Seventeenth century Italian cabinet

This job, which has recently come into the workshop, is very much 'work in progress'. It is presently a rather unhappy looking seventeenth century Italian cabinet, typical of the period, on a box stand,  poorly constructed of rough pine held together with rusty round wire nails, rather than the finer inlaid walnut of the upper parts. The whole has at some stage been painted with dark brown 'Victorian' varnish, much of which is either in the process of flaking off or, alternatively, is several layers thick. In the interests of conservation we have tested removing a small area and found faded walnut beneath typical of the period with the usual marks and bumps commensurate with age. The walnut is inlaid with boxwood and ebony parquetry. Generally the piece is in sound structural condition and our object is to restore it as far as possible to its former state without damaging its integrity. We will report further as the work progresses.