I borrowed a copy of Frida Schottmuller's "Furniture and interior decoration of the Italian Renaissance" through Inter-Library Loan in March of 2004. The 1540 Tuscan "Reading Desk" shown in the above b&w photograph struck me as having application also as a music stand, and I decided to build several for family and friends for both purposes.

The illustration was accompanied by very little information. No detail is offered of the joinery used, the repetitive carved pattern of the legs, nor the carvings on the spindles. The Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, which housed the item, was destroyed during the second World War and its surviving collections were dispersed. An entry at the back of Frida Schottmuller's book states only that the stand is 1.40 meters tall, and .50 meters wide.

With only the overall measurements and the photograph, I estimated the width and depth of the legs as 1.5" square. The fabric shelf appears to set at or very near a 45 degree slope. I took liberty with the angle of the taller legs (and therefore the height of the pivot) in order to make the stands more practical to musicians. I then made two full-sized stands of white oak, and two shorter stands of walnut.

There is a visible margin running along the edges of the legs of the Tuscan original, which I emulated with an inset bead cut. As I am not accomplished at wood carving, I decided to otherwise let the wood "speak for itself", and leave the legs uncarved. Visible tenons were used to attach legs to the top cross piece, and blind mortise and tenons where legs attached to the book rest. The spindles were installed with integral round tenons. Brass screws were used for pivots, and brass spacers prevent the frames from rubbing against each other.

The stands were given various treatments. Both walnut stands were finished with a mixture of linseed oil, varnish, and asphaltum. One oak stand was artificially aged by fuming with ammonia to accentuate the quartersawn ray pattern which I had aligned throughout, then finished with linseed oil and clear varnish. By request, the second oak stand was gifted unfinished so that it can be made to compliment its new home.

Bibliography:

Furniture and Interior Decoration of the Italian Renaissance, by Frida Schottmuller, New York Brentano's, 1921

Webliography:

Medieval and Renaissance Woodworking, by Gary R. Halstead, 1999 - 2004