NARRATOR: This imposing cabinet, with its lavish décor, typifies the Baroque grandeur of the era of Louis XIV. The cabinet is attributed to André-Charles Boulle, the celebrated French cabinetmaker. Boulle excelled in the technique of the brass-and-tortoiseshell marquetry that adorns the cabinet’s surface. In boulle work, a sheet of tortoiseshell and another of metal—usually brass—are glued together. They are then cut according to a desired design, and separated again. The resulting shapes can be used to create designs that are tortoiseshell inlaid with brass; or, brass inlaid with tortoiseshell. If you look in the very center of the door panels here, you’ll see tortoiseshell inlaid with brass. The surrounding border is just the opposite, brass inlaid with tortoiseshell. In order not to waste these rare and costly materials, boulle work cabinets were usually made in pairs. It is likely that somewhere there is a second cabinet on which the designs are the reverse of the ones you see here. Boulle’s furniture also displays some of the finest gilt-bronze ornaments ever made. Here, the eight intricate corner mounts depict wind gods with flowing locks and cheeks puffed out. The mounts also protect the precious marquetry.

DANIËLLE KISLUK-GROSHEIDE: But more than just functional, these gilt-bronze mounts bring a wonderful element of sculptural quality to the piece of furniture. And you see, for instance, on the doors, how very beautifully the gilt-bronze mounts echo in three dimensions the decoration that has been inlaid in two dimensions in the boulle work panels.