Object Description
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Sidney Barnsley attributed.
A rare Cotswold School Arts and Crafts hayrake oak dining table with a rare double use of the hayrake stretcher design, one to the base uniting each leg and again identically repeated underneath the table top, where it could only be seen if one was on one’s knees looking underneath.
An ode to his delight in his work to go the extra cotswold mile. The top is made of two planks joined with four butterfly joints, which incidently he and Gimson called double dovetail joints. Each joint goes straight through the top and are seen underneath, each one also having a wedge of probably Walnut banged in after they were fitted to tighten the joint further. The double chip line carving or gouging to the top edge and to the facets of each leg follows the craftsmanship of Sidney Barnsley.
See Gimson and the Barnsley’s by Mary Greenstead, page 120 where it states : When used (gouging) by Sidney Barnsley, the making of a line of gouged decoration on a piece of furniture was a relatively simple process, which he called ‘tickling’ the wood which could be done very quickly in two movements, when working with the grain on a pleasant wood. Using a small gouge, a sharp, downwards incision was made into the wood followed by a gentle upward stroke, the sides of which would spread outwards. Gimson’s use of gouging tended to be more precise, each incision having parallel sides, and therefore requiring more time and effort from the craftsman in its execution.
See also page 86 Fig. 52. Where the end of what appears to be an identical table in the left hand corner of the image of the interior of Sidney Barnsley’s cottage in Pinbury.
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