Antique French Burr Walnut Marquetry Card / Writing / Dressing Table 19th C

This is a rare late 19th century antique French ormolu mounted metamorphic  burr walnut and floral marquetry card table, writing table and dressing table.

The shaped burr walnut top has walnut banding encompassing exquisite floral marquetry decoration and a stunning gilt bronze border.

The hinged top opens to reveal a green baize lined interior for playing cards. Sliding the top back reveals a compartment for writing, complete with an inset gold tooled green leather writing surface and two inkwells. If you then lift the writing surface you will reveal a dressing table with a compartmented birsdseye maple interior, complete with mirror.

It stands on elegant cabriole legs with gilded ormolu mounts  and it is a superb and rare piece which is sure to get lots of attention wherever it is placed.

Condition:

In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, polished and waxed and the baize relined in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.

Dimensions in cm:

Height 77 x Width 72 x Depth 47 - Closed

Height 74 x Width 72 x Depth 94 - Open

Dimensions in inches:

Height 2 foot, 6 inches x Width 2 foot, 4 inches x Depth 1 foot, 6 inches - Closed

Height 2 foot, 5 inches x Width 2 foot, 4 inches x Depth 3 feet, 1 inch - Ope

Marquetry
is decorative artistry where pieces of material of different colours are inserted into surface wood veneer to form intricate patterns such as scrolls or flowers.

The technique of veneered marquetry had its inspiration in 16th century Florence. Marquetry elaborated upon Florentine techniques of inlaying solid marble slabs with designs formed of fitted marbles, jaspers and semi-precious stones. This work, called opere di commessi, has medieval parallels in Central Italian "Cosmati"-work of inlaid marble floors, altars and columns. The technique is known in English as pietra dura, for the "hardstones" used: onyx, jasper, cornelian, lapis lazuli and colored marbles. In Florence, the Chapel of the Medici at San Lorenzo is completely covered in a colored marble facing using this demanding jig-sawn technique.

Techniques of wood marquetry were developed in Antwerp and other Flemish centers of luxury cabinet-making during the early 16th century. The craft was imported full-blown to France after the mid-seventeenth century, to create furniture of unprecedented luxury being made at the royal manufactory of the Gobelins, charged with providing furnishings to decorate Versailles and the other royal residences of Louis XIV. Early masters of French marquetry were the Fleming Pierre Golle and his son-in-law, André-Charles Boulle, who founded a dynasty of royal and Parisian cabinet-makers (ébénistes) and gave his name to a technique of marquetry employing brass with pewter in arabesque or intricately foliate designs.

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Ormolu - (from French 'or moulu', signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze.The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-coloured veneer known as 'gilt bronze'.

The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object.

Burr Walnut
refers to the swirling figure present in nearly all walnut when cut and polished, and especially in the wood taken from the base of the tree where it joins the roots. However the true burr is a rare growth on the tree where hundreds of tiny branches have started to grow. Burr walnut produces some of the most complex and beautiful figuring you can find.
 

Birdseye Maple 
occurs primarily in Sugar Maple and is a very hard wood with divergent grain structure caused by the presence of the Birdseyes.

In the days when all furniture was made essentially by hand, Birdseye Maple was used by only the most capable cabinetmakers. These artisans had developed the tools and skills to work and finish Birdseye Maple successfully. Antique furniture made out of Birdseye Maple is rare and beautiful.

The divergent grain that makes Birdseye Maple beautiful also makes it difficult to work. Early woodworking machines ran at low rpms and had only 2 knives per cutterhead. This often produced Birdseye surfaces that were chipped and torn. It took many hours of hand planing and scraping to get these surfaces to a high sheen.

This limited the use of Birdseye maple to projects whose value could justify the extra labour cost. Examples of this are fine furniture and musical instruments.