In 2003, a secretaire made for Queen Marie-Antoinette in 1780 by Jean-Henri Riesener was restored for the Wallace Collection. In doing so interesting facts about the methods used in the Riesener Workshop were revealed. What historians would have us believe is totally inaccurate.
Although the fretsaw had been in use for 200 years, Riesener created his marquetry using the relay technique. This is done the medieval way using a shoulder knife and a gouge. He was not alone in this practice and most likely learned it when he was apprenticed to Jean-Francois Oeben. By the nineteenth century it had been replaced by more classic methods using the fretsaw and 'Chevalet de Marqueterie'.
Another practice was to secure trellis-work and marquetry with pins when glueing to avoid slippage. These would then be removed, the marquetry trimmed and a border (either marquetry or bronze) placed over the holes. This is the same way that Andre-Jacob Roubo describes in his L'Art du menuisier.
Marquetry over time degrades in color, and more so, if dyed veneer is used. Riesener was often asked to revitalize marquetry he had created, sometimes more than once. This was done by scaping and applying a new finish. In those days handsawn veneer could be 1/8" thick so this was not a problem.
Jean-Henri Riesener considered himself more as an artist than a cabinetmaker. In a portrait he had painted of himself he adopts the pose of a designer. After the French Revolution he bought back many pieces of his furniture that had gone out of style with the hopes they would one day become fashionable and comfort him in his retirement. That day never came - at least not until after his death.
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