A pair of Louis XIV Boulle marquetry pedestals
A pair of Louis XIV lacquered bronze-mounted brass and stained horn
inlaid tortoiseshell and ebony pedestals – circa 1710
Height: 150 cm. (59 in.) Width: 49 cm. (19 ¼ in.) Depth: 30 cm. (11 ¾ in.)
The pedestals are veneered with panels of première partie and contre partie boulle marquetry representing complex scrolling arabesques interspersed with grotesque masks, vases and fans. The contre partie panels are highlighted with polychrome motifs in stained horn.
Each pedestal is of square tapering form with a recessed platform framed with a brass moulded border above a projecting ebony veneered panel mounted with a female mask surmounted by lambrequins and flaked by scrolling foliage. The concave-sided ebony bases are mounted with gilt bronze foliate sprays and rest on rectangular plinths and later moulded feet.
Comparative literature :
These pedestals were almost certainly made in one of the Parisian ateliers that grew up around the work of André-Charles Boulle in the beginning of the 18th Century. Frequently the marquetry was created by specialist workshops. The decoration of the present pieces is closest to that found on a group of sumptuous armoires: one at Versailles, one in the Musée du Louvre and one sold from the collection of the Earl of Rosebery at Mentmore Towers by Sotheby’s in 1977 (illustrated and discussed in P. Grand, ‘Le mobilier Boulle et les ateliers de l’époque’, L’Estampille/L’Objet d’Art, February, 2003, pp. 48-70, figs. 10-13).