antique french burr walnut marquetry card / backgammon table 19th century

A truly fabulous antique French marquetry turnover top games table, circa 1880 in date.

The top with ormolu banded edge, the floral marquetry decoration exhibits a stunning array of exotic woods to include walnut, satinwood, and kingwood.The attractive ormolu mounts only enhance the overall appearance of this superb piece of French craftsmanship. The table is raised on cabriole legs with ormolu mounts and feet.The top opens to reveal a baize lined interior for playing cards, you then swivel the top to reveal the backgammon table.
Condition:In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.Dimensions in cm:Height 76 x Width 81 x Depth 59Dimensions in inches:Height 2 foot, 6 inches x Width 2 foot, 8 inches x Depth 1 foot, 11 inches
Our reference: A1414
Marquetry
is decorative artistry where pieces of material (such as wood, mother of pearl, pewter, brass silver or shell) 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 shell and brass with pewter in arabesque or intricately foliate designs.Ormolu -(from French 'or moulu', signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-caratgoldin amercuryamalgamto an object ofbronze.The mercury is driven off in akilnleaving behind a gold-coloured veneerknown as'gilt bronze'.The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding orfire-gilding, in which a solution ofnitrate of mercuryis applied to a piece ofcopper,brass, or bronze, followed by the application of anamalgamof 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.After around 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury other techniques were used instead.Electroplatingis the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used onsilver, to producesilver-gilt..

Antiques.co.uk Ref: HKAR6X7GW

Width (cm):

81

Height (cm):

76

Depth (cm):

59

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