Guidoccio Cozzarelli, Ulysses’ Departure,
detail: The Boatmen, 1480-1481. Poplar wood,

cut on the first or last board of the trunk,

34 x 121.5 x 2.5 cm. Castle of Écouen,

Musée national de la Renaissance.

 

 

Ebony furniture inlaid with ivory or carved

 

The period in which ebony came to be used in cabinet work remains to be decided, but which is of little importance. Oak and walnut already satisfied the wants of sculpture and gave a suitable ground to inlays of coloured wood; ebony made its appearance precisely at the time when these inlays appeared to gain favour and show themselves accompanied by brilliant stones. Know as a rebellious material to work, ebony created a sombre effect and, especially when associated with ivory, assumes a truly mournful aspect. Yet it is Italy, the land of supreme elegance, which gives the first impetus, not only in the working of this wood, but also in the idea of those white inlays on a black ground called scagliola, which formed the tops of tables similar to that of which a fragment exists at Musée de Cluny.

It is at the end of the 16th century that we must place this unusual manifestation of art. What, then, could have been passing through the minds of the people? Was it not around this period that the court of France adopted funereal trinkets and the skull and crossbones appeared on the dresses of ladies devoted to the pursuit of pleasure?

Whatever may be the cause of this innovation, its first manifestations are of exquisite delicacy and taste. The charming stipo cabinet, originating in Italy and lent by Baron Alphonse de Rothschild to the Exhibition of the Corps législatif, will not be forgotten. Its architectural structure, like all the furniture of the period, had a projecting centre with triple pediment, supported by engaged columns; numerous drawers filled both sides, and were hidden by the middle door. The refined beauty of its construction is lost, so to say, as compared with the details of its ivory inlays of incredible delicacy. Every frieze and panel, however small, represented episodes of mythology or of sacred or profane history; there was even a place for simple hunting scenes. These subjects, cleverly cut and heightened by engraving of remarkable talent, seemed to have been treated by the young Renaissance masters themselves, so elegant was their freedom of style, so firm and pure their design. The cabinet of the Musée de Cluny represents this genre on a more ordinary level; however, one of its details seems to say more of the character of melancholy which we spoke of at the beginning, its bronze fittings are silver. Nevertheless, this particular cabinet contains an interesting variety of ebony and ivory work. The two materials are equally balanced, which makes the general aspect softer to the eye. Ivory figures placed in the niches or on the rise of the pediments first attract the light and illuminate the whole while the columns, with their fine engraving, assume a grey shade which harmonises between the black of the ebony background and the base, boldly overlaid with ivory with black inlays. This curious piece is Italian as the door panel bears a map of the peninsula and plans of Rome and Naples.

Is this inlaid ebony work special to Italy? We do not think so; we have seen many works which appeared to indicate the taste and style of France. Still, the monuments are too scarce and the duration of the fashion too ephemeral to announce it positively in this regard.

Should we connect a neighbouring invention which contained the seed of Boulle marquetry with the period and idea of ivory inlays? We mean the rare furniture in ebony inlaid with large scrolls and arabesques in engraved pewter or white metal. The effect is still more melancholy than that of ivory, the two shades contrasting more harshly with each other. We have seen pieces in this style, the elegant decoration of which might equally express Italian style or French spirit. The foliage was abundant and sought after, the masses well poised; it was not the Renaissance with its ancient reminiscences and it was not yet the art of the age of Louis XIV with its palmettes, shells, and hanging festoons, nor its canopies and draped masks. It seems possible, therefore, to attribute these works to the beginning of the reign of Louis XIII and to see the dawn of a taste special to the 17th century.

This is one of the difficulties inherent to archaeological research; at every step intermediary specimens are to be met, leading from one style to another, verging on the same periods and preventing a clear and positive classification. We wish to discover the inventors of styles, determine the character of new decorations as a whole and we find that an uninterrupted chain connects human conceptions, that nothing has been conceived from scratch. Time, from one modification to another and from progress to progress, is the great artisan of these changes, the complete evolution of which constitutes fashion as it adapts to the wants and tendencies of each age.

Ebony inlaid with ivory represents the last expression of the Renaissance; engraved pewter was analogous, employed for inlaid work in furniture of large dimensions. Ebony alone, carved and engraved, is a sort of transition between different customs and a new art. When it makes its appearance, under Henry IV and Louis XIII, furniture begins to acquire stability and development; the cabinet becomes a cupboard, the bahut, furnished with doors, has increased in bulk and will soon receive the name of commode. Seeing examples of this at Musée de Cluny, these masses which are as heavy in reality as they are ponderous in appearance, it can be understood that it is no longer a question of removing all of this on the backs of mules. Amongst them, one can also see some works which are very remarkable for their skilful sculpture: animated combats framed with garlands carved with a boldness which seems to defy the rigidity of the material. In the larger pieces of furniture we trace the influence of contemporary architecture; there are the twisted columns brought into fashion by the famous altar of St Peter’s in Rome, also in the columns, fluted at the top and covered at the base with capricious vegetation, which we found at the Tuileries and in the Louvre of Catherine de Médici.

Hans Schwanhardt, a German artist (died in 1621), invented the undulated mouldings which became multiplied in excess. Large bouquets of natural flowers, including tulips and anemones, appear on the lateral panels of the furniture in deep cut engraving; we see such represented in jewellery, enamelling, and in embroidery, in everything connected with furniture or costume.

It bears repeating that carved ebony inlaid with ivory has a melancholy appearance; therefore, throughout the first third of the 17th century, the idea to lighten up the interior of cabinets with veneered tortoise shell frames for paintings came about. If we are to believe some writers, Rubens did not hesitate to use his brush; we have seen many pieces of furniture which, if they were not his, at least belonged to his school. It was in Flanders that this description of furniture was most common, and it is quite natural to the style and gorgeous colouring of the greatest artists of the age.