Recently work was undertaken to conserve an early 19th-century brass and rosewood writing table. The table was located in the Queen’s Audience Chamber, Windsor Castle, where it had been temporarily placed as a result of the works to the roof of the Waterloo Chamber. However, research showed that this table was originally made in 1824 for the refurbished State Apartments at St. James’s Palace. 

The conservation undertaken included relaying lifting brass and rosewood inlay around the legs, apron, table-top and replacing missing sections. The imitation leather surface was replaced with new leather, and the two broken legs and broken foot sections were fixed.

With the treatment of the table completed, a new leather hide was required to replace a synthetic faux leather. Once the faux leather was removed, it revealed the imprint of the original pattern of the gilt leather tooling (see picture below). This has been recorded, so that the design could be added at a later date. 

The enormous size of the table-top - it is over 2.2 metres long by 1.1 metres wide meant that trying to locate a hide large enough with very little blemishing or scarring to the surface was extremely difficult. Eventually a piece was located and laid using a protein glue and trimmed to fit within the contour edges. 

Once the conservation work was completed, the table was placed back in exactly the position it had occupied in the State Apartments at St James’s Palace in 1824, in the Council Room, as you can see from the images below.