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Lot Essay
BOULLE'S FRUITWOOD MARQUETRY
Fashionable from around 1660, marquetry in fruitwood was initially inspired by the oeuvre of the painter Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer. In 1715, Boulle owned 170 drawings and studies of flowers and around 150 drawings of birds painted from life by Pater fils. Moreover, at the time of his death in 1732, several flower paintings by Beaudesson are listed.
Contrary to accepted general opinion, André-Charles Boulle employed fruitwood marquetry during the vast majority of his career, and not just before 1700. Indeed, in the Acte de Délaisement of 1715, when the ébéniste was already sixty-three years old, the following are recorded:-
Quinze tables de fleurs ou pièces de rapport commencées...1 350l. Sept portes de cabinets de fleurs et de marqueterie en dedans 280 l.
Dix neuf caisses de bois de couleur 200 l.
Environ 25 gros tronçons de bois jaune, quelques racines de fresne, 6 demi-bûches d'ébène, 6 demi-bûches de bois rouge ou santal et quelques morceaux de stetin 500 l.
Dix caisses de bois scié en feuilles mêlées comme buis, épine vinette, houx, brésil et autres 300l..
With its distinctive Louis XVI plinth and ebonised sides, as well as the perspective of the marquetry panels, this meuble d'appui clearly reflects the fashionable revival of Boulle furniture from the 1760's, popularised by the marchand Julliot. Julliot is known to have employed the ébénistes Montigny, Delorme and Levasseur to adapt existing Louis XIV furniture by Boulle and his workshop into more modern Louis XVI forms and the construction and execution of this meuble d'appui is entirely consistent with this.
Fashionable from around 1660, marquetry in fruitwood was initially inspired by the oeuvre of the painter Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer. In 1715, Boulle owned 170 drawings and studies of flowers and around 150 drawings of birds painted from life by Pater fils. Moreover, at the time of his death in 1732, several flower paintings by Beaudesson are listed.
Contrary to accepted general opinion, André-Charles Boulle employed fruitwood marquetry during the vast majority of his career, and not just before 1700. Indeed, in the Acte de Délaisement of 1715, when the ébéniste was already sixty-three years old, the following are recorded:-
Quinze tables de fleurs ou pièces de rapport commencées...1 350l. Sept portes de cabinets de fleurs et de marqueterie en dedans 280 l.
Dix neuf caisses de bois de couleur 200 l.
Environ 25 gros tronçons de bois jaune, quelques racines de fresne, 6 demi-bûches d'ébène, 6 demi-bûches de bois rouge ou santal et quelques morceaux de stetin 500 l.
Dix caisses de bois scié en feuilles mêlées comme buis, épine vinette, houx, brésil et autres 300l..
With its distinctive Louis XVI plinth and ebonised sides, as well as the perspective of the marquetry panels, this meuble d'appui clearly reflects the fashionable revival of Boulle furniture from the 1760's, popularised by the marchand Julliot. Julliot is known to have employed the ébénistes Montigny, Delorme and Levasseur to adapt existing Louis XIV furniture by Boulle and his workshop into more modern Louis XVI forms and the construction and execution of this meuble d'appui is entirely consistent with this.