an inlaid furniture decoration; tortoiseshell and yellow and white metal form scrolls in cabinetwork
Style of marquetry using tortoise shell and brass inlay perfected by Andre-Charles Boulle, Louis XIVs cabinetmaker.
Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732). Most recognized French furniture maker and designer of the Louis XIV period. His designs were known for their massive size, brass and tortoiseshell ornament, and costly extravagance.
Boulle work, sometimes called boule or buhl, is brilliantly colored and variously composed of wood, brass, tortoiseshell and ivory. The key to boulle designs is their identical but contrasting counter-change effect.
or buhl work A form of marquetry work using brass and tortoiseshell, developed in the 18th C.
Foliate and figural marquetry of tortoise-shell (which is actually almost always turtle-shell) and brass (and sometimes pewter, mother-of-pearl and ivory) made fashionable in France (but not invented) by the maitre ebiniste Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732). Boulle work is called premiere-partie is used when the ground is brass, and contra-partie when it is tortoise-shell; such pieces were often made in "pairs".
A technique developed by Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) of inlaying brass with tortoiseshell and, sometimes, pewter, fashionable and highly prized in France throughout the 18th century. Usually made in Paris, the second commode, table or cabinet was in " contre boulle"; the reverse version with tortoiseshell inlaid with brass. English boulle was first popular during the Regency Period. Rarely of as high a quality as the French, it was increasingly debased as machine techniques enabled a similar effect to be achieved during the Victorian Period.
