Side Table
André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732)
Date: circa 1705
Place Made: France
Materials & Techniques: Oak carcase; sycamore, holly, fruitwood, purple heart and other wood veneer; marble top; gilt bronze mounts.
Dimensions: 78.5cm x 120cm x 50.5cm
Accession Number: The Wallace Collection, F425
This is a side table and it was made in France about 300 years ago by a cabinet-maker called André-Charles Boulle. The body of the table is made of three different types of wood and is decorated with brass, turtleshell, and another type of wood called ebony.
The table is decorated using a technique called marquetry. Thin layers, called veneers, of brass and turtleshell were put together in a packet. The design was then drawn on tracing paper on top of the packet and the layers were cut using a very fine saw called a fret saw.
The parcel was then taken apart and the patterns were separated and glued onto the wooden base of the table. From each packet you could make two marquetry patterns – one with brass as the background and turtleshell as the pattern, and one with turtleshell as the background and brass as the pattern.
The marquetry decoration on the top of the table shows scrolls, a birdcage and two monkeys walking on a tightrope. The decoration on the top of the table was purely for display and meant that it could not actually be used as a table by placing objects on the table top.
Teachers' Information
This type of marquetry was made famous by the French furniture maker André-Charles Boulle. Boulle was a cabinet maker for King Louis XIV and although he did not invent this technique he became very famous for making furniture veneered with exotic materials such as turtleshell. As turtles are a protected species it is now illegal to make or restore pieces using natural turtleshell. Turtleshell is a form of natural plastic and its translucent colouring of dark brown was sometimes highlighted by painting the back of the shell red or black.
Boulle marquetry is difficult to care for as the materials have different conservation needs. Organic materials (the wood) respond to varying degrees of humidity so must be kept at 55% relative humidity. Inorganic materials (the brass) respond to temperature and must be kept at 20°C. Increased humidity will also speed up the process of oxidation on the brass and lead to a darkening of the metal.
Activities
1. Discuss with your pupils the subject of animal products that were used in the past but are now rarely used, for example ivory. Why did we stop using these materials and what would happen if we had continued to hunt endangered animals for their skin, bone or shell? Are there any countries that continue to hunt endangered species for use as items of clothing or decoration?
2. You could use packets of thin card to create a piece of modern marquetry. Draw a simple design e.g. a flower or bird. Put three different coloured pieces of paper in a sandwich packet and trace your simple design on the top. Repeat for the other parts of the design. Cut out the packets and arrange the pieces back into the design using the different coloured pieces of paper. You will have the same design three times but have three different colour schemes. You could also try making up packets of different materials such as paper, cardboard and cellophane to give the children an idea of the challenges involved in working with different materials.