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Appointed cabinetmaker to King Louis XIV in 1672, André-Charles Boulle became a master of furniture making in France during the late 1600s until his death in 1732. Known primarily for his use of marquetry, in which metal patterns are inlaid into tortoiseshell then applied within the veneered surface of the furniture, Boulle established a level of quality and craftsmanship few others could achieve. As a result, his work found favor at the royal court and among other aristocrats and diplomats eager to impress the king. The inclusion of a medallion depicting Louis XIV within the bronze decoration of this chest would have identified the owner with the royal court. Often exhibiting stout architectural proportions with elegant groups of inlaid motifs such as the parrot on the central panel of this chest, Boulle’s designs are an example of the intellectual fashion for contrasting ideas, materials, and motifs.

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Page
1
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0
Type
photo
Media ID
0a1a4be53ee557ce
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unknown

Document data

ID
679331
Core
obj
Type
object
DTO data
{
    "id": "679331",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Cabinet",
    "description": "Appointed cabinetmaker to King Louis XIV in 1672, André-Charles Boulle became a master of furniture making in France during the late 1600s until his death in 1732. Known primarily for his use of marquetry, in which metal patterns are inlaid into tortoiseshell then applied within the veneered surface of the furniture, Boulle established a level of quality and craftsmanship few others could achieve. As a result, his work found favor at the royal court and among other aristocrats and diplomats eager to impress the king. The inclusion of a medallion depicting Louis XIV within the bronze decoration of this chest would have identified the owner with the royal court. Often exhibiting stout architectural proportions with elegant groups of inlaid motifs such as the parrot on the central panel of this chest, Boulle’s designs are an example of the intellectual fashion for contrasting ideas, materials, and motifs.",
    "date": "c. 1690",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1949.539.a",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q126910918"
    ],
    "creators": [
        12058
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Furniture and woodwork"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.539.a/1949.539.a_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.539.a/1949.539.a_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.539.a/1949.539.a_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 101.3 x 117.6 x 50 cm (39 7/8 x 46 5/16 x 19 11/16 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "France, late 17th Century"
    ],
    "accession": "1949.539.a"
}

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Document identity
{
    "localId": "679331",
    "label": "Cabinet",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}
Document source metadata
{
    "id": "679331",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Cabinet",
    "description": "Appointed cabinetmaker to King Louis XIV in 1672, André-Charles Boulle became a master of furniture making in France during the late 1600s until his death in 1732. Known primarily for his use of marquetry, in which metal patterns are inlaid into tortoiseshell then applied within the veneered surface of the furniture, Boulle established a level of quality and craftsmanship few others could achieve. As a result, his work found favor at the royal court and among other aristocrats and diplomats eager to impress the king. The inclusion of a medallion depicting Louis XIV within the bronze decoration of this chest would have identified the owner with the royal court. Often exhibiting stout architectural proportions with elegant groups of inlaid motifs such as the parrot on the central panel of this chest, Boulle’s designs are an example of the intellectual fashion for contrasting ideas, materials, and motifs.",
    "date": "c. 1690",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1949.539.a",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q126910918"
    ],
    "creators": [
        12058
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Furniture and woodwork"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.539.a/1949.539.a_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.539.a/1949.539.a_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.539.a/1949.539.a_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 101.3 x 117.6 x 50 cm (39 7/8 x 46 5/16 x 19 11/16 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "France, late 17th Century"
    ],
    "accession": "1949.539.a"
}
Document source extras
{
    "tec": "ebony, marquetry in metal and tortoiseshell",
    "tombstone": "Cabinet, c. 1690. André-Charles Boulle (French, 1642–1732). Ebony, marquetry in metal and tortoiseshell; overall: 101.3 x 117.6 x 50 cm (39 7/8 x 46 5/16 x 19 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1949.539.a",
    "collection": "Furniture",
    "didYouKnow": "Originally designed to sit atop an elaborate tall stand, this chest was likely altered in the late 1700s to reduce its scale and height.",
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "Milliken, William M. “A Boulle Cabinet.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 38, no. 1 (January 1951): 6–10.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 6-10",
            "url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25141680"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned & reproduced: cat. no. 289",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n58"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 132",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n156"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Bruhn, Thomas P. “A Boulle Clock.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 55, no. 10 (December 1968): 315–320.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 315; Reproduced: p. 317, fig. 2",
            "url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152242"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 132",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n156"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 174",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n194"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Ronfort, Jean Nérée. “The Surviving Cabinets on Stands by André-Charles Boulle and the New Chronology of the Master’s Oeuvre.” <em>Cleveland Studies in the History of Art</em> 8 (2003): 44–67.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 52-53, fig. 11",
            "url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/20079730"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Christie's New York, 11-12 June 2003, Part 1.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 8, reproduced: p. 83"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Wilson, Gillian, Charissa Bremer-David, and Jeffrey Weaver. <em>French Furniture and Gilt Bronzes: Baroque and Régence : Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection</em>. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned & reproduced: p. 12, fig. 1-f",
            "url": "http://library.clevelandart.org/opac/?func=find-b&find_code=OCL&submit=Search&request=156975252"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Piña, Leslie A.<em> Furniture in History, 3000 B.C.-2000 A.D.</em> Boston: Prentice Hall, 2010.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned & reproduced: p. 9",
            "url": "http://library.clevelandart.org/opac/?func=find-b&find_code=OCL&submit=Search&request=268788668"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Wieseman, Marjorie E. \"Fresh Take: Three of the Northern European galleries get a new look.\" <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine </em>58, no. 6 (November/December 2018): 20-21.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: P. 21; Mentioned: P. 20, 21",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2018-06/page/n9/mode/2up"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1949.539.a",
    "creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
    "galleryDonorText": "Samuel Rosenthal Family Gallery",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 09:16:35.977000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.539.a/1949.539.a_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 679331,
    "dept": "Decorative Art and Design",
    "coll": "Furniture",
    "med": "ebony, marquetry in metal and tortoiseshell",
    "creatorTags": [
        "male"
    ],
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}
Page context
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