“boulle” Marquetry Bookcase, Attributed To André Charles Boulle

Based on the drawings of Jean Bérain - Attributed to André-Charles BOULLE Louis XIV period – circa 1680 – 1710

Dimensions: Height. : 246.5 cm, Width. : 144 cm, Dep. : 51.5 cm

Rectangular in shape, it opens with two openwork doors in the upper part and with panels in protruding tables, in the lower part, decorated with animated paintings, in brass marquetry on an ebony background: marquetry in part. The frames of the upper doors are decorated with floral decoration (lysery flowers and acanthus leaves). The box base opens with two drawers decorated with birds, flowers and acanthus leaves. The two lower doors have a central decoration of Indians, birds and bouquets of flowers interspersed with acanthus flowers and leaves.
The cornice is topped with an entablature decorated with marquetry friezes.
The ebony veneer sides are inlaid with brass threads in geometric shapes. It rests on slightly flattened ball feet, decorated with bronze rings with egg motifs.

Provenance:
Sale in Paris, Hotel Drouot, December 20, 1968, No. 4 by Maître de Nicolay,
Sale in Paris, Hotel Drouot, December 6, 1991, No. 99,
One of the sources for André Charles Boulle's decorations is found in the engravings by Jean Bérain.

We can find elements taken up by Boulle in marquetry: the atlanteans, the canopy, the monkeys, the birds, the dancing characters, the garlands of flowers...
Certain motifs and certain assembly particularities of our library are found on other attributed furniture to André Charles Boulle.

It is rare to see a library base conforming to the late 17th and early 18th century period, like that of our library. Very often, the bases were replaced in the 19th century by a veneer base which is scrolled into a console to form the feet.

The base of our library conforms to the drawings and constructions of André-Charles Boulle.

Two pieces of furniture by André Charles Boulle, preserved in museums, have this base and these feet: The pair of low bookcases, Château de Chantilly.
The frame is placed on a projecting base and the feet are identical to our bookcase.
The apron sheath, acquired by Baron Leplat in 1715 for Augustus of Saxony, Dresden, Grünes Gewölbe.
The feet are also here, and on the same model.

Marquetry designs Among André Charles Boulle's favorite motifs which make up our library and which we find on other pieces of furniture attributed to him, we will cite:
The double winding motif,
The canopy with a garland of flowers,
The dancing characters .
Grotesques,
Indian heads,
Cartouche busts of Indian women,
Bouquets of flowers,
Butterflies,
Birds
The Mirror of the Wallace Collection by A. Ch. Boulle is also a typical example, very similar to our library.
The decorative language that makes up this table mirror is found identically on our library: the canopies, the garlands, the grotesques, the birds, the dancing figures, and the flowered baskets.

Construction The sides, the box base and the cornice are constructed of softwood. Which is typical of Parisian construction from the second half of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century and consistent with the buildings of André Charles Boulle.
The drawers are mounted on walnut which here is fine-grained, very dark and with very tight grain.
The oxidation of this walnut, which does not show any trace of frost from the year 1709, can be dated to the 1700s.
This type of walnut, carefully chosen, testifies to careful and quality construction, worthy of a very good workshop.
We have in reference several pieces of furniture attributed to Boulle which are mounted with a similar walnut: a flat desk and a small center table.

All these presumptions allow us to attribute this library to André Charles Boulle, from the Louis XIV period – around 1680 – 1710