Second fire/water damaged piece restored for customers.

A lot of time spent on this piece, the glass was harder to clean than the oak!

Retaining the variations on the base finish is always most important, otherwise over restoration to me destroys everything.

Notice the wax finish showing 160 years of built up colour and patination, stripping removes all of this and generally costs more!

Always happy once completed, as were my customers ✨

Description of this revival period,

19th-century French Henri II style display bookcase.

Also known as Henri II Revival or Neo-Renaissance, was a popular furniture and architectural style that reimagined the artistic achievements of the French Renaissance, particularly the reign of King Henri II (1547–1559).

Emerging strongly during the reign of Louis-Philippe and flourishing during the Second Empire (1852–1870) and into the Third Republic, it reflected a desire to reconnect with a period of national artistic glory.

The 19th-century revival period was based on the original Henri II style, which was characterized by Gallicized Italian Mannerism, influenced by the First School of Fontainebleau.

The original period was a golden age of French architecture, with châteaux such as Écouen and Chantilly being key examples.

Third quarter 19th century revival period. Same in England and all around the world, including Australia and New Zealand.

We had more of a Jacobean revival period. Second half 19th century, then again after the Art Nouveau period, 1920s was a huge Jacobean revival.

Personally, I’d had stuck with Art Nouveau then flowed into Art Deco.

Nothing really stood out again until the 60s – 70s retro period, that’s had a huge revival over the past 17 years.