Oak box decorated with gesso

Designed by Ernest Gimson who would have also carried out the gesso decoration. Oak decorated with gesso

Traces of the design drawn in pencil on the wood can be seen where the gesso has worn.

22.6 x 45.6 x 22.5cm 

 

This is one of two known pieces of furniture designed by Gimson and decorated with gesso, a mixture of plaster and glue. The other piece is a coffer now in the collections of Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum. Both pieces were in Gimson’s cottage at Sapperton when his widow died in 1941 suggesting that they were experimental pieces – he was trying out this type of decoration. The effect of the soft-edged gesso decoration is not dissimilar to the white on white embroidery which Gimson liked (see E2-5). He also used the device of overlapping frames as the basis for embroidery, plasterwork and bookbinding designs.

 

Henry Pollard was a friend of the Gimson family who, following the death of Emily Gimson, Gimson’s widow, sorted out the books in the cottage drew up the draft catalogue of the 1941 sale.

 

Purchased from Henry W Pollard in 1958

 

851 1958/1