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Article: Reading the Frame on an Antique Painting

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Home›How to collect antique paintings›Reading the Frame on an Antique Painting

Reading the Frame on an Antique Painting

On a French panel of the 1600s, the scrollwork painted on the frame appears again on the back of the panel.

The 19th century reframed a great many older paintings. Some escaped.

A Flemish panel of about 1600 in a moulded frame The moulding A plain moulded profile around a Flemish panel. The Fire of Sodom, Flemish, about 1600
A penitent Magdalene in a gilded frame The gilt Gold leaf around a 1600s canvas. Penitent Magdalene, Italian School, 1600s
Christ and the Samaritan woman in an ebonised frame with painted decoration The black Ebonised wood with painted decoration. Christ and the Samaritan Woman, 1600s
A piper with a peacock by a lake in a hand painted green and gold frame, 1996 The painted Green and gold, painted by hand. Piper with a Peacock, Ramon Dilley, 1996

A period frame is one of the same era as the painting, though not necessarily made for it. It is what most good antique frames actually are.

How to Recognize a Carved, Molded or Painted Frame

Carved corner, each motif slightly different, the carving running through the miter Carved woodEach repeated motif differs slightly, because a hand cut it. The least common kind.Cream lacquer over red bole, the shell motif running through the miterCarved in Paris between the warsMolded corner, identical motifs stopping short of the miter, the paste cracked at the joint Molded ornamentA paste of chalk, glue and resin pressed into molds on a plain wooden frame. Identical motifs. Most 19th-century gilt frames.Two registers of molded gilt ornament, the frame wider than the small panel inside itTwo registers of ornament around a Flemish panel of the 1600sPlain gilt corner, a profile and fine fillets with no ornament Plain gilt moldingNo ornament, only a profile and a few fine fillets. The frame most often thrown away, because it looks like nothing on its own.A plain gilt molding with no ornament at all around a dark Dutch flower piece crowded with detailQuiet around a Dutch flower piece of the 1700sSwept corner, the outer edge curving and the corner opening out SweptThe profile curves and the corners open out. The 18th century, or the revivals that followed it.Painted corner, a flat profile with painted scrollwork PaintedUsually chosen by the artist or the first owner, so it may be the only frame the picture has had.A painted frame with scrollwork around a 17th-century French allegory of autumnTurn the panel over and the frame’s painted scrollwork appears again

The quickest test is the corner. Carving runs straight through the miter. Molded ornament stops short of it, and after a century the paste often cracks there.

How to Read Condition on a Gilt Frame

Wear on a gilt frame follows the hand, never the hollows.

The gilt frame of an 1872 landscape, acanthus and berries rubbed to red bole on the high points, numbered at a berry, the beads and a bright hollow123 Girl with Turkeys, Emile Michel, 1872. The frame.
1
The berriesThe gold is rubbed through to a warm red. That is the bole, the clay laid under the leaf, and it means water gilding.
2
The beadsThe same red at the crown of each bead, all along the fillet.
3
The hollowsInside the scroll the gold is still bright, where no hand reaches.

Small losses at the corners and an old back, with old nails and dust in the joints, are normal too.

Be wary
A flat, brassy goldUsually a regilding in modern materials, or gold paint sprayed on.A clean modern back behind an aged frontThe frame has been rebuilt.

Buying an Antique Painting in a Period Frame

?Is the frame original, or period?Original needs evidence, usually a documented provenance or an unbroken family history. Be wary of a seller who says original without saying how they know.?Are these dimensions framed or unframed?The frame adds several inches on every side, and it decides whether the picture fits the wall you bought it for.?Has the frame been regilded?Prefer honest wear. A rubbed gold frame with its old surface is better than the same frame made to look new.?And if it comes without a frame?Then the choice is yours. A well chosen new frame is better than a bad old one.

Framed paintings for sale

A girl in a blue skirt feeding a flock of turkeys in a shorn field at the edge of an oak wood, signed oil by Emile Michel dated 1872, in a carved gilt frame Émile MichelGirl with Turkeys, 1872 $6,700See the painting A city burning on the right, Lot and his daughters in shadow on the left, Flemish, circa 1600 The Fire of Sodom, circa 1600 $8,700See the painting Large antique 17th century Italian penitent Magdalene with a skull, oil on canvas in gilded frame Penitent Mary Magdalene, 1600s $12,000See the painting Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well, 17th century oil on canvas, in an ebonised frame with painted decoration Christ and the Samaritan, 1600s $5,300See the painting
For sale
Antique Paintings in Large Period Frames Antique Paintings in Large Period Frames16 paintingsBrowse the collection
Keep reading Related guideRelined, Restored, Craquelure, Understanding Condition Related guideChoosing an Antique Painting for Above the Fireplace Every guide, by subject

Original works, shipped free to the US and Canada, packed and tracked|Over 1,100 paintings sold since 2017

Photographs and descriptions of the paintings in our collection by GalerieClub Fine Art.