Cabinet by Boulle
Louis XIV’s cabinetmaker in full splendour: tortoiseshell, brass and gilt bronze.
André-Charles Boulle (1642–1732) had his workshop in the Louvre and made furniture for Versailles. The technique that bears his name became fashionable throughout Europe. One of his cabinets on stand is in the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
Materials: Oak veneered with ebony, tortoiseshell, brass, pewter and gilt bronze
Manufacture: Boulle work: tortoiseshell and brass are sawn out together in one pattern and inlaid into each other.
Shining brass inlaid in red-brown tortoiseshell – and the reverse pattern on companion pieces.
Gilt-bronze mounts that protect the edges and are sculpture too.