Furniture Tutorial highlights the main characteristics of Louis and Boulle Furniture between the period of 1643 and 1793.

French furniture was a leading influence with the Louis styles.
France became a very powerful country from the start of the
18th century. The latest fashion in France was rapidly passed
to other countries.

This chart highlights the main characteristics of
Louis XV, Louis XIV and Louis XVI and Boulle Furniture
between the period of 1643 and 1793.

Louis XIV included Baroque, carving of animals and beasts of mythology

Louis XV included curvaceous Rocococo, curved cabriole legs and peinture

Louis XVI included squarer outlines, straighter legs and simpler forms.

André Charles Boulle: The Masterpieces of French Furniture. The furniture is beautifully characterized by its inlaid marquetry of tortoiseshell, brass and ivory
in intricate detail.

I- Louis XIV - 1643- 1715

with the Baroque , carving of animals and beasts of mythology

II- Louis XV - 1715- 1774

with the curvaceous Rocococo , curved cabriole legs and peinture

III- Louis XVI - 1774- 1793

with the squarer outlines , straighter legs , and simpler forms

André Charles Boulle, a French cabinetmaker, the master of a distinctive style of furniture, much imitated, for which his name has become a synonym for the practice of veneering furniture with marquetry of tortoiseshell, pewter, and inlaid with arabesques of gilded brass.

Although he did not invent the technique, Boulle was its greatest practitioner and lent his name to its common name: boulle work.

André was awarded the title of master cabinetmaker before 1666. In 1672 he was admitted to a group of skilled artists maintained by Louis XIV in the Louvre palace, and thereafter he devoted himself to creating costly furniture and objects of art for the king and court. That same year he also received a warrant signed by the Queen, giving him the added title of 'bronzier' as well as 'ebeniste'

Boulle's pieces, having in general the character of Louis XIV, specialized in the inlaying of ebony with precious woods and mother-of-pearl. Large areas were covered with tortoiseshell, inlaid with arabesques of gilded brass.
He was born in 1642 and died in 1732. Today, Boulle is manufactured from PVC and copper instead of tortoiseshell as follows: Two plates of Copper and PVC which is colored in drawings of red and black are hand cut simultaneously in the specific Boulle shapes, and are then intermingled and inlaid complementary to each other (like a puzzle) in two items i.e. PVC inside copper in item one and copper inside PVC in item two. The surrounding frames are either black or Mahogany