Antique Rosewood and Marquetry Bijouterie Display Table

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Antique Rosewood and Marquetry Bijouterie Display Table

About the Item

This is a beautiful antique French ormolu-mounted Rosewood and marquetry serpentine bijouterie table in the Louis XV manner, circa 1880 in date. The hinged top with a bevelled glass pane, inlaid with a border of flowers and scrolling foliage. The glass is framed with Rococo style ormolu mounts, it has a decorative reeded ormolu band around the lid and the interior is lined in burgundy velvet. It is raised on elegant tapering cabriole legs with an open undertier, outlined with elegant boxwood stringing. Bijouterie tables were designed to store and display a collection of small valuable items, they are also called table vitrines, and display tables. Complete with working lock and key. Condition: In excellent condition having been beautifully restored in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: Height 73 x width 78 x depth 48. Dimensions in inches: Height 2 feet, 5 inches x width 2 feet, 7 inches x depth 1 foot, 7 inches. Ormolu - (from French 'or moulu', signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze.The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-coloured veneer known as 'gilt bronze'. The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object. No true ormolu was produced in France after around 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury. Therefore, other techniques were used instead but nothing surpasses the original mercury-firing ormolu method for sheer beauty and richness of colour. Electroplating is the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used on silver, to produce silver-gilt (also known as vermeil). Rosewood is a rich warm reddish brown wood that has a distinct grain with dark brown and black outlining. One variety of rosewood can vary significantly from another even though it is of the same species. These rosewoods, native of India, South East Asia and Brazil, were dense and awkward to work with. It was renowned for quickly bluntening cutting tools and visibly darkening in colour when over prepared. The Brazilian species of rosewood was by far the most beautifully figured and therefore it became the most sought after and rare. This was the wood of choice for the great box makers, David and Thomas Edwards who used it to veneer some of their finest pieces.

Dimensions:
Height: 28.75 in (73 cm)Width: 30.71 in (78 cm)Depth: 18.9 in (48 cm)
Style:
Louis XV (In the Style Of)
Materials and Techniques:
Ormolu,Rosewood,Marquetry
Place of Origin:
France
Period:
1880-1889
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1880
Condition:
Seller Location:
London, GB
Reference Number:
Seller: 076731stDibs: LU95066214753