The "Calcutta" Buffet

About This Post

No question this is a beautiful buffet.  With great carvings and detail work.  And it has it's flaws; although quite minor and cosmetic.

I really wanted to embrace the British Colonial era, and I knew I wanted to focus more on the finish of the body, rather than the center image transfer. 

I think, on this piece, the image transfer is secondary.  And because of that, I choose to mute the image.

My aim when working on a piece of furniture is never to make it look 'refinished' or 'as new'.  I want my pieces to look authentically worn and to tell a story.  I don't want 'originally'. So, I tend to step back and embrace the dings, and the chips.  I wanted this piece to look as though it had lived  in a hot, sticky, exotic climate.  I used an etching by Thomas Daniell titled 'View taken on the Esplanade, Calcutta' (1797), to depict the era.  With any type of furniture that has lived in a humid climate, you would expect that the finish is compromised; hence the  varying hues of glazes, shellac etc.

It's a piece of furniture that depicts a window into another world, another realm. It's the 'Calcutta' buffet.

 

2018›Upcycling Merit Categories›Starry Starry Night – Masterpiece Transfers›1st Place 

Designed By: 
Diane Llewellyn Grover from The Paint Factory
Color Category: 
Post Date
June 5, 2019