Boulle Sofa
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Boulle Sofa, France, second half of the 19th century.
Ebony, bronze, velvet.
cm. h. 113 x 197.5; depth cm. 87
The sumptuous sofa, made of ebony, bronze and velvet, is an exquisite example of French manufacture from the Boulle workshop. The fame of Boulle furniture began with the work of the family's founder, André-Charles; this man, cabinetmaker at the court of King Louis XIV, popularized his style, associating it with his name, and entrusting the atelier to his sons.
André-Charles invented an inlay technique that allowed savings on expensive materials, thanks to a system that inverted positive and negative; when the tortoise shell acted as a background, the metal created the pattern and vice versa.
The sofa, in the shape of a triclinium, has two lateral backrests, decorated with satyrs; a Telamon and a Caryatid hold the two frontal capitals surmounted by lions; the base is decorated with the face of Dionysus. The structure is entirely adorned with floral motifs inlaid according to the Boulle technique.