Jones! The Marqueterie Man

This was the most successful marquetarian in America during the first quarter of the 20th-Century. His real name was George Henry Jones and he was born in 1865 to European immigrants in New York City. Little is known about his early life, but it is thought that as a young man he worked in the marquetry and inlay trade. In 1893 he opened his own workshop from one that had already existed since the 1840s. By 1895 he was already moving into larger quarters. It was about this time that he learned the advantages of self-promotion and began calling himself 'Jones! The Marquetry Man.' He often advertised in furniture trade journals saying "Estimates and Designs Furnished".

In that year, Furniture Trade Review said: "George H. Jones has many machines of the latest pattern... With his improved machinery, new appliances and large force of men he can now handle the largest orders for marqueterie from any part of the country... His immense shop is by far the best of its kind..." The next year Furniture World reported that Jones had "the largest marqueterie shop in the country..." In the workshop, Jones was as much a designer as a craftman. He used natural wood along with dyed veneers of various tints acheived with acid baths and dyes prepared by himself. Other materials that he was known to employ were pewter, copper and exotic woods.

In 1905, American Cabinetmaker and Upholsterer listed the exotic woods stored on Jones's premises as thinya, amboyna, violet, amaranth, sandal, pearwood, holly, boxwood, applewood, satinwood, prima vera, figured maple, plumwood all "bizarre in marking, delicious in perfume and magnificent in color-the collection of a lifetime." Examples of his marquetry are rare, but do exist in the Harvey Ellis and LaMont Warner designed inlayed furniture (1903-1906) of Gustav Stickley. These designs were floral in nature with an expression of refinement. The amount of marquetry purchased by Stickley ran into the thousands of dollars and continued to about 1912. George Henry Jones attained a great amount of wealth and remains unrecognized today because he was known mostly by the furniture trade as a sub-contractor of marqueterie. He died in New York City in 1927.

Another Spindler

In my last post I wrote about the Spindler Marquetry Family. There is another Spindler family that many are not aware of. During the eighteenth-century in Germany only 2 families dominated the marquetry trade. One was David and Abraham Roentgen in Neuwied and the other was Johann Spindler with his 3 sons in Bayreuth. The Spindler’s were more well known in their country than Roentgen. They not only produced furniture in the Rococo style, but also wall paneling and flooring. 

 

Between 1764 and 1773, Heinrich Wilhelm Spindler and his older brother, Johann Friedrich produced whole rooms, furniture and flooring of marquetry for King Frederick the Great of Prussia at Potsdam. Their greatest work, however, was the Spindler Room at Fantaisie Palace near Bayreuth (shown above). Today this is only a replica with the original in the Bavarian National Museum Bavarian National Museum in Munich. The wall paneling covers 840 square feet and consists of 18,000 pieces. Native domestic woods were used and many of them were dyed (yellow, green and blue). As was the case in those days lac varnish was used as a finish. All this was created by Wilhelm and Friedrich with the help of only 2 assistants. Wilhelm was the younger of the brothers and was reported working in his father’s workshop when only 12 years old. He may have worked in Paris at a young age for the Mineon Family who were considered a dynasty of craftsman and dealers. Truly amazing.