Mahogany
Mahogany was the principal timber used in British cabinetmaking from 1730 until the end of the 1800s. There are several kinds: Swietenia mahogoni, sometimes called Cuban, or Spanish Mahogany; the closely related S. macrophylla, Honduras Mahogany; S. humilis, Pacific Coast Mahogany1.; and Khaya senegalensis and Khaya ivorensis, African Mahogany. The latter has a rougher, coarser texture, and was used mainly in the latter half of the C19th following the serious depletion and over-exploitation of the Central and South American sources of supply.
The trees were named Swietenia after the Dutch physician Gerard van Sweiten (1700-1772).2. However, it was the exotic native name mahogoni that attracted popular attention and acceptance. 3. The types of mahogany imported changed over time. At first supplies came from Jamaica and it was known at this stage as Jamaica wood. However by the mid-C18th this source of timber had been almost completely worked out.4. New supply sources were opened up thereafter in the West Indies, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico and, in the C19th, West Africa.
Mahogany is regarded as one of the world's finest cabinet timbers. It is fine to medium in texture, with uniform to interlocking grain, ranging from straight to wavy or curly. It polishes to a high lustre, has good screwing and nailing properties, and turns and carves superbly. The different mahoganies vary in color from golden to deep red brown. Irregularities in the grain often produce highly attractive figures such as fiddleback or mottle. Mahogany is resistant to termites, and its texture and strength make it ideal for furniture that needs to be durable and hard wearing. Its widespread use as a cabinet timber in Britain after 1730 was led, in part, by its ready availability in the West Indies and its low import duty. The fact that its surface responds well to French or wax polish also contributed, in the Georgian period, to its popularity and its acceptance amongst the arbiters of public taste and patronage.
Most cabinetmakers preferred to use the close straight-grained timber for the main carcase work of their furniture, however, the heavy demand for the timber led to its depletion and over-exploitation, and by the mid Nineteenth Century it was often veneered over a pine or oak carcase, rather than being worked in the solid.
Macquarie's 1805 writing desk possesses all the inherent advantages of a mahogany campaign travelling piece: hardness, durability and strength.
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Notes:
1. S. mahogoni, the West Indian or Spanish Mahogany, is a scaly-barked tree, 80ft/25m in height, and found in many parts of the Caribbean. The related S. macrophylla, or Honduras Mahogany is native to both the Caribbean coast and the South American continent. S. macrophylla and S. humilis defy clear taxonomy and interbreed to form a hybrid. The hybrid grows quicker than either parent species, and the distribution of both of the species overlaps, with S. macrophylla, extending from the Bolivian Amazon up the Atlantic and Gulf Coast to Mexico, while S. humilis, ranges from Mexico down the Pacific Coast into Costa Rica.
2. Gerard van Sweiten (1700-1772), personal physician to the Austrian Empress, Maria Theresa. The name dedication was made by the Dutch scientist Baron Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin (1727-1817).
3. The origin of the name 'mahogany' is unclear, though it is likely that it is a C17th. European corruption of M'Oganwo or M'Ogani a name applied by the Yoruba people of Nigeria. It was subsequently used by them for the species Swietenia in the Caribbean, where numerous Yoruba people were transported as slaves.
4. Supplies from various West Indian islands were forwarded from Jamaica under the general name Jamaica wood; however the original Jamaica mahogany (Swietenia) remained the benchmark for all other grades and sources.
Sources:
Edwards, Clive. Encyclopedia of Furniture Materials, Trades and Techniques. Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing, c2000 pp.130-132; Hill. Anthony. Antique Furniture in Australia: finding, identifying, restoring and enjoying it. Ringwood, Victoria: Viking, 1985 pp.105-106; Macoboy, Stirling. What Tree Is That? (Rev. ed.) Tony Rodd. Sydney: New Holland, 2006 3rd. ed. pp.280-281; Red Cedar in Australia. (ed.) Vani Sripathy. Sydney: Historic Houses Trust, 2004 p.109 [Footnote 3], see also, pp.23-24.
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