Tracing the Oval—Characterisation and Construction of Original Danish Eighteenth-Century Strainers from Portraits by Jens Juel

Abstract

Few examples of original strainers for paintings from the eighteenth century or earlier still exist as they have commonly been replaced due to their often-weak construction and inability to expand. Several original strainers, however, are still present in paintings by Danish portrait painter Jens Juel (1745–1802). These preserved strainers provide rare evidence of shape, construction, availability, format, and the production of strainers in the late eighteenth century. By visual analysis of twenty-two paintings, of which seven strainers are preserved, this study characterises the original strainers and their tool marks. Rare markings found on the surface hypothesised to be related to their construction is evaluated in relation to theory of polycentric ovals and layouts on the construction of oval shapes in treatises from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. The strainers are very similar and of simple construction with tool marks that correspond with the development in the late eighteenth century. The oval strainers are a construction with given symmetry axes, with two 60° equilateral triangles that the centres of the arcs form when aligned with the major axes. Such a layout would have been published by Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695) and Amédeé François Frézier (1682–1773) by the time of construction by someone in the wood working crafts in Copenhagen, who supplied strainers to Juel’s studio.