Pair of Mid-Century Louis XV Boulle Style Blackened and Brass Inlay Side Tables

$3,950

About

Decorate a living room or den with this elegant pair of antique side tables. Crafted in France, circa 1950 and rectangular in shape with bombe sides, each table stands on cabriole legs embellished with bronze dore mounts at the shoulder, and ending with bronze sabots over feet, over a bombe scalloped apron. Each table features a large drawer across the front dressed with intricate handles. The top, all four sides and four legs are decorated with brass inlaid motifs in the style of Andre-Charles Boulle. The Louis XV style occasional tables are in excellent condition commensurate with age and use, and adorn a rich gilt brass finish over a blackened patina, and dressed with decorative bright gilt ormolu mounts throughout. André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732), “le Joailler du Meuble” (the furniture jeweller), 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 (1619-1683) recommended him to Louis XIV of France, the “Sun King” ( 1643-1715), as “the most skilled craftsman in his profession”.[citation needed] 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 (founded in 1886), 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. 24″W x 17.5″D x 30.5″H

Additional information