Antique French Marquetry Centre Writing Table, circa 1860

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Antique French Marquetry Centre Writing Table, circa 1860

About the Item

This is a gorgeous antique French ormolu mounted marquetry rosewood and burr walnut bureau plat or centre table, circa 1860 in date. This fabulous table features beautiful marquetry decoration in kingwood and purple heart with elegant ormolu borders. The top is crossbanded in satinwood with boxwood and ebony inlaid lines. The central panel is beautifully inlaid with an arrangement of musical trophies on a floral burr walnut ground. The frieze is crossbanded with floral marquetry inset all the way round. There is a useful and capacious frieze drawer which is fitted with the original lock and key. The table stands on turned and fluted legs joined by X-stretchers, the legs terminate in elegant ormolu feet. It is a beautiful piece which is going to stand out whether you choose to place it. Condition: In really excellent condition having been beautifully restored in our workshop s, please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: Height 74 x Width 111 x Depth 66 Dimensions in inches: Height 2 feet, 5 inches x Width 3 feet, 8 inches x Depth 2 feet, 2 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. Burr Walnut refers to the swirling figure present in nearly all walnut when cut and polished, and especially in the wood taken from the base of the tree where it joins the roots. However the true burr is a rare growth on the tree where hundreds of tiny branches have started to grow. Burr walnut produces some of the most complex and beautiful figuring you can find. Marquetry is decorative artistry where pieces of material (such as wood, mother of pearl, pewter, brass silver or shell) of different colours are inserted into surface wood veneer to form intricate patterns such as scrolls or flowers. The technique of veneered marquetry had its inspiration in 16th century Florence. Marquetry elaborated upon Florentine techniques of inlaying solid marble slabs with designs formed of fitted marbles, jaspers and semi-precious stones. This work, called opere di commessi, has medieval parallels in Central Italian "Cosmati"-work of inlaid marble floors, altars and columns. The technique is known in English as pietra dura, for the "hardstones" used: onyx, jasper, cornelian, lapis lazuli and colored marbles. In Florence, the Chapel of the Medici at San Lorenzo is completely covered in a colored marble facing using this demanding jig-sawn technique. Techniques of wood marquetry were developed in Antwerp and other Flemish centers of luxury cabinet-making during the early 16th century. The craft was imported full-blown to France after the mid-seventeenth century, to create furniture of unprecedented luxury being made at the royal manufactory of the Gobelins, charged with providing furnishings to decorate Versailles and the other royal residences of Louis XIV. Early masters of French marquetry were the Fleming Pierre Golle and his son-in-law, André-Charles Boulle, who founded a dynasty of royal and Parisian cabinet-makers (ébénistes) and gave his name to a technique of marquetry employing shell and brass with pewter in arabesque or intricately foliate designs.

Dimensions:
Height: 29.14 in (74 cm)Width: 43.71 in (111 cm)Depth: 25.99 in (66 cm)
Place of Origin:
France
Period:
Mid-19th Century
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1860
Condition:
Seller Location:
London, GB
Reference Number:
Seller: Our reference: 069261stDibs: LU95063547502