Object Description
Brass and tortoiseshell inlaid Boulle style ebonised wood cabinets
French, late 19th Century
Height 142cm, width 127.5cm, depth 49.5cm
The magnificent cabinets in this pair are crafted in the style of André-Charles Boulle, an ébéniste who worked under King Louis XIV of France, and whose very name has come to symbolise an entire style and period in the history of furniture.
Each cabinet is of rectangular form, with a surmounting marble plateau above an ormolu mounted entablature, all above twin cabinet doors. The doors are profusely inlaid with scrolling floral brass and tortoiseshell marquetry in the manner of Boulle, while the lower sections of the doors feature ornate ormolu mounts and further geometrical marquetry inlays. The sides of the cabinets are similarly decorated, each finished with brass inlays and mounted with an ormolu foliate wreath. The cabinets are supported above a protruding shaped apron mounted with ormolu and raised by four toupie feet.