ANTIQUE COLLECTING The Journal of the Antique Collectors' Club
Extract from the November 2007 Magazine

	19TH CENTURY BOULLE CLOCKS by Ian Beilby
Andre Charles Boulle (1642-1732) was one of the most famous French cabinetmakers and gilders of the 17th and 18th centuries. Not only was he a highly respected cabinetmaker, but he perfected the art of inlay to such an extent that the skill of inlaying brass and tortoiseshell was named after him. Boulle, or Buhl, work is always associated with some of the finest period furniture produced in France pre-dominantly during the reign of Louis XIV. Andre Boulle worked for many years at Versailles and was employed as cabinet-maker to the king; subsequently his work was constantly in demand by all the leading European aristocrats of the time. Despite his fame and ability as a fine craftsman, he appears to have been a rather poor businessman, constantly being chased by his creditors and clients who had made considerable advances to him for commissioned work. It would appear that a lot of his debt was incurred in pursuit of his passion for collecting pictures, engravings and other items of fine art. This lack of business acumen is fairly common amongst highly skilled artisans, and problems with debt were not only to bedevil Andre Boulle, but also his sons who carried on running his workshops long after his death. Although marquetry was a well-practised art in the 17th century, it was Boulle who came up with the idea of inlaying brass devices or patterns into wood or tortoiseshell. The traditional method of cutting separate inlay or marquetry devices results in a lot of waste material. Boulle perfected a method of sandwiching the various sheets of material together and cutting out the design as a whole. Thereby producing an equal number of patterns or designs at one operation. The designs in themselves became very complex, but were usually of scroll, floral and arabesque motifs. In practice, the ebeniste (a specialist in marquetry) would draw or paste a design on to a thin sheet of brass; the tortoiseshell was then placed underneath the sheet of brass and sandwiched with a layer of thin wooden backing veneer. The thin wooden veneer was merely used to help prevent the thin tortoiseshell from splitting whilst being sawn. The three sheets were clamped together and sawn at the same time. This produced the same cut-out design in both the brass and tortoiseshell sheets. When separated, the sheets and motifs were interchangeable. The brass motif could be laid into the tortoiseshell ground, or the reverse, the tortoiseshell motif laid into the brass ground. Where brass is inlaid into a tortoiseshell background the design is termed 'premiere-partie', where tortoiseshell is inlaid into a brass background the design is termed 'contre-partie'. This method of cutting was almost waste-free in materials, which was highly desirable when making large pieces or sets of furniture. The only drawback was the small gap produced around the pattern by the thickness of the saw blade. Boulle overcame this problem by filling the gap with a black compound/filler that accentuated the contrasting materials. Finally the brass inlay would be chased or engraved to accentuate the flowing design.