In the only two legal documents to have survived concerning Boulle’s workshop (the deed of gift, or ‘acle dc delaissement’ to his sons and the inventory taken after his death in 1732) the various items described are linked to the names of those who ordered them, thus enabling us to distinguish his principal clients. These […]
Category: FRENCH FURNITURE MAKERS
BOULLE
1642-1732; EBENISTE. CISELEUR. IX)REUR ETSCULPTEUR DU ROI 1672-1732 B orn in Paris in 1642. Andre-Charles Boulle was a member of a family originally from Guelder – land in the Netherlands. His father, who for a long time signed his name ‘Jean Bolt’, was himself a ‘menuisier en ebene’ who settled in about 1653 on the […]
OPPENORDT
c. 1639-1715: ЁВЁЫЕГГЕ ORDINAIRE DU ROI B orn in the Netherlands in 1639, Oppenordt was the son of Henri Oppen Oordt and Marie Tendart. He established himself in Paris at the beginning of Louis XIV’s reign and worked in the privileged quarter of the Temple, the area where ebenistes not yet become master could practise […]
CUCCPS ASSISTANTS
In his guide to Paris of 1706. Germain Brice writes of the pietra-dura workshop at the Gobelins: ‘In the great courtyard close to the silversmiths’ workshops are to be found the workshops formerly run by Branchier and Ferdinand de Meliori who were brought from Italy to work on marquetry which demands much time and expense.’ […]
GUCCI
BEFORE 1640-1705; EBENISTE AND CASTER IN THE SERVICE OF THE KING; ACTIVE 1660-98 T he name was written in a number of ways; Gucci. Cuccy. de Cussy. Cussi or Cucy. Originally from Todi near Rome. Gucci is known to have received his training as an ebeniste in Italy before coming to Paris where he is […]
INVENTORY TAKEN AFTER GOLE’S DEATH
The inventory of Gole’s workshop in the rue I’Arbre – Sec lists an important stock: about two hundred pieces of furniture are described, valued at approximately 11.0 livres. Most were complete and ready for sale, while fifteen were still in the process of construction. Of the various types of furniture itemized, the table was the […]
COMMISSION’S FOR VERSAILLES
From 1670 to 1680 Gole was almost entirely concerned with works for Versailles, which was in the process of becoming the King’s principal residence. They were mainly tables in walnut or floral marquetry. The six tables delivered in 1679, as well as the twenty-three others delivered in 1682 at the time of the King’s move […]
THE CREATION OF THE BUREAU MAZARIN’
MARQUETRY IN IVORY AND CHINOISERIE
In 1663 and 1664 Cole delivered a suite of furniture with floral marquetry on ivory ground for Versailles. It consisted of a large cabinet with its two gueridons and their attendant tables, one with matching gueridons. The legs of the cabinet as well as those of the tables were in the form of columns. It […]
FURNISHING OF THE GRANDS CABINETS FOR THE CROWN AND COLLABORATION AT THE GOBELINS
In 1663 Gole completed two sumptuous cabinets ordered by Mazarin in his will as a present worthy of the King, and which give the measure of Gole’s reputation. These cabinets, designed in ebony and gilt bronze, after drawings by Le Brun, incorporated five niches with allegorical figures separated by columns of polychrome marble, and surmounted […]