Clothespress, Charleston South Carolina, 1785–1790. Before (left) and after (right) conservation; images combined.
Mahogany, soft pine, hard pine, brass.
Courtesy Drayton Hall; gift of Mr. Charles H. Drayton III and the late Mrs. Martha Drayton Mood (NT 98.6.1).
Conservation by Christopher Swan, Furniture and Wooden Artifacts Conservator, and Albert Skutans, conservator of furniture, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Pre-conservation photograph by George Williams.
Post-conservation photograph by Craig McDougal.
Images courtesy Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Conservation of the Drayton Clothespress

1. Before treatment, the surface finish was in a degraded and delaminated state. Using microscopy, two layers of finish were revealed, including varnish from the later 19th century and the original natural resin coating.

2. During conservation, the later 19th-century varnish was replaced with a reversible, high-grade acrylic clear varnish, which re-saturated the old varnish, retaining its place on the object.

3. The upper cabinet and pediment is ornamented with mahogany veneer, carved moldings, lightwood stringing, and decorative rosettes and husks— portions of which had become detached or were missing.

4. The missing moldings and veneer sections were reproduced, the rosettes were reassembled, and all loose materials were reattached.

5. Cleaning revealed that the mahogany doors of the upper cabinet had been cut from the same piece of wood in order to exhibit a symmetrical grain pattern.

6. The lightwood stringing throughout the clothespress was cleaned with sodium hydroxide, which removed the outer oxidized surface and reestablished the contrast with the darker mahogany.

7. The clothespress arrived for conservation with wooden knobs as drawer pulls.

8. Analysis determined the knobs were not original and that original hardware consisted of brass bail-and-rosette pulls with a 3⅝“ spacing. Reproduction pulls were made.

9. Only three of the original foot blocks survived and one had been moved from the rear of the clothespress to the front during a repair campaign.

10. During treatment, the relocated foot block was returned to its original location and the missing foot block was recreated and reattached.

Drayton Hall handleless Cup and Saucer, China, 1722–1750.
Recovered from Drayton Hall South Flanker Well.
Hard-paste porcelain.
Post-conservation photograph by Craig McDougal.
Image courtesy Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

During the summer of 2013, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation completed efforts to conserve a number of Drayton Hall (circa 1738) collections objects loaned for the exhibition A Rich and Varied Culture: The Material World of the Early South, opening February 2014 (see preceding article). Of the twenty-seven loaned objects, the Drayton family clothespress is one of five known pieces of eighteenth-century Charleston-made furniture from the family to survive to the present and one of two examples in Drayton Hall’s collection. A number of techniques employed during the conservation of the clothespress are noted on the full-page image.

A variety of important 18th-century porcelain vessels were also selected for exhibition, including chocolate cups, a garniture set, a gilded tea service, and a matching cup and saucer that were recovered archaeologically and found to be decorated with cranes and mosquitoes. Over the last thirty years, dozens of porcelain objects have been recovered from archaeological excavations; it is believed that most were discarded following the American Revolution during a period of family transition. To prepare for the exhibit, sherds from the cup and saucer were carefully cleaned with particular attention not to remove any of the surviving overglaze decoration. The sherds were then mended with a water soluble adhesive that can be easily removed if deemed necessary.

In addition to ceramics and furniture from Drayton Hall, architectural elements have also been loaned. One of these fragments is a carved mahogany stair bracket decorated with a squash blossom and acorn. Recent paint analysis revealed that the mahogany elements of the stair hall were originally treated with a translucent vermillion stain, which must have given the space a vibrant appearance. The bracket, which became detached in the 1990s, will be reinstated in the stair hall when it returns to Drayton Hall following the loan period.

Drayton Hall Stair Bracket, ca.1750. Carved mahogany with vermillion stain. Courtesy Drayton Hall. (DH AF 1425).
Post-conservation photograph by Craig McDougal.  Image courtesy Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Carter C. Hudgins, Ph.D., Director of Preservation and Education, Drayton Hall, Charleston, South Carolina.