Furniture woods.........Bird's Eye maple ......... Illustrated FURNITURE Glossary
Maple
A handsome, pale, satiny hardwood of close grain, plentiful in the northern part of America.
Maple is of several qualities, the bird's-eye maple being most highly valued. Its regular or plain graining is subject to several very attractive markings -- curly (a tiger striping), bird's eye, blister, and quilted.
It somewhat resembles satinwood, but is more buff than yellow, has more curl, and more "bird's-eye." Old maple takes on a rich honey color.
Much used for furniture. especially in New England, ever since earliest times. Often it was an inexpensive substitute for walnut or mahogany, also for satinwood inlay, etc. Maple is light and not very durable, and is used only in the cheaper kinds of furniture.
Maple that has a curly grain is often used for violin backs (the pattern formed is known as a fiddle-back figure). Burls, leaf figure, and bird's-eye figures found in maple are used extensively for veneers. The bird's eye figure in maple is said to be the result of stunted growth and is quite rare.
Many pieces of furniture have been established as American because the underframing or secondary wood is maple.
- Highboy - From the Georgia Forman House
- Highboy - Dana Tillou Fine Arts
- Highboy - Private collection, Amherst, NY Transitional
- Curly maple strip - Winterthur Museum
- Tiger maple slats, Country Sheraton cane chair - Boies-Lord House (Hamburg)
- Maple veneer, circa 1860 sideboard - Boies-Lord House (Hamburg)
Photos below are not necessarily accurate to scale or color
Bare wood.
Bare wood.
See also: laminated ..... veneered ..... inlay ..... marquetry
|
Special thanks to Arthur Werner for his assistance. |
