Ébéniste
Encyclopedia
Ébéniste is the French word for a cabinetmaker, whereas in French menuisier denotes a woodcarver or chairmaker. The English equivalent for "ébéniste," "ebonist," is never commonly used. Originally, an ébéniste was one who worked with ebony
, a favoured luxury wood for mid-seventeenth century Parisian cabinets, originating in imitation of elite furniture being made in Antwerp. The word is 17th century in origin. Early Parisian ébénistes often came from the Low Countries
themselves: an outstanding example is Pierre Golle
, who worked at the Manufactory of the Gobelins
making cabinets and table tops veneered with marquetry
, the traditional enrichment of ébénisterie, or cabinet-work.
Ébénistes make case furniture, which may be veneer
ed or painted. Under Parisian guild regulations, the application of painted varnishes, generically called vernis Martin
, was carried out in separate workshops, sawdust being an enemy to freshly varnished surfaces. At the outset of the French Revolution
the guilds in Paris and elsewhere were abolished, and with them went all their regulations. One result of this is that Paris chairmakers were now able to produced veneer
ed chairs, as London furniture-makers, less stringently ruled, had been able to make since the first chairs with splat
s had been produced shortly before 1720, in imitation of Chinese chairs.
Because of this amalgamation, chairs and other seat furniture began to use veneering techniques which were formerly the guarded privilege of ébénistes. This privilege became less distinct after the relaxation of guild rules of the Ancien Régime, and after the French Revolution
's abolition of guilds in 1791. Seat furniture in the Empire style was often veneered with mahogany
, and later in pale woods also.
From the mid-nineteenth century onward, the two French trades, "ébéniste" and "menuisier," were often assembled under the single roof of a "furnisher", and the craft began to make way for the industry.
From the mid-17th century through the 18th, a notable number of ébénistes of German and Low Countries extraction were pre-eminent among Parisian furniture-makers, as the abbreviated list below suggests.
Ebony
Ebony is a dense black wood, most commonly yielded by several species in the genus Diospyros, but ebony may also refer to other heavy, black woods from unrelated species. Ebony is dense enough to sink in water. Its fine texture, and very smooth finish when polished, make it valuable as an...
, a favoured luxury wood for mid-seventeenth century Parisian cabinets, originating in imitation of elite furniture being made in Antwerp. The word is 17th century in origin. Early Parisian ébénistes often came from the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
themselves: an outstanding example is Pierre Golle
Pierre Golle
Pierre Golle was an influential Parisian ébéniste, of Dutch extraction.Born at Bergen in the Dutch Republic, he moved to Paris at an early age, and married the widow of his master, assuming the workshop...
, who worked at the Manufactory of the Gobelins
Gobelins manufactory
The Manufacture des Gobelins is a tapestry factory located in Paris, France, at 42 avenue des Gobelins, near the Les Gobelins métro station in the XIIIe arrondissement...
making cabinets and table tops veneered with marquetry
Marquetry
Marquetry is the art and craft of applying pieces of veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns, designs or pictures. The technique may be applied to case furniture or even seat furniture, to decorative small objects with smooth, veneerable surfaces or to freestanding pictorial panels...
, the traditional enrichment of ébénisterie, or cabinet-work.
Ébénistes make case furniture, which may be veneer
Wood veneer
In woodworking, veneer refers to thin slices of wood, usually thinner than 3 mm , that are typically glued onto core panels to produce flat panels such as doors, tops and panels for cabinets, parquet floors and parts of furniture. They are also used in marquetry...
ed or painted. Under Parisian guild regulations, the application of painted varnishes, generically called vernis Martin
Vernis Martin
In interior design, vernis Martin is a type of lacquer named for the French brothers Guillaume and Etienne-Simon Martin. It is an imitation Chinese lacquer and was applied to a wide variety of items, from furniture to coaches...
, was carried out in separate workshops, sawdust being an enemy to freshly varnished surfaces. At the outset of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
the guilds in Paris and elsewhere were abolished, and with them went all their regulations. One result of this is that Paris chairmakers were now able to produced veneer
Wood veneer
In woodworking, veneer refers to thin slices of wood, usually thinner than 3 mm , that are typically glued onto core panels to produce flat panels such as doors, tops and panels for cabinets, parquet floors and parts of furniture. They are also used in marquetry...
ed chairs, as London furniture-makers, less stringently ruled, had been able to make since the first chairs with splat
Splat (furniture)
A splat is the vertical central element of a chair back. Typically this element of a chair is of exposed wood design. The splat is an important element of furniture identification, since its design has a multitude of variations incorporating the themes of different furniture periods...
s had been produced shortly before 1720, in imitation of Chinese chairs.
Because of this amalgamation, chairs and other seat furniture began to use veneering techniques which were formerly the guarded privilege of ébénistes. This privilege became less distinct after the relaxation of guild rules of the Ancien Régime, and after the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
's abolition of guilds in 1791. Seat furniture in the Empire style was often veneered with mahogany
Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
, and later in pale woods also.
From the mid-nineteenth century onward, the two French trades, "ébéniste" and "menuisier," were often assembled under the single roof of a "furnisher", and the craft began to make way for the industry.
From the mid-17th century through the 18th, a notable number of ébénistes of German and Low Countries extraction were pre-eminent among Parisian furniture-makers, as the abbreviated list below suggests.
Some 18th-century Parisian ébénistes
- Joseph BaumhauerJoseph BaumhauerJoseph Baumhauer was a prominent Parisian ébéniste, one of several of German extraction. Having worked for some years as a journeyman for the German-born ébéniste François Reizell, he was appointed ébéniste privilegié du Roi in 1767, enabling him to skirt certain requirements of the Paris guild...
- Pierre-Antoine BellangePierre-Antoine BellangePierre-Antoine Bellangé was a French ébéniste working in Paris. Bellangé held an eminent position among the representatives of the decorative arts at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He gained his master craftsman title on October 24, 1788...
- Guillaume BenemanGuillaume BenemanGuillaume Beneman or Benneman was a prominent Parisian ébéniste, one of several of German extraction, working in the early neoclassical Louis XVI style, which was already fully developed when he arrived in Paris...
- André-Charles Boulle
- Martin CarlinMartin CarlinMartin Carlin was a Parisian ébéniste, born at Freiburg, who was received master at Paris in 1766.Carlin worked at first in the shop of Jean-François Oeben, whose sister he married. He set up independently in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, an unfashionable quarter of Paris, where few of his wealthy...
- Adrien DelormeAdrien DelormeAdrien Faizelot-Delorme was a well-known cabinetmaker working in Paris, the most prominent in a family of ébénistes...
- François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-DesmalterFrançois-Honoré-Georges Jacob-DesmalterFrançois-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter oversaw one of the most successful and influential furniture workshops in Paris, from 1796 to 1825...
- Pierre Garnier
- Antoine GaudreauAntoine GaudreauAntoine-Robert Gaudreