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Posted 2 years ago
PhilDavidA…
(96 items)
PROJECT- Large Coat of Arms of the King, (was from 1849 King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg) and Queen of the Netherlands, King William III and his consort Queen Emma, Princess of Waldeck & Pyrmont, (1891-1898) with the motto, "JE MAINTEINDRAI PALMA SUBPONDERE CRESCIT", also signed with the Foundry mark, Pletterij den Haag -- Removed from the Steinway Mansion in Astoria, New York. Steinway mansion auction (NYC Queens Borough)
I am amazed after finishing unpacking this 90 pound brute of iron at the astonishing detail in the piece. It has a lot of depth and where the swagged fringe above the middle crown looks flat in this photo, the actual depth is a good 25mm or 1 inch from the metal. The piece is approximately 100mm (Four inches) thick, and the rampant lions (which stand for dauntless courage) almost leap off the coat of arms. Astonishing depth to the whole piece, it even looks much better than the photo, so in actuality it looks beautiful without the gilding & polychromed finish that I normally would contemplate and still may do. I am very elated with this purchase !!~
SECOND PHOTO
I bought an extra table last week to prepare my Coat Of Arms of the
Netherlands for restoration, which I will start next week. Usually I do
start a project right away, but I have been too busy of late. I am very
anxious to work on this, and will use all my knowledge of polychrome
and gilding to get this done.
I wanted to show the detail of the piece, which the last photo did not
show any depth properly. There is some of the best detail I have ever
seen on a coat of arms, so this project should be a pleasure. Pletterij
Den Haag was a new foundry at the time when this piece was made,
and did amazing iron work with superb detail.
THIRD PHOTO
Yesterday afternoon was the designated time that I wanted to give the
piece a laquer gilding, which was done with a mixture of bright yellow
enamel and bronze powder. The next step will be a couple days for this
to dry properly before an adhesive coat is applied and left to dry until it
is tacky feeling, and very thin pounded sheets of gold are next applied to
the prepared areas. This will be the long and arduous task, application
of the gold sheets to the work area.
GoldGold is a material rich with history for collectors, and it's as relevant a…
Nice.
Just a comment about the motto: it's in two parts. "Je maintiendrai" : the motto of the Dutch King. I uphold. The other is the motto of Emma van Waldeck-Pyrmont "Palma sub pondere crescit". It has a similar meaning to the King's motto: "the palm grows under its weight" or 'be steadfast under pressure'.
Is it a marriage plaque uniting the two kingdoms?
I suppose it has something to do with the Dutch New Netherland settlement in Astoria, Queens? I wonder why the Steinways had it in the Mansion?
Its really made for a mansion or very large house. And yes, I know about the kings consort and her motto, but to keep it simpler in general listed it as an amalgamation. There were many wonderful items in the Steinway mansion and they had their first sale sometime in 2010 and then March 30 of 2011 and then again a couple months later in July of this year. The sale was great with lots of good buys to be had. The reason for it being there is because of America's great love for castles and heraldry, adding an importance and maybe a rather ostentacious show of wealth and breeding.
Exquisite!!!!
That is a pretty cool item, and it sounds like it will definitely be awesome when you are finished with it. Thanks for sharing the stages of your project. Look forward to seeing it finished . You really know what you are doing when you are working on your various items. Thanks for sharing, Thrifty Gypsy
Thanks, ThriftyGypsy I am glad I bought this - I love it and it looks spectacular in any state it is in. I found another at an auction, it looked great in the picture but when I got to the auction I found it was not a great casting that the piece above has , even though it looked to be around 1910 or so.