Rabu, 20 April 2016

Woodworkers guild chests

Not only wills and inventories are are great sources of information for which tools medieval woodworkers used, also images of woodworkers at work with their tools can provide knowledge of how and which tools they used. However, when such images are made by miniaturists or painters one can doubt the accuracy, as the artist does not know the exact working and looks of the tools. But when the artist himself is the woodworker, there can be no doubt that he knows his tools. This can be seen for instance at the intarsia of woodworkers tools at the choir stalls of the San Petronio Basilica in Bologna, Italy, the image of the insarsia worker Antonio Barili at work, or the woodworker on the choir stall of the cloister in  Pöhlde, Germany.

Intasia by Antonio di Marchi showing a variety of woodworkers tools at the choir stalls of the San Petronio Basilica in Bologna, Italy. Images from J.M. Greber Die geschichte des hobels.


Another great image source is the furniture used by the woodworkers guilds. They can be very illuminating by showing the tools they used. You can also be very sure that the tools depicted are very accurate - the makers of the chests are also the users of the tools! The following examples are two Austrian/Tiroler woodworkers guild chests and table with a large variety of tools. Last example is a Dutch woodworkers guild chest from the 17th century from Deventer, the Netherlands with only a few tools. However, what these images do not show is how many of each tool the woodworker owned.

The guild table and the guild chest made by the the Bozen (Bolsano) joiner Hans Kipferle in 1561. Walnut, maple, and other woods were used for the intarsia..The table and chest are supposed to be in the Stadtmuseum in Bozen (Bolsano), Italy.. The table measures 125 x 108 cm.

The table top of the Guild table by Hans Kipferly. Image from Mobel Europas 2 - renaissance - Manierismus by F. Windisch-Greatz.

The tools depicted on the guild table by Hans Kipferle are (clockwise): a frame saw, an auger, a mallet, a try square, a smoothing plane, a claw-hammer, a wooden screw-clamp, a chisel, a straight bevel crossed with what seems to be a depth measuring tool, a bench support, an axe, a shoulder-knife, a compass, a gluepot, a moulding plane, a rule, a double marking gauge and finally in the middle the work bench on which another hammer and chisel are shown as well as some bench hooks.In fact the gauge depicted is even earlier - and more accurate - than those shown in the post on the squantillion.


Front and backside of the Guild chest of the joiners guild of Graz, Austria dated 1600. It is made of walnut, maple, ash and ebony and measures 30 by 50 by 32 cm. It can be found in the Landesmuseum Joahannum, Graz, Austria. The panels on the front and backside show the tools of the joiners trade. Image from Mobel Europas 2 - Renaissance - Manierismus by F. Windisch-Graetz.








The tools shown on the four different panels are: Top left: an axe, a claw hammer, a rule, an auger and a straight bevel.Top right: a gluepot, a compass, a mallet, and a shoulderknife. Bottom left: a frame saw, a square, chisels and a gouge. Bottom right: a crew clamp, a smoothing plane (very similar to that of Durer on his engraving Melancholica), a double marking gauge.


The guild chest (cassette) and lid of the chest of the Deventer woodworkers guild of 20 March 1685 lavishly decorated with geometric carved patterns. At the bottom of the chest is a small drawer. Image from the website of the Deventer historic museum, Deventer, the Netherlands.



The lid of the Dutch guild chest shows only few tools compared to the Tiroler and Austrian counterparts: a hand saw with pistol grip, a try square and a compass. below are an axe and the typical Dutch gerfschaaf a small smoothing or scrub plane. Note that the brass lockplate has been moved.


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