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Description: Oil and water gilt Athenian Revival style gilt wood stand (guéridon). Gesso and bole over composition moldings and wood. Burnished water gilt passages overpainted with a bronze powder based "gold" paint.
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Condition, Before Treatment:
1) Two of the hanging finials were broken off, one of which was apart/across at top of torus; top of the third loose but attached. Two of the lower finials were detached; one of which had been broken off at the mounting dowel.
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Some losses to the wood/gesso/gilding had occurred around these breaks, and evidence of old repairs was evident. Some joints were slightly loose and cracks in the gessoed/gilt layers were visible. Drying/shrinkage cracks were present on several of the compo applied moldings.
The surface was lightly soiled and dusty overall. Condition of light green onyx top was not inspected and is not addressed here.
Click on photo at left to see gilding scheme.
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Termite damaged area (Above)
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2) Dry wood termites had excavated a small area of wood from the lower edge of one lower finial plinth. Areas around hole/loss sounded hollow by tapping and would likely have collapsed if mishandled.
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3) Some areas were covered over with a brown opaque coating which appeared to be an oxidized "gold" paint. Flaking of this coating had occurred in a few locations over these passages, revealing beneath intact burnished gilding and exposed gray/blue bole. The presence of exposed bole indicated that gilding in these areas had been lost. It appeared that the majority of gilding was entirely missing from the top outer table bullnose edge.
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