The Cabinetwork of André Charles Boulle

[Paul K. Murphy]

Boulle is amazing!
I've seen many of his pieces IRL, and they are mind blowing. His work is the product of a large team of skilled artisans, most of whom (if not all), will remain forever unnamed.
This one I have never seen, but I did find a great high resolution shot. From experience, I can tell you that you can examine these in minute detail for hours, and still find details that are new to your eyes.

[tag]

That would take me 2 weekends at least.

[Paul K. Murphy]

It takes me two weekends just to look at it.
I went to The Getty with a friend, a fellow cabinetmaker. We spent hours looking at a Boulle cabinet there. The Getty has one that is like this in many ways.
Even after spending hours, both of us were discovering new things about the cabinet in front of us. Without a word of a lie, there is an astonishing amount of detail.
In a way that's a little like Grand Canyon, you have to see it. Photos help, but they can't convey what you see when it's right there.

[Bill Wilson]

Absolutely incredible and to think he was making pieces like that over 300 years ago.

I'm interested in scrollsawing and Boulle is credited as being the creator of the modern fret saw. I don't think he's really known for fret/scroll work though. My understanding is that he developed the saw to do the elaborate marquetry he was famous for and subsequent artisans adapted it to use for scrollsawing.

[Paul K. Murphy]

I think that Boulle is believed to have used a saw commonly called a crossbow saw, or scie à arbalète.

Sometime this year I plan on making one. One of the things this saw does that my modern scrollsaw doesn't do is move in a straight line. I have two parallel arm scroll saws, but they sweep an arc. The chevalet also saws a straight line, but in that case, the frame can be moved around. This means the blade moves around also. The crossbow saw moves up and down from one fixed point in space. I'm getting ready for work now, so I don't have time for a detailed reply. There is much more to know for sure.

[Bill Wilson]

That's really interesting. I've not seen one like that before. What little information I've found implies that Boulle used something more along the lines of this;



I'd certainly be interested to hear more, when you get a chance.

[AHill]

Certainly amazing work! Not my style of furniture, but I can appreciate the painstaking application of detail to the piece. I've been to the Getty, but don't remember seeing a Boulle piece. I'll have to go back. The Getty was where I took my wife on our very first date! She's an art major, so it was a good first impression!

[Paul K. Murphy]

AHill said:

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Certainly amazing work! Not my style of furniture, but I can appreciate the painstaking application of detail to the piece. I've been to the Getty, but don't remember seeing a Boulle piece. I'll have to go back. The Getty was where I took my wife on our very first date! She's an art major, so it was a good first impression!

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A woodworker...check
At The Getty...check
Doesn't remember seeing any Boulle there!? What?
The Getty has some stuff that amounts to The Ark of the (Boulle) Covenant.

[AHill]

Paul K. Murphy said:

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A woodworker...check
At The Getty...check
Doesn't remember seeing any Boulle there!? What?
The Getty has some stuff that amounts to The Ark of the (Boulle) Covenant.

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We had limited time, so we didn't go to the part that had any furniture. I certainly would have remembered it had I seen it! She was more interested in the paintings and sculptures than furniture. OTOH, I did get to sit in a Maloof chair when seeing a Maloof exhibit at the Huntington Library.

[fall]

His work was made mostly with a Chevalet. For more information on boulle and the Chevalet I would go to the American School of French Marquetry with Patrick Edwards as he is the raining expert in using the Chevelet and doing his work.

www.americanschooloffrenchmarquetry.com