Frame - Wood

Small ebony-stained wooden frame, dateable to around the second half of the 18th century, built of softwood. Softwood, i.e., pale wood, was treated or painted to imitate the appearance of ebony. The reversed box-modulated profile has a joint called a “head or half-head” joint, a technique in which the ends of the battens were overlapped or interlocked by a partial cut in the wood. The molding is fairly pronounced, with an inward-sloping rabbet and an inner edge intended to receive the painting or print to be mounted.