Hi all,

My name is Elizabeth. I'm an American but have lived in England for several years now. May I ask for your help? I bought this firescreen from a charity shop yesterday. As you can see it has an inital, E (one reason why I wanted it!) with the date 1907. There is also a signature, which to me looks like AWS. I'm not too informed on the Arts and Crafts Movement, but this looks to me like it was inspired by Arts and Crafts. I'm not sure if the carving contains thistle flowers or pineapples! Any help is most appreciated. Thanks.

Looks like a great piece. I don't know the signature. I would say thistles, so quite UK in that regard.

Unfortunately most of the discussion here is about the American movement so I'm not sure if anyone can help too much, which is a shame because it would be nice to see and hear more about English A&C and other European parallel movements.

Thanks for the reply. I noticed that the forum is more about the American movement - fascinating from my point of view in that I would love to know more about my own country's traditions. It's lovely to see the chairs and benches and rockers posted here, including Popular Mechanics's instructions!

So much to learn. Thanks!
p.s. In a general sense, would you say the carving is hand-crafted or mechanized?

Eliza,

The screen is wonderful.. Could you post a full picture of it. It almost looks like a headboard since it is wider than tall.

We are not limited to American Arts & Craft Movement and most of the members seem to be from the U.S. It would be great to get involvement from members all over the world. The Movement had it's begining in England and it is right to honor it with this fine piece of yours.

I would suggest you check around the internet to see who in England specializes in A&C Movement items and perhaps they might recognise the maker. Please share with us what you discover.

Fred

Thanks for the compliments on the screen - the moment I saw it in the window I had to have it - I raced back across town to the shop during my lunch break to hold it - in stifling heat (we're having a heat wave here in England!).

It's definitely a firescreen, although I had to ask in the shop and they weren't too sure. It was labled "Wood Stand". I will now have to neeldlepoint a tapestry for it! Hopefully I can find someone who can shed some light on it.

Eliza, Nice item. I found just calling a few local auction houses or dealers who specialize in appraising and asking if they can help or if they can recommend an appraiser or historian who can help id the item. Biggest help is your local library which I am sure will have a multitude of references on antiques. I probably have seen sommething similar on BBCA tv shows, Cash in the Attic or Bagain Hunt and have dismissed the item due to lack of knowledge on fire sreens from the Victorian era or pre Victorian. They were a vain bunch I hear!

quote:

Originally posted by Eliza:
p.s. In a general sense, would you say the carving is hand-crafted or mechanized?

I think mainly hand carved. It might have been roughed out by machine but the detail is a bit too much for machine. A few other things, the top right corner isn't squared off like the others, some of the carving is very narrow and this would be highly susceptible to breakage from a machine, on that point - anything that breaks or goes wrong while doing it by hand can be improvised and fixed by the carver, finally - its not symetrical (except for the bottom) meaning hand carving something symetrical would be tricky because of the breakage risk to one side, so purposefully I think you would design it asymetrical for hand carving.

mrm - By the carved date of 1907 I think the Monarch in power was Edward (the 7th maybe) so you could say its Edwardian, but its safe to call it Arts & Crafts because it has a William Morris feel to it (I'm no expert on Morris style however)

SC, those Europeans had way too many style periods! Too many monarchs to design things for. E1, Mary, Victoria, Edward, GeorgeIV(?), E2, Anne, Jacobean, Rococo, Louis 14,15,16,17,18, Prince Albert in a can,

...and more to come, Charles, William, Harry Potter....

Start your research in Scotland. The thistles often refer to that country. And if you looking for information on Scottish Arts & Crafts movement, take a look at R. MacIntosh. He did a famous tearoom and there are existing photographs. There was a fireplace in there. . .

The "E" reminds me of the typeface styles that Morris liked. The curving, twisting vine pattern of leaves and thistles recalls the legacy of viking art called "Hiberno Saxon". That style was a big influence on the A & C movement England.

Bev.
(Sorry, I don't have any of my research books to check the spelling of any of this stuf. I hope this helps. It is beautiful.

I hope this helps

Thanks Bev for the information on the Hiberno Saxon style - I wasn't aware of that. I did think there might be a Scottish connection from the thistles and possibly the "E" for Edinburgh (?), but I bought this in Cambridge - so it must have come quite a long way if that's the case.

Thanks too Stonecat for your thoughts on the carving - I hadn't noticed that the right hand corner is different! takes a trained eye to spot something like that.

I popped into an antiques dealer yesterday and described it to him, but he deals in the Regency period so he couldn't help much except to say that the fact that it is signed would mean that the person was a known maker (or else why sign it?). If the maker was an amateur who decided to sign it, that is more tricky. He did recommend a local auction house that might be of help.

Also: the carving is laden with dust. I was reading a thread here that recommended cleaning wood by using Murphy's Oil soap, dipping into just the bubbles and wiping with paper towel. I do have some Murphy's. Would you say I could go ahead and clean it? Could I also wax it with some natural furniture wax (which I must also have somewhere in the house). TIA!
Elizabeth

There's usually no harm in cleaning with Murphys or any other mild soap as long as the finish is fairly intact. Its hard to tell from the pics what exactly the finish is, if its finished at all? Can you confirm there is a coat of shellac on it maybe? If so and its not flaking away, then go ahead and clean and wax. If its thin or worn off a bit then clean lightly and think about maybe giving it a new skim coat (thinned shellac) before waxing. As always however, if its in decent original condition, just clean and wax.

Thanks for that Stonecat. Yes, on the carving there does seem to be a coating of shellac (it is shiny under the dust). At the handle the finish seems thin.

The dust is incredibly thick (perhaps soot?). I took a clean duster cloth to it - I had to almost 'scratch' the dust off at some places. I was careful. I think I will try the Murphy's gently on a tiny bit and see what happens.

The stuff you have to 'scratch' may actually be an old coat of wax - I forgot to mention this. Clean it first then try a little bit of mineral spirits on a rag to see if anything else lifts off. If it does, it is probably old wax and you should probably add the step of wiping down the whole piece with the mineral spirits. After this (it might look pretty dull at this point but it will be super clean), apply the new wax to give is some new life.

Hello all,

Nice to be back with some good news. I found out the maker of this screen. His name is Arthur W. Simpson, and he made furniture in Kendal, Cumbria (the Lake District) from the 1880s to 1920 or so. His workshop went by the name of The Handicrafts. If you have heard of Blackwell House near Windemere - his workshop made the paneling for it. Simpson's own house in Kendal was designed by CFA Voysey (Littleholme). There is a museum of Lakeland Life that has some of his furniture.

Luckily, I was able to consult a book about him with photos and there is a panel that he did in 1891 that is very similar to the design on the screen. It was fascinating to read about his shop and sad too that WWII pretty much killed the family business - his sons did design some pieces, but they knew that the shop couldn't carry on without their father's inspiration, so they closed in 1951 or so. The little complex of buildings where his shop was located was demolished for an extension to an insurance company building. Sad that all that Arts and Crafts history is gone. The family house is still standing, but not open to the public I believe.

I feel happy and privileged to be the caretaker of this piece. It is so amazing to think that someone with such talent carved it and it's landed in my hands.

Elizabeth
p.s. in case you're curious as to how I found out the maker - I managed to find a Dorling Kindersly book on Arts and Crafts furniture at my local Borders, had a look at the index and found the name that matched the initials. I consider this lucky too because he's not mentioned in other books on Arts and Crafts.

Good stuff - its always nice to have some history to go with a piece.

Eliza,

It is great to be able to find the maker of your screen and to able read up on him. Congratulations.

Fred