19th Century French Boulle Cabinet with Ormolu Accents
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Stunning 19th century French Boulle cabinet, set with a white marble top, with an ormolu gadrooned border above a pair of doors, set with boulle oval medallions, accented with ormolu maiden masks and floral motifs, the whole seated upon four bracket feet, 95 cm x 169 cm x 39 cm
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- Gadrooning - A series of lobes usually as a border. In furniture gadrooning is found as carved decoration around the edges of table tops in the Chippendale and Jacobean style furniture. Gadrooning is also found as decoration on the rims of silver and ceramics.
- Ormolu - Ormolu was popular with French craftsmen in the 18th and 19th century for ornamental fittings for furniture, clocks and other decorative items. True ormolu is gilt bronze, that is bronze that has been coated with gold using a mercury amalgam. Due to the health risks associated with using mercury, this method of creating ormolu was discontinued in France in the 1830s. A substitute was developed consisting of about 75% copper and 25% zinc, however it was inferior to the bronze version. It was often lacquered to prevent it tarnishing.
- Bracket Feet - On bracket feet the corner edge is square and joined by a mitre to its partner on the opposite angle. The inner edge is usually shaped or scalloped. Bracket feet were first introduced in the early 18th century and used until c. 1830 and are found on carcase furniture such as chests, cabinets, bookcases and bureaux.
Ogee bracket feet, a variation on straight bracket feet, have the outside edge forming an "S" shaped curve with the top bulging outward and the bottom turning inward.
On splayed bracket feet, the exterior edge curves outward. - Boulle - Boulle work is the name given to tortoiseshell and metal inlay using brass and sometimes silver, found on furniture and smaller wooden objects. It originated in Italy but was developed by Frenchman Andre Charles Boulle (1642 - 1732) under Louis XIV.
Boulle was appointed Royal Cainet Maker to Louis XIV and designed furniture and clockcases for the monarch.
In preparation, the tortoiseshell and metal were cut together following a design, using a fine fret saw.
In the application of the Boulle, the carcase of piece of furniture was covered with the tortoiseshell which in turn was inlaid with the matched designs in metal, which in turn was elaborately engraved.
The use of Boulle work furniture continued mainly in France until the 19th century.
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