page_title: André Charles Boulle
section_title: Works
hierarchical_section_title: André Charles Boulle / Works
caption_attribution_description: French, Paris; Clock with pedestal; Horology
context_page_description: André-Charles Boulle, le joailler du meuble, became the most famous French cabinetmaker and the preeminent artist in the field of marquetry, also known as "inlay". Boulle was "the most remarkable of all French cabinetmakers". Jean-Baptiste Colbert recommended him to Louis XIV of France, the "Sun King", as "the most skilled craftsman in his profession". Over the centuries since his death, his name and that of his family has become associated with the art he perfected, the inlay of tortoiseshell, brass and pewter into ebony. It has become known as Boulle Work,
  and the École Boulle, a college of fine arts and crafts and applied arts in Paris, continues today to bear testimony to his enduring art, the art of inlay.
context_section_description: André-Charles Boulle kept no accurate records of his prodigious output. The identification of furniture produced by Boulle's workshop is greatly hampered by a lack of documentation of the pieces he created. Unhappily it is by no means easy, even for the expert, to declare the authenticity of a commode, a bureau, or a table in the manner of Boulle and to all appearance from his workshops. His sons unquestionably carried on the traditions for some years after his death but his imitators were many and capable. A few of the more magnificent pedigree-pieces are among the worlds mobiliary treasures. Rather than having his own internal system of identification or poinçon or mark on each piece, he depended on the records kept by the Bâtiments du Roi. These, did not identify new works with specific entry numbers as they were being produced nor did they keep a detailed daily journal of output. Had Boulle used the royal wardrobe, the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne to identify and record his output, things might have turned out differently.
  Of his many Royal commissions, only a pair of commodes delivered in 1708 and 1709 to the King at the Grand Trianon can be securely linked to any sort of documentation to confirm provenance. A series of grand armoires in the Louvre Museum and the Wallace Collection are also securely attributed to his workshop.  Identification of some of Boulle's works based on the tell-tale refinements of the marquetry and the re-use of marquetry templates and characteristic boldly sculptured gilt-bronze mounts can at times be provenanced from three sets of images of furniture designs engraved by Boulle and published by his friend Pierre-Jean Mariette around 1720; pieces depicted in a series of workshop drawings traditionally ascribed to Boulle in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris and private collections; and the descriptions in the inventory of works in progress made when Boulle transferred legal ownership of the workshops to his sons in 1715.
  A few of the more magnificent pedigree-pieces are among the worlds mobiliary treasures. There are, for instance, two famous armoires, which fetched 12,075 at the Hamilton Palace sale; the marquetry commodes, enriched with bronze mounts, formerly in the Bibliothèque Mazarine; various cabinets and commodes and tables in the Louvre, the Musée de Cluny and the Mobilier National; the marriage coffers of the dauphin which were in the San Donato collection. There are several fine authenticated pieces in the Wallace Collection at Hertford House, together with others consummately imitated, probably in the Louis Seize period. On the rare occasions when a pedigree example comes into the auction room, it invariably commands a high price; but there can be little doubt that the most splendid and sumptuous specimens of Boulle are diminishing in number, while the second and third classes of his work are perhaps becoming more numerous. The truth is that this wonderful work, with its engraved or inlaid designs; its myriads of tiny pieces of ivory and copper, ebony and tortoiseshell, all kept together with glue and tiny chased nails, and applied very often to a rather soft, white wood, is not meet to withstand the ravages of time and the variations of the atmosphere. Alternate heat and humidity are even greater enemies of inlaid furniture than time and wear. Such delicate objects were rarely used, and the most talented of the artists were employed by the crown.
caption: André-Charles Boulle, circa 1690. Clock with Case and pedestal of oak with marquetry of tortoiseshell, engraved brass, and pewter; gilt bronze; dial of gilt brass with white enameled Arabic numerals; movement of brass and steell
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