A Musical Dog

Master cutter, Augustin Edouart, loved to add props to his conversation pieces such as small pieces of furniture or children’s toys. Musical instruments were another popular choice and he would practise cutting these in advance adding them to his personal scrapbook. He also added this cleverly cut spaniel seated attentively on a chair. Amazingly, the dog and the chair have been cut as a single piece without any join or overlay.

Edouart’s scrapbooks of experimental cuttings as well as his archive volumes of silhouettes were mostly all lost to the sea when he was shipwrecked off the coast of Guernsey in 1829. The loss of his body of work left Edouart unable to continue working commercially so he retired to his native France. Some years ago a salvaged scrapbook came to light in a Parisian bookshop and this is the source of these fun cuttings.

The profile is presented in a period maple veneer frame. The frame has small losses to the veneer, mostly confined to the corners.