. The book of decorative furniture, its form, colour and history . established in the precedingdays of Louis Treize to be lightly discarded. Cabinets of that woodwith some tortoiseshell and metal enrichments were made beforeBoulles days. But it was given to Boulle to realise that the melan-cholic effect of the ebony was not satisfactorily mitigated either byfnetra dura ornament, or by the ivory inlays of Italy and Flanders;that more colour and less ebony groundwork was necessary ifcheerfulness was a desirable ingredient in design. In what degree was Boulles happy choice of tortoiseshell inlays
. The book of decorative furniture, its form, colour and history . established in the precedingdays of Louis Treize to be lightly discarded. Cabinets of that woodwith some tortoiseshell and metal enrichments were made beforeBoulles days. But it was given to Boulle to realise that the melan-cholic effect of the ebony was not satisfactorily mitigated either byfnetra dura ornament, or by the ivory inlays of Italy and Flanders;that more colour and less ebony groundwork was necessary ifcheerfulness was a desirable ingredient in design. In what degree was Boulles happy choice of tortoiseshell inlaysuggested by a tentative prior use in Flanders, and even possibly inFrance itself during Louis days? and how far was his adoptionof metal inlay the result of his knowledge of the Hispano-Portuguesedecoration of shaped and perforated metal plates, pinned to the panelsand framing of dark wooden furniture? Boulle in his amended process adopted procedure similar to thatof wood marqueterie-cutters. He glued together two sheets of brass, 316 DECORATIVE FURNITURE. LOUIS XIV. HORLOGEEELIGIEUSE. or white metal, upon two sheets of tortoiseshell, aud cut the outlineof the design through all the four layers ; an equal number (four) ofreplicas of the pieces forming the pattern, and of matrices and groundspierced with, or open spaces exactly fitting the pattern,resulted. By counterchanging these, so that the metalpieces were inserted in the tortoiseshell ground, andtnce versa, four exactly similar designs as regardsoutline, in two sets of two each as regards colour,were obtained. The designs in metal upon a tortoise-shell field or ground are known as Boulle yremierepartie, or first part, and are regarded as moredesirable, Boulle himself preferring their use when unhampered byeconomy. Those in shell upon a metal ground {Contre-Boulle, orsecond part) are usually too glittering for the eye to dwell on withpleasure, though at times Boulle happily united premiere and engraving s
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade191, booksubjectdecorationandornament
