This is a beautiful antique French Napoleon III ebonized and cut brass marquetry red Boulle pier cabinet, circa 1860 in date.
This cabinet is ebonised and decorated with exquisite ormolu mounts. It has a glazed door and a profusely decorated frieze. The door is flanked by pristine ormolu caryatids and the red velvet lined interior has two shelves. It has been beautifully french polished and stands on an elegant plinth base.
There is no mistaking the unique quality and design, which is certain to make it a talking point in your home.
Condition:
In really excellent condition havingonly been beautifully cleaned, polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.
Dimensions in cm:
Height 107 cm x Width 90 cm x Depth 40 cm
Dimensions in inches:
Height 3 foot, 6 inches x Width 2 foot, 11 inches x Depth 1 foot, 4 inches
André-Charles Boulle (1642 – 1732), was the French cabinetmaker who is generally considered to be the preeminent artist in th
...e field of marquetry. His fame in marquetry led to his name being given to a fashion of inlaying known as Boulle (or in 19th-century Britain, Buhl work).
Boulle appears to have been originally a painter, since the first payment to him by the crown of which there is any record (1669) specifies ouvrages de peinture. He was employed for many years at Versailles, where the mirrored walls, the floors of wood mosaic, the inlaid paneling and the marquetery furniture in the Cabinet du Dauphin were regarded as his most remarkable work. These rooms were long since dismantled and their contents dispersed, but Boulle''s drawings for the work are in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.
His royal commissions were numerous, as we learn both from the Comptes des B timents du Roi and from the correspondence of Louvois. Not only the most magnificent of French monarchs, but foreign princes and the great nobles and financiers of his own country crowded to him with commissions, and the mot of the abbé de Marolles, Boulle y lourne en ovale, has become a stock quotation in the literature of French cabinetmaking.
Ormolu (from French ''or moulu'', signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze.The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-coloured veneer known as ''gilt bronze''.
The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object.
No true ormolu was produced in France after around 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury. Therefore, other techniques were used instead but nothing surpasses the original mercury-firing ormolu method for sheer beauty and richness of colour. Electroplating is the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used on silver, to produce silver-gilt (also known as vermeil).
Marquetry
is decorative artistry where pieces of material of different colours are inserted into surface wood veneer to form intricate patterns such as scrolls or flowers.
The technique of veneered marquetry had its inspiration in 16th century Florence. Marquetry elaborated upon Florentine techniques of inlaying solid marble slabs with designs formed of fitted marbles, jaspers and semi-precious stones. This work, called opere di commessi, has medieval parallels in Central Italian ''Cosmati''-work of inlaid marble floors, altars and columns. The technique is known in English as pietra dura, for the ''hardstones'' used: onyx, jasper, cornelian, lapis lazuli and colored marbles. In Flore
Internal Reference: A4900
Antique ID Number (AIDN): SA1197550
Dateline of this antique is 1860
Height is 107cm (42.1inches)Width is 90cm (35.4inches)Depth is 40cm (15.7inches)
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