As Ken Stover a marquetry buddy of mine, was creating a beautiful marquetry masterpiece, he approached me to see if I would be interested in doing the carving for the border of his headboard. Ken and Ronelle had previously referred me to a neighbor of theirs to build and Italian carved fireplace mantel and were so impressed with the outcome they knew I would be the perfect craftsman to compliment Ken’s marquetry.
Both Ken and I were one of the first handful of students to graduate the American School of French Marquetry.
Ken wanted to create a special headboard for his wife Ronelle. Ken designed this with marquetry from a table’s top by Jean-Henry Riesener in 1771. The table is located in the Petit Trianon at Versailles. This table is featured in Pierre Ramond’s book: Masterpieces of Marquetry (volume III) page,77: ISBN 0-89236-595-1.
This is the pattern Ken used to make full scale drawings for a queen-sized bed. Ken executed the marquetry using the ‘painting in wood’ technique, using sawn veneers imported from France.
I was truly honored to be a part of the piece and thoroughly enjoyed the collaboration of working with Ken.