Harewood (material)

Last updated

The term harewood or airwood originally described a type of maple wood, including sycamore maple, with a curled or "fiddleback" figure, used to make the backs of stringed instruments. In 17th-century England it was imported from Germany. The earliest published use of the term is probably that in the 1670 edition of Sylva :

I would also add something concerning what Woods are observed to be most sonorous for Musical Instruments: We as yet detect few but the German Air, which is a species of Maple, for the Rimms of Viols and the choicest and finest grain'd Fir for the Bellyes. [1] A slightly later citation occurs in Thomas Mace's Musick's Monument of 1676; "The Air-wood is absolutely the Best, and next to that our English Maple". [2]

In the 18th century airwood came to be used by marqueteurs; for most artificial colours they used holly, which takes vegetable dyes very well, but airwood was employed either in its natural off-white state or stained with iron sulphate to produce a range of silver and silver-grey hues. [3] The reason that airwood was preferred to holly for this colour was that it gave a metallic sheen or lustre, while holly dyed by the same process turned a rather dead grey. The use of airwood in this way meant that by the 19th century it was associated specifically with that colour, and at the same time name gradually changed from airwood to harewood.

In a relatively short space of time the action of the chemicals, together with natural oxidization, turns harewood brown, sometimes with a greyish or greenish hue, which is how the wood now appears on old marquetry. The notion that harewood and other coloured woods can be produced by injecting dyes into the roots of trees appears to be an old wives' tale of some antiquity, perhaps propagated by marqueteurs to protect their trade secrets.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue</span> Primary colour between purple and green

Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model, as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when observing light with a dominant wavelength between approximately 450 and 495 nanometres. Most blues contain a slight mixture of other colours; azure contains some green, while ultramarine contains some violet. The clear daytime sky and the deep sea appear blue because of an optical effect known as Rayleigh scattering. An optical effect called the Tyndall effect explains blue eyes. Distant objects appear more blue because of another optical effect called aerial perspective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lac</span> Resinous secretion of lac insects

Lac is the resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects, of which the most commonly cultivated is Kerria lacca.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pigment</span> Colored material

A pigment is a colored substance that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compounds. Pigments of prehistoric and historic value include ochre, charcoal, and lapis lazuli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange (colour)</span> Colour, located between red and yellow in the spectrum of light

Orange is the colour between yellow and red on the spectrum of visible light. Human eyes perceive orange when observing light with a dominant wavelength between roughly 585 and 620 nanometres. In traditional colour theory, it is a secondary colour of pigments, produced by mixing yellow and red. In the RGB colour model, it is a tertiary colour. It is named after the fruit of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyrian purple</span> Natural dye extracted from Murex sea snails

Tyrian purple, also known as, royal purple, imperial purple, or imperial dye, is a reddish-purple natural dye. The name Tyrian refers to Tyre, Lebanon. It is secreted by several species of predatory sea snails in the family Muricidae, rock snails originally known by the name 'Murex'. In ancient times, extracting this dye involved tens of thousands of snails and substantial labor, and as a result, the dye was highly valued. The colored compound is 6,6′-dibromoindigo.

<i>Acer saccharinum</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Sapindaceae

Acer saccharinum, commonly known as silver maple, creek maple, silverleaf maple, soft maple, large maple, water maple, swamp maple, or white maple, is a species of maple native to the eastern and central United States and southeastern Canada. It is one of the most common trees in the United States.

<i>Acer saccharum</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Sapindaceae

Acer saccharum, the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the primary source of maple syrup and for its brightly colored fall foliage. It may also be known as "rock maple", "sugar tree", "birds-eye maple", "sweet maple", "curly maple", or "hard maple", particularly when referring to the wood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lacquer</span> Liquid or powder coating material which is applied thinly to objects to form a hard finish

Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tincture (heraldry)</span> Metal, colour, or fur used in heraldic design

Tincture is the limited palette of colours and patterns used in heraldry. The need to define, depict, and correctly blazon the various tinctures is one of the most important aspects of heraldic art and design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vermilion</span> Color

Vermilion is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar. It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a modern form, but is 11% brighter.

