#grain painted

[rosscountyhistoricalsociety]

What’s interesting about this simple mid 19th century wooden chest is that the wood pattern you see is fake. It’s called “grain painting” and it refers to artists actually painting those brown, gold, and amber swirls that look like mahogany. It was a way of making less-expensive furniture look like it was crafted of fine woods.

[rosscountyhistoricalsociety]

    Early 19th century storage chest, or blanket chest. The beautiful wood grain pattern on the front and lid is hand-painted, intended to make it resemble mahogany or a more expensive wood.

[pwlanier]

American Polychrome-Paint-Decorated Walnut and Pine Document Box

New Jersey

Circa 1850

Inscribed on top R.N. SCHELLINGER and inscribed on interior of lid W.H.M. Schellinger Dyers Hill, New Jersey.

Sotheby’s