Featured How to restore this stand

I wondered weather like some kind of cream colour would bring out the detail more than black... I already have a beautiful black palm stand of a carved woman and I also have Victorian palm stand painted black so having something light colour would be good.
But I was worried that painting it a light colour makes it look more like its 'painted' then does a dark color.

 

Agree.
It wasn't likely to be Indonesian anyway, given the wood. The dark colour and turned pillars are reminiscent of Dutch Colonial (including Indonesian), but they are not exclusively Dutch Colonial.

I think it would. I would stick to a dark colour.

 

Those molding pieces are some kind of plantation mahogany. This almost looks like it is a homemade piece using ready-made components. Would not be surprised to find that some parts are of other woods.

 

Thanks for the close up shots! I have that same bow decoration on a 1920s mirror, so some of the ornamentation may come from other pieces, which is rather typical of Indonesian furniture pieces. So, to me, it still looks Indonesian and especially with that mahogany looking type of wood, but more importantly, to me: AJ is the authority on this. I would trust her assessment. I even agree with stick to a dark color.

I would not do a "restoration" per se, but rather some touch ups, but that's just me. Like with Fornby's (sp?).

 

It kind of looks to have been finished in shellac rather than varnish. Suggest you find out what the finish is before you start, bc not everything is compatible with shellac and / or varnish.

 

Thanks. The carvings and medallions placed on the wood appear to be from something else entirely. I've seen this "repurpose" concept used on plenty of Indonesian furniture, especially the "decorative" pieces, so it was a natural conclusion for me to form. I always thought Indonesians were the best furniture "repurposers" and painted and combined old and / or broken pieces to create. My experience lies mostly on having stayed in places with a lot of that furniture, and some years ago, I'd go weekly to see what containers arrived from Indonesia at the funky huge furniture store. It was back when I was looking for a useful and inexpensive dresser but I never found one there!

 

Yeah after sitting and looking at it for a few weeks and actually feeling like it's not too terribly 'rough' looking, I've come around to feeling that as well that I just want to touch up the bare timber bits. Painting it makes it look too uniform and 'painted'.
I just have to find a black that's going to work for touch ups.

What is Fornbys?

The guy who sold it to me told me that he spray painted it previously.