<i>Acer pseudoplatanus</i> Species of flowering plant in the lychee family Sapindaceae

Acer pseudoplatanus, known as the sycamore in the British Isles and as the sycamore maple in the United States, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is a large deciduous, broad-leaved tree, tolerant of wind and coastal exposure. It is native to Central Europe and Western Asia, from France eastward to Ukraine, northern Turkey and the Caucasus and southward in the mountains of Italy and northern Iberia.

<i>Alnus glutinosa</i> Species of flowering plant in the birch family Betulaceae

Alnus glutinosa, the common alder, black alder, European alder, European black alder, or just alder, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to most of Europe, southwest Asia and northern Africa. It thrives in wet locations where its association with the bacterium Frankia alni enables it to grow in poor quality soils. It is a medium-sized, short-lived tree growing to a height of up to 30 metres (98 feet). It has short-stalked rounded leaves and separate male and female flowers in the form of catkins. The small, rounded fruits are cone-like and the seeds are dispersed by wind and water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Color term</span> Word or phrase that refers to a specific color

A color term is a word or phrase that refers to a specific color. The color term may refer to human perception of that color which is usually defined according to the Munsell color system, or to an underlying physical property. There are also numerical systems of color specification, referred to as color spaces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey</span> Intermediate color between black and white

Grey or gray is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed of black and white. It is the color of a cloud-covered sky, of ash and of lead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grisaille</span> Painting technique

Grisaille is a painting executed entirely in shades of grey or of another neutral greyish colour. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many grisailles include a slightly wider colour range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wood stain</span> Type of paint used to colour wood

Wood stain is a type of paint used to colour wood and consists of colourants dissolved and/or suspended in a 'vehicle' or solvent. Vehicle is the preferred term, as the contents of a stain may not be truly dissolved in the vehicle, but rather suspended, and thus the vehicle may not be a true solvent. The vehicle often may be water, alcohol, a petroleum distillate, or a finishing agent such as shellac, lacquer, varnish and polyurethane. Coloured or stained finishes do not typically deeply penetrate the pores of the wood and may largely disappear when the finish deteriorates or is removed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kermes (dye)</span> Red dye derived from scale insects in genus Kermes

Kermes is a red dye derived from the dried bodies of the females of a scale insect in the genus Kermes, primarily Kermes vermilio. The Kermes insects are native in the Mediterranean region and are parasites living on the sap of the host plant, the Kermes oak and the Palestine oak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maple</span> Genus of flowering plants

Acer is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae. There are approximately 132 species, most of which are native to Asia, with a number also appearing in Europe, northern Africa, and North America. Only one species, Acer laurinum, extends to the Southern Hemisphere. The type species of the genus is the sycamore maple, Acer pseudoplatanus, the most common maple species in Europe. Maples usually have easily recognizable palmate leaves and distinctive winged fruits. The closest relatives of the maples are the horse chestnuts. Maple syrup is made from the sap of some maple species. It is one of the most common genera of trees in Asia. Numerous maple species are widely grown in gardens where many are especially valued for their autumn colour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shades of green</span> Varieties of the color green

Varieties of the color green may differ in hue, chroma or lightness, or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and shades, a tint being a green or other hue mixed with white, a shade being mixed with black. A large selection of these various colors is shown below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Mace</span>

Thomas Mace was an English lutenist, viol player, singer, composer and musical theorist of the Baroque era. His book Musick's Monument (1676) provides a valuable description of 17th century musical practice.

References

  1. John Evelyn, Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest Trees, London (1670), p. 181.
  2. Thomas Mace, Musick's Monument, London (1676), p. 49.
  3. Peter Weber, The Cabinet-Maker's Guide, 2nd edn., London (1809), p. 9.