Remember the other night when I showed some drawings and carvings, I included this one that I was working for the frame I’m cutting.
Here is the brace with that design on it – done in pine, frustrating carving softwood. It’s not like carving oak.
I know this pattern from surviving carvings on oak furniture made in Devon in the 2nd half of the seventeenth century. I have a fair number of reference photographs of works I studied over there, and related ones made here in Massachusetts. But by far, the best on-line reference for Devon oak furniture is Paul Fitzsimmons’ Marhamchurch Antiques website. I always open his emails, and always take the time to look at his newest offerings. They never disappoint. http://www.marhamchurchantiques.com/current-stock/all/
Here’s that motif from a chest Paul posted some time back:
The bottom rail is the one I’m thinking of, the top rail is related, but a variation. Here’s another, I forget where this photo came from, the chest is Devon, c. 1660-1700.
While scrolling through some reference materials here at home the other day, I remembered Thomas Trevelyon. His story is complicated, but he produced perhaps 3 manuscripts, c. 1608-1616 of various subjects. Astounding stuff. In some of my last years at the museum, our reference library received a facsimile copy of one of these, I think I might have been one of only two people to even look at it. These aren’t pattern books, because they were never printed – they’re manuscripts. I never got straight what the purpose was. BUT – purpose or not, here, the border of this illustration is what I was remembering:
This one’s from University College, London – I got it from here, http://collation.folger.edu/2012/12/a-third-manuscript-by-thomas-trevelyontrevelian/
where you can read much of the story about Trevelyon. One of his manuscripts is now digitized & available here: http://folgerpedia.folger.edu/Word_%26_Image:_The_Trevelyon_Miscellany_of_1608
He uses this border a lot in the UCL manuscript. Sometimes there’s a flower between the S-scrolls. This pattern will make its way into all of my furniture-carving classes this year. It’s great fun to connect the dots like this.
PETER FOLLANSBEE: JOINER’S NOTES 
Peter,
The facial expression “…on the stock figure who appears on the facing page to Queen Anne also appears in the Folger Miscellany, and Trevelyon…” is the one I usually have after a practice session of carving. Thanks MUCH for your posts.
Cleve Mangham
very cool
Any chance you might do a book of carving designs? Or maybe a bibliography of books with useful pictures? I have a tough time drawing from the computer screen, is it possible/legal/ethical to print pictures from blogs?
John – the book I have underway has a lot of carving instruction in it; and there will be photographs of my carvings, and various stages of the same. A book of photos of originals is tricky, due to permissions, travel for photography, etc. There are bits & pieces in lots of places. This blog has a lot, but it’s scattered over 8 years of posts. Had I known when I started what this might be…ahh – hindsight. Then I would have made them more searchable/sift-able. As far as I’m concerned, you can print stuff from here for your own use – it’s when people take things from here w/o permission & republish them that things get uncomfortable. I have written to people & asked them to take stuff down. I intentionally try to make my photos useful, large enough and clear enough so you can see the details. I’d hate to have to put watermarks on them….