Bois Durci
Bois Durci ( [bwa dyʀsiː] , French for "hardened wood") is a natural plastic that was invented in France in the mid-19th century and used to manufacture decorative, luxurious everyday objects.
history
The French songwriter Francois Charles Le Page had the idea of mixing wood flour and ox blood and, after drying, pressing them into molded pieces while being heated. In this way he achieved a hard material for which Le Page and Talrich received a patent in 1855 : "A new material composition that can be used as a substitute for wood, leather, bones, metal and other hard or plastic materials." The idea of a new technology is a long way to go to commercial exploitation. Le Page tried to make Bois Durci, but the industrial production of his invention was unsatisfactory and he asked the entrepreneur Alfred Latry, who had become famous for his production of zinc white , for help.
In 1859, Latry bought Le Page's patent and founded the Societé du Bois Durci in Grenelle in Paris to manufacture goods from this new material. After initial production difficulties, he sold Bois Durci goods through his company A. Latry & Cie., 7 Rue du Grand-Chantier, (Au Marais) Paris. Latry was henceforth a leader in the production of items from Bois Durci. In addition to smaller household items such as combs and pipe stems, small decorative objects, luxurious desk sets and portrait plaques in particular were produced. In 1862 he exhibited goods of his production at the world exhibition in London .
In 1898 MIOM (Manufacture d'Isolants et Objects Moules) took over Latry's company and continued production with the old molds . From 1907/1908, the blood as a binding agent was gradually replaced by natural and artificial resins . In 1920 production was stopped, newer plastics, especially Bakelite , replaced Bois Durci.
In addition to Latry's company, a rival company founded by Ambroise Chevalier was founded in 1883 in Sézanne , east of Paris, which produced a wide variety of decorative luxury objects in the Belle Époque and Art Nouveau styles from the same raw materials - picture frames, moldings, medallions, brooches, caskets, writing implements and desk sets. After Chevalier's death, his successor sold the company to André Hunebelle in 1920 . In 1926 the company was destroyed by fire and production was discontinued because the Bois Durci material had meanwhile been replaced by more modern materials.
Manufacturing
Bois Durci consists of finely pulverized wood flour made of ebony , rosewood or rosewood - the best results were achieved with Brazilian rosewood - to which 15 to 20 percent bovine blood, gelatine or protein (albumins) are added as a binding agent (hence the name as natural plastic or proteinoplast). Ebony gave a black, rosewood a reddish-brown color, whereby the color could be emphasized by the added color pigments.
After drying, this mixture was ground to a very fine, powder-like powder. Originally the ingredients were obtained from waste products: cattle blood from the slaughterhouses around Paris, wood flour from tropical woods from furniture production. The powder was filled into steel molds and pressed under heat (150-200 degrees) and high pressure. After about 30 minutes, the steel molds were suddenly cooled in water and the objects removed. The back has been sanded and the surface polished. The density is higher than that of water, it is around 1.3 g / cm³. During the manufacturing process, the mass penetrated into the smallest structures of the steel mold, whereby the finest details are reproduced.
Collections
Large collections are put on the Internet as a virtual museum by various collectors and authors and commented on professionally. The most extensive photo documentation shows the Englishmen Philipp and Harold Mernick and the Belgian collector Gaston Vermosen.
In 2009 Christie’s auctioned two magnificent 12 cm medallions with portraits of the young Queen Victoria and her Prince Consort Albert . They fetched £ 813 and show the fine art of steel engravers and the unsurpassed fineness of reproduction that was possible with the material Bois Durci.
Web links
- Bois-Durci on materialarchiv.ch, accessed on March 21, 2017.
literature
Gaston Vermosen: Bois durci. Un plastique nature 1855–1927. Vermosen, Bonheiden [2008] (Text in French and English. The text booklet is enhanced by a catalog with detailed illustrations on CD-Rom [booklet and CD-Rom out of print]).
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.plastiquarian.com/index.php?id=47
- ↑ http://www.deutsches-kunststoff-museum.de/rund-um-kunststoff/buchtipps/bois-durci/
- ↑ http://www.materialarchiv.ch/detail/130/Bois-Durci
- ↑ http://www.mernick.org.uk/BDWeb (last update December 14, 2010)
- ↑ http://users.telenet.be/plastics_collection/BD.htm
- ↑ http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5228623 .