Artist / Makers: Mayhew and Ince, Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732)
Place: France
Object Type: cabinet
Period: Louis XIV
Actual Date: c.1690
Century: 17th century
Materials: Wood, Oak, Ebony
Museum Accession Number: 1979.63/FW
Here is a Cabinet highly curious, made of ebony, inlaid with wood of various shades and colours, beautifully representing flowers, birds and various animals. it appeared like a beautiful painting representing flowers, a cock, a dog, etc. his masterpiece of floral marquetry is almost certainly from the workshop of Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732). The cabinet is likely to have been commissioned and brought to England by the 1st Earl of Warwick, to display the marquetry. Born in Paris, the son of a Dutch cabinet maker, Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) is know often regarded as the greatest cabinet maker of all time. He soon came to the attention of the chief French finance minister, Colbert, who recommended him to King Louis XIV as the most skilful cabinet maker in Paris. Boulle was given royal protection and a workshop at the Louvre, which gave him exemption from the strict guild system, which then regulated furniture production in France. This panel is a masterpiece of his early floral marquetry.
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