The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Cabinet

Cabinet

c. 1690
(French, 1642–1732)
Overall: 101.3 x 117.6 x 50 cm (39 7/8 x 46 5/16 x 19 11/16 in.)

Did You Know?

Originally designed to sit atop an elaborate tall stand, this chest was likely altered in the late 1700s to reduce its scale and height.

Description

Appointed cabinetmaker to King Louis XIV in 1672, André-Charles Boulle became a master of furniture making in France during the late 1600s until his death in 1732. Known primarily for his use of marquetry, in which metal patterns are inlaid into tortoiseshell then applied within the veneered surface of the furniture, Boulle established a level of quality and craftsmanship few others could achieve. As a result, his work found favor at the royal court and among other aristocrats and diplomats eager to impress the king. The inclusion of a medallion depicting Louis XIV within the bronze decoration of this chest would have identified the owner with the royal court. Often exhibiting stout architectural proportions with elegant groups of inlaid motifs such as the parrot on the central panel of this chest, Boulle’s designs are an example of the intellectual fashion for contrasting ideas, materials, and motifs.
  • Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild.
    Baron Alphose de Rothschild, Vienna (Rosenberg & Stiebel, Inc., New York).
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned & reproduced: cat. no. 289 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 132 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 132 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 174 archive.org
    Christie's New York, 11-12 June 2003, Part 1. Mentioned: p. 8, reproduced: p. 83
    Wilson, Gillian, Charissa Bremer-David, and Jeffrey Weaver. French Furniture and Gilt Bronzes: Baroque and Régence : Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008. Mentioned & reproduced: p. 12, fig. 1-f library.clevelandart.org
    Piña, Leslie A. Furniture in History, 3000 B.C.-2000 A.D. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2010. Mentioned & reproduced: p. 9 library.clevelandart.org
    Wieseman, Marjorie E. "Fresh Take: Three of the Northern European galleries get a new look." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 58, no. 6 (November/December 2018): 20-21. Reproduced: P. 21; Mentioned: P. 20, 21.
  • No existing exhibition history.
  • {{cite web|title=Cabinet|url=false|author=André-Charles Boulle|year=c. 1690|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1949.539