Boulle style clock. France, 19th century

Boulle style clock. France, 19th century.
Gilded bronze, ebonized wood and brass marquetry. Tortoiseshell simile.
Measurements: 58 x 32 x 15 cm.

The design follows the models created by André Charles Boulle (1642-1732) during the reign of Louis XIV. Thus, it is decorated with the artist's own marquetry, in ebony and metal, and important motifs in relief and round bulge, including figurative elements, which in the case of Boulle's furniture were pieces carved in wood, here already applied bronzes more typical of the style of the time. The decoration is completely baroque, in the style of the French decorative arts of the last period of the reign of Louis XIV. This is because this period was key in the development of the decorative arts of the period of Louis XVI, as designers and artists turned their gaze to the Regency style, transition from baroque (classical) to rococo (anti-classical), in search of formulas for transition from the rococo style to the new neoclassical. Thus, we see a great importance of classicist figuration, with allegorical figures adorning the front and the finial, as well as fantastic figuration derived from baroque chinoiserie, an architectural structure also baroque, chromatic contrast typical of Boulle and a profusion of motifs such as turnstones, leaves, masks and classical vessels that seem directly taken from the ornamental background of the French classicist baroque. Even the base material, ebony wood, can be related to that period, given that it was the most prized wood in baroque furniture. However, the profusion of gilding speaks of a different period, somewhere between the neoclassical and the Empire.