BOULLE, André-Charles
(b. 1642, Paris, d. 1732, Paris)

Pedestal clock

1720-25
Oak veneered with engraved brass and tortoise-shell, height 125 cm
Wallace Collection, London

This clock is one of five examples of this elaborate model. The flanking figures represent the four continents, Europe, Asia, Africa and America; above the clock Cupid aims his arrows at whosoever comes to tell the time.

André-Charles Boulle, who founded a dynasty of royal and Parisian cabinet-makers (ébénistes), gave his name to a technique of marquetry employing tortoise-shell and brass with pewter in arabesque or intricately foliate designs. Boulle marquetry dropped out of favor in the 1720s, but was revived in the 1780s.




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