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Ornament Print

c. 1720-1739 (Published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This print is an elaborate design for a panel of Boulle marquetry. The horizontal format indicates its intended application to a commode-, bureau- or table-top, or possibly a drawer front. It was published in the first half of the eighteenth century and while bearing some of the hallmarks of the earlier Boulle 'style' it is a lighter interpretation, effectively marking the transition from the baroque grotesque to the rococo arabesque. That such an elaborate design could be realised using the notoriously difficult technique of tortoiseshell and brass marquetry was an indication of Boulle's skill.

The composition reveals to what extent designers of this period plundered other printed sources in their search for vignettes and motifs. The female figure in the top right-hand corner for example, appears to be based on Dürer’s engraving of Fortuna (c. 1502), while the duelling demi figures at the base of the composition evoke Mantegna’s canonical Battle of the Sea Gods (c. 1481). André-Charles Boulle had a collection of old master prints and drawings, famously destroyed by fire in 1720, that he would have drawn from in creating his designs and direct links have been traced by scholars to the work of such printmakers as Cornelis Bos.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
etching
Brief description
Jean-Philippe Boulle, 1 of 3 plates from a suite of 4 grotesque designs for marquetry panels. Paris, c. 1720-1739.
Physical description
Print comprising a horizontal panel of ornament in the grotesque style containing scrolling foliage interspersed with figures.
Dimensions
  • From catalogue height: 18.73cm
  • From catalogue width: 42.2cm
  • Height: 220mm (Measured by Conservation in 2012)
  • Width: 428mm (Measured by Conservation in 2012)
Content description
Horizontal panel of ornament containing a framework of foliate scrolls interspersed with figures in seventeenth-century dress. The ornamental framework comprises scrolling foliage, husk garlands, margents and decorative bandwork, the whole in a style that denotes a visible transition from grotesque to arabesque. Eight open books balance on the foliage. The figures are commedia dell'arte-esque or generally theatrical in representation. The central figure, who bears a sword and a lance, adopts a courtly stance observed by a small dog. A horse is shown resting behind him and to the right of his feet, a plumed helmet has been discarded. The remaining figures are distributed with mirror-symmetry. In the bottom right- and left-hand corners two male figures, one carrying an unidentified device, the other wearing a celestial globe appear to execute a number of dance steps. Both carry swords at their hips. Two male demi figures terminating in foliate scrolls, armed respectively with a dagger and a club, are shown duelling at the bottom of the composition. In the top right-hand corner a winged nude female figure blows into an instrument formed from a foliate scroll. In the top left-hand corner a male figure with a lute is shown bestride a snail. Two pairs of rats ascend the foliage at the bottom of the panel.

