Steve Demuth
10-26-2017, 9:29 PM
I gave a talk this week at Yeshiva University in NYC, and decided to take the week there with my wife. Came across some truly impressive and truly ancient craftsmanship I thought I'd share.
The first attachment is a close-up of pegged dovetail joinery on a burial coffin. The material is fig (Sycamore fig) wood. The coffin dates to the early part of the late Bronze Age, so made without benefit of iron tools. There's a long thread floating around about legacy - this woodworker left a legacy.
The second photo is a toiletry or cosmetics box from about 300 years earlier than the coffin. It's cedar wood with ebony and ivory veneers and inlay. The drawer pull is bronze. The inlay and joinery are inspiring (remember, this thing has gone through 3800 seasonal humidity cycles).
Thought some of you might enjoy what your spiritual ancestors were doing 150 or so generations back.370472370473
These are in the permanent Egypt exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in galleries 114 and 111, respectively if you'd like to see them in person.
The Met, by the way, offers troves of things worth of a woodworkers rapt attention, from the most fanatastic medieval and high baroque furniture, to various American genres, and obviously, going all the way back to the Bronze age.
The first attachment is a close-up of pegged dovetail joinery on a burial coffin. The material is fig (Sycamore fig) wood. The coffin dates to the early part of the late Bronze Age, so made without benefit of iron tools. There's a long thread floating around about legacy - this woodworker left a legacy.
The second photo is a toiletry or cosmetics box from about 300 years earlier than the coffin. It's cedar wood with ebony and ivory veneers and inlay. The drawer pull is bronze. The inlay and joinery are inspiring (remember, this thing has gone through 3800 seasonal humidity cycles).
Thought some of you might enjoy what your spiritual ancestors were doing 150 or so generations back.370472370473
These are in the permanent Egypt exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in galleries 114 and 111, respectively if you'd like to see them in person.
The Met, by the way, offers troves of things worth of a woodworkers rapt attention, from the most fanatastic medieval and high baroque furniture, to various American genres, and obviously, going all the way back to the Bronze age.