Sunday, July 27, 2008

Favorite things~ episode one~




The lovely Cindy of My Romantic Home is hosting My Favorite Things. Please feel free to join her and see what everyone's favorites are this week!

Here is one of my favorite things. An art nouveau box adorned with a fair maiden, roses, ribbons and doves dating from around 1900. It's about a yard long. The woodburning technique is called pyrography. From what I've read, it was usually done by young women in boarding schools and such.

pyrographed glove box
These are old scanned photos, so as usual I apologize for the quality. I will have to take some better shots when I get time. I also have a few other pieces~ another glove box and a tie hanger.



pyrographed glove box side


This box is special to me, not only because it's the most BEAUTIFUL one I've ever seen, but because my mom gave it to me. It is SO intricate. I simply must take better photos for you tomorrow. It's been wrapped in a towel since we moved here, waiting for our bedroom to be finished!

The glove box is starting to show it's age tho, as most of these pieces do not have any protective coating on them. I don't want to put poly on it or anything like that, but I think I will oil it. The dust gets in the little grooves something fierce... and let me tell you, there are zillions of little grooves! The entire background is tiny cross-hatching.

Edit:
As promised, here are some better photos I took today. Click to enlarge if you'd like to see more detail. Check out that checkerboard cross-hatching!












Thank you Cindy for hosting Our Favorite Things!

15 comments:

Cindy said...

Wow that is really beautiful! Thanks for joining in!

Anonymous said...

Stunning piece. You can't beat a great antique. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I'll be visiting you again!

Blessings,
Libby

Idaho Quilter said...

I really like your blog header, Scarlett is one of my favorite characters. The box is wonderful, Oh yeah I like the bike too. I'll be back.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely beautiful. It is certainly a wonderful treasure.

Lisa
www.palepinkandroses.com

Decor To Adore said...

This is a breathtakingly beautiful piece.

I have a huge teak chest that has all sorts of nooks and crannies and once a year I take several q tips and a small jar/bowl of lemon oil and work on it for about 2 hours.

Try it! (Although your time will be much, much less.) :)

Unknown said...

What a very special piece you have, that detail is amazing!

CONNIE said...

What a stunning piece! I'm not sure if you a mantle but this piece would be great filled to the brim with antique Christmas ornaments or a row of miniature vases of fresh flowers...Oh you have to display it...

Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

That's a beautiful box. Can you imagine the time it took to create something like that? Amazing! I've been poking around your blog and I love all your pictures of the Titanic dresses. Absolutely beautiful!! You look so much like "Rose" it's unreal.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Hayley

Unknown said...

Hi Nikki,
This is an amazing piece. The only thing that I would do is the lemon oil that Laura mentioned in her comment. I use either Old English or Halloway House. Both are good. I do this to all of my good piece's once or twice a year. You probably already know that though.

The detail is just incredible. Thanks for sharing!
~~Liz~~
P.S. super cute picture of your little boy and the leaves. What
a little punkin!

Julia @ Hooked on Houses said...

I've never seen anything like this. What an interesting woodburning technique--I learned something here today! It's so beautiful. I can see why it's your favorite! -Julia :-)

Life on the Edge said...

This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen! I didn't know they made stuff like this. Love the Art Nouveau carving. That is one of my favorite art and decorating periods!

Kady

Glennis said...

Gosh, how pretty is that! What was it used for?

Unknown said...

Beautiful! I love that dessert tier! You're so fortunate to have such lovely things!

w00ts up said...

Wow! You truly have a unique and gorgeous piece there.

Jaede said...

Wow, the work that went into that box is just amazing.