The use of books as an ornamental motif and the inclusion of a central scene that could be derived from a literary source (the figure with the horse somewhat resembling Cervantes's Don Quixote) appears to indicate that this plate may represent literature. Motifs in the other two plates can be interpreted as allegorical references to theatre and music, all of which suggests that the suite as a whole may represent the civilised arts.
Style
Marks and inscriptions
I Boulle f. Ce vend A Paris Chez Gautrot Sur le quey de la megisserie a la ville de rome (Lettered)
Credit line
Given by Mr. Aubrey J Toppin
Object history
This print is an elaborate design for a panel of Boulle marquetry. The horizontal format indicates its intended application to a commode-, bureau- or table-top, or possibly a drawer front, the last-named suggested by the space at the top of the composition where a handle or escutcheon plate could have been fitted. Such designs were published and sold to disseminate the work and style of the designer, thereby growing their reputation and influence. They were an important source for other designers and craftsmen and were also collected by print connoisseurs. The suite dates from the first half of the 18th-century and thus demonstrates the continued enthusiasm for the Boulle style and marquetry technique, some decades after its initial flourishing. They were executed by Jean-Philippe Boulle, ébéniste du Roi, son of the eponymous Boulle, André-Charles, in whose workshop he had learned his trade and after whose designs the prints were probably created or inspired. Boulle senior had previously published a suite of his furniture designs entitled, Nouveaux Desseins des meubles et ouvrages. Both suites demonstrate the cabinet maker's desire to be popularly associated with a technique and aesthetic of which, although not the originator, he had certainly mastered.
Production
There is considerable confusion in the literature regarding the attribution of these prints. Historically the prints were attributed to André-Charles Boulle, but the printmaker's initials clearly do not tally with this. The IFF suggested they might be the work of Jean Boulle, A-C Boulle's father, but the publisher's dates make this impossible, unless they were published after Jean Boulle's death to his designs, or are reissues of an earlier suite. However, the lettering, 'I [J] Boulle f.' and 'I. [J.]P. Boulle fecit. CP.' specifically tells us that Boulle etched the plates himself and the initials are those of Jean-Philippe Boulle (as Guilmard also proposes), one of A-C Boulle's four sons, who died in 1744 and was thus a contemporary of the publisher, Gautrot. Gillian Wilson mentions the prints in her 1972 article for Furniture History,where she describes them as the work of Jean-Philippe Boulle.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This print is an elaborate design for a panel of Boulle marquetry. The horizontal format indicates its intended application to a commode-, bureau- or table-top, or possibly a drawer front. It was published in the first half of the eighteenth century and while bearing some of the hallmarks of the earlier Boulle 'style' it is a lighter interpretation, effectively marking the transition from the baroque grotesque to the rococo arabesque. That such an elaborate design could be realised using the notoriously difficult technique of tortoiseshell and brass marquetry was an indication of Boulle's skill.

The composition reveals to what extent designers of this period plundered other printed sources in their search for vignettes and motifs. The female figure in the top right-hand corner for example, appears to be based on Dürer’s engraving of Fortuna (c. 1502), while the duelling demi figures at the base of the composition evoke Mantegna’s canonical Battle of the Sea Gods (c. 1481). André-Charles Boulle had a collection of old master prints and drawings, famously destroyed by fire in 1720, that he would have drawn from in creating his designs and direct links have been traced by scholars to the work of such printmakers as Cornelis Bos.
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • Erroneously attr. to André-Charles Boulle Heinecken, C. H., Dictionnaire des artistes, dont nous avons des estampes, vol.s I-IV, Leipzig, 1778-1790, vol. III, p. 256.
  • Erroneously attr. to André-Charles Boulle Defer, P., Catalogue général des ventes publiques... Estampes, (1865), tome. 1, p. 410 (1-3).
  • Attr. to Jean-Philippe Boulle, son of André-Charles Boulle Guilmard, D., Les Maîtres Ornemanistes, Paris, 1880-1881, p. 101, 46.
  • Dismisses attribution to André-Charles Boulle and states they are not the work of Pierre Boulle (1619-35) either. Suggests they are the work Jean Boulle, father to André-Charles Boulle: 'Dans ces conditions, il pourrait s'agir plutôt d'un travail de Jean Boulle, père de Charles-André, mort aux Galeries du Louvre, en 1680.' Bibliothèque Nationale, Inventaire du Fonds Français, Paris, 1930 – , vol. II, p. 55.
  • Discussion of the range of printed sources used by French cabinetmakers de Bellaigue, G., 'Engravings and the French Eighteenth-Century Marqueteur I', The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 107, No. 746 (May, 1965), pp. 240-250.
  • Second part of above article de Bellaigue, G., 'Engravings and the French Eighteenth-Century Marqueteur II', The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 107, No. 748 (Jul., 1965), pp. 356-363.
  • The V&A's impressions mentioned briefly and illustrated Wilson, G., 'Boulle', Furniture History, vol. VIII (1972): 47-69, p. 49, pl. s 48A; 48B; 49.
  • Notes the existence of three impressions in the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Paris Fuhring, P., 'Designs for and after Boulle Furniture' in The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 134, No. 1071 (Jun., 1992), pp. 350-362, p. 369, note 39.
  • Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1936, London: Board of Education, 1937.
  • D. Guilmard, Les Maîtres Ornemanistes, Paris, 1880-81.
Collection
Accession number
E.1166-1936

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Record createdFebruary 2, 2009
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