Minneapolis Institute of Art

Wall clock with bracket

attributed to Charles Cressent; Abraham Gudin; Jacques Gudin; Designer: André Charles Boulle

Date

c. 1725

Medium

Gilt bronze, tortoise shell, brass marquetry, wood

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The exuberant gilt-brass clock case, which displays organic motifs characteristic of the Rococo style, was probably made by one of the foremost French cabinetmakers of the 1700s, Charles Cressent (1685–1768). The clock with wall bracket (the encased clock and a decorative shelf) is based on designs by André Charles Boulle (1642–1732), royal cabinetmaker to King Louis XIV of France. Boulle also excelled at a type of marquetry using tortoiseshell and brass, which can be seen on the bracket. Marquetry is the art and craft of applying pieces of veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns or pictures. Thin sheets of tortoiseshell and brass were laid on top of one another, and a design was traced and cut out through the two layers, creating two sets of the pattern. The brass could be used as the primary decoration, with tortoiseshell as a background, as on this bracket, or vice versa. Europe

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