A project was undertaken at the Canadian Conservation Institute to identify the original varnishes on a selection of wooden furniture made in Canada in order to test assumptions about which varnishes were commonly applied to such objects... more
A project was undertaken at the Canadian Conservation Institute to identify the original varnishes on a selection of wooden furniture made in Canada in order to test assumptions about which varnishes were commonly applied to such objects and to gain a better understanding of the varnishing practices of Canadian cabinetmakers. The project focused on pieces fabricated in Ontario and New Brunswick, primarily during the nineteenth century. Varnish samples taken from twenty-one pieces of furniture were analyzed in order to determine their compositions. Objects were chosen based on evidence of the presence of an original varnish and for their strong provenance. Analysis of the varnishes was undertaken by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Analytical results suggest that the use of fixed oil varnishes incorporating Pinaceae resin and often imported copal resins was more common than the use of shellac, and that it persisted in Canada to at least the end of the nineteenth century.
