significantly. I counted this as an 80% to 90% improvement.