Restorations to a Yonezawa clothing chest (isho-dansu). Pine bough backplate behind beautiful cast iron mokko (melon vine) handle. The flat upholstery tacks securing hardware to small safe door -which were used in a previous restoration- were replaced with antiqued round head tacks to better match existing old ones.
Single section clothing chest, mid-Meiji period. Kiri or paulownia drawer fronts with sugi or cedar carcase with wiped lacquer. Over two hundred pegs made and used in restoration.
Restoration work on a small mizuya (kitchen cupboard) made of keyaki. Three doors and misc. hardware were missing and needed to be made. A small offset shelf which had been removed was also installed.
This kakesuzuri style ship’s chest, or funa dansu, was locked when the client purchased it at auction. I removed the lock to access the interior wherein I found two original keys. The secret box found behind the lower interior drawers was missing, so I fashioned one out of kiri. All locks were cleaned and re-affixed.
This tansu came to me from Indiana. A water pipe had burst while the family was away and poured water and sediments onto the chest from the floor above. I went over the drawers and cabinet for structural damage, and then focused on finish.
Dane, from SHIBUI in Brooklyn, sent along this small, meticulous restoration. The persimmon wood inset handle from a hibachi was broken, so I rebuilt and carved it. Persimmon is kaki in Japanese, and is in the ebony family.
