Lacquer Peg Board
A 19th century Japanese coat rack is made of a wooden board with 6 pegs (numbered 1-6 from left to right), finished in lacquer and decorated with gold, red and pink floral designs. The pegs are decorated with different flowers around each base. The tops of the pegs alternate with only gold and black designs (pegs 1, 3 and 5) and with pink, gold and black designs (pegs 2, 4 and 6). The board has a series of different type of trees illustrated in gold, pink and red.
Description
Overall: The surface has light damage, especially on the boards edges, with grime and use wear overall. There are numerous losses, mostly on the back of the board and on the pegs. There are also areas of old repairs, specifically 3 repaired areas on the top of the board that go all the way through to the back, likely where it was originally attached to the wall.
Condition
Peg 1. This peg has a black a gold top with old repairs to the top with poorly matched in-painting. Large losses to the edges of the turning, some of which have been painted with ink or paint to cover the underlying wood. There are lacquer losses to the body. Losses to the lacquer have caused lifting to the surrounding lacquer, especially to the top and turnings.
Peg 2. This peg is decorated in pink and gold, with old repairs and poorly matched in-painting. Large losses to the edges of the turning, some of which have been painted with ink or paint to cover the underlying wood. There is large loss of lacquer to the top of the base. Losses to the lacquer have caused lifting to the surrounding lacquer, especially to the top and turnings. There is a uneven layer of discolored varnish on the top of the peg.
Peg 3. This peg is decorated in just gold and black. Most of the lacquer has been lost from the top and the turnings and has been poorly in-painted in places. There is also a large loss of lacquer at the top of the base.
Peg 4. This peg is decorated in pink and gold, with old repairs and poorly matched in-painting. The lacquer on the top has lifted to form a bubble with small areas of loss. Small losses to the edges of the turning, some of which have been painted with ink or paint to cover the underlying wood. Losses to the lacquer have caused lifting to the surrounding lacquer, especially to the top and turnings. There is a uneven layer of discolored varnish on the top of the peg.
Peg 5. This peg is decorated in just gold and black. The lacquer on the top is lifting and much of the gold has worn off. There are large losses to the turnings and top of the base, with some areas poorly in-painted.
Peg 6. This peg is decorated in pink and gold and the lacquer is raised on the top. There are large losses all around the turnings.
•Each peg top was stripped of any old poorly matched paint, repairs and varnish using acetone and a cotton swab. Areas of lifting lacquer were injected with Lascaux and left to absorb for at least 60 seconds. Then using a tacking iron, the lifting areas were set down using heat with a layer of silicon release paper as a barrier.
•Areas of loss to the lacquer were filled using paper and methyl cellulose 4% in distilled water. Then the paper fills were painted to match using acrylic paint. In some areas the gold was too difficult to match as the original gold decorations appear very smooth and the gold acrylic paint tends to appear more sparkly. In areas of large gold losses a judgment call was made if it should be painted gold or left black which supports the overall worn aesthetic of the object.
•No work was done to either the front or back of the board aside from cleaning with a microfiber blue cloth to remove surface dust, grime and fingerprints.