The origin of the Boulle marquetry can be traced to the Indian, Persian, and Damascus encrusted inlays in ivory, ebony, nacre, and metal, that found their way to Venice, Portugal, Spain, and France in the Middle Ages. These works consisted chiefly of caskets, coffers, and small pieces of furniture. In the inventories of Charles V. of France (1380) mention is made of lecterns and coffers of inlaid ivory or bone, in ebony, and similar works are mentioned in the inventories of Charles VI. (1418), and of Anne of Brittany (1498). These are the earliest notices of marquetry furniture that was made in France, and was probably an imitation of Oriental work.
In the Renaissance period François I. bought some magnificent furniture of Indian workmanship, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, from Portuguese merchants, and mention is made of chairs, tables, coffers, cabinets, and mirror-frames that belonged to Queen Marie de’ Médicis (1600), the Cardinal d’Amboise (1550), and other great persons of the French Court, all of which works were made in marquetry.
In France before the sixteenth century, tortoiseshell, brass, tin, and exotic woods were used as inlays, in addition to the ivory, ebony, and nacre of the East. From this it will be seen that Boulle did not invent the celebrated marquetry that bears his name. He, however, brought this sumptuous form of cabinet work to great perfection, and under the patronage of Louis XIV. he had every opportunity to develop his artistic abilities to the utmost.
The method of procedure in the making of the Boulle marquetry was, first, to prepare the veneers of wood, shell, tin, and brass of the same thickness, each having perfectly plain surfaces; these veneers were then glued together in pairs of opposite materials, according to the nature of the effect required in the finished work, and were held together firmly in a vice. The design was then traced on the surface of the upper leaf, and the veneers were then cut through the lines of the pattern with a burin, a sharp strong knife, or a fine saw; thus four pieces of marquetry were made at one cutting. When the plaque forming the design was composed of tin or brass, which was afterwards engraved or chased, it was technically called “boulle”; and when the design was formed by the shell or ebony it was called “counter”; the two effects are together known as “boulle and counter,” or première et contre-partie.
A later kind of Boulle work, known as the Second Style, has the shell veneers laid on a clouded vermilion or on a gilt ground.
Boulle was an artist of great excellence as a sculptor and chaser of metals; his mountings of foliage and masks which decorated his works are spirited in design and are skilfully chased and finished (Fig. 243). He executed a great number of costly pieces of his famous marquetry for Louis XIV. and the Dauphin of France, many of which found their way to England a century later. Examples of Boulle work fetch great prices when, as on rare occasions, they make their appearance in a sale. For instance, two armoires, or large cabinets, were sold at the sale of the Duke of Hamilton’s Collection in 1882 for the sum of £12,075. The armoire (Fig. 244) now in the Jones Collection at South Kensington, is perhaps the finest piece of Boulle furniture in England. It is much finer and better designed than the Hamilton cabinets, and would probably, if now sold, fetch the above sum, or more, that was paid for these cabinets. It appears likely, from the style of the ornament, that it was designed by Berain.
After the death of Boulle his four sons carried on the making of this celebrated marquetry, but in a coarser and feebler style of design and of inferior workmanship. Other ébénistes tried to imitate Boulle work, but their efforts were not very successful, and were only inferior imitations.
In Germany in the seventeenth century, the most prominent names as designers and makers of furniture are Philip Heinhofer, Baumgartner, and Hans Schwanhard. The former was the maker of the celebrated Pomeranian Cabinet (1611-1617) which is now in the Royal Museum at Berlin.
Fig. 243.—Boulle Cabinet. (S.K.M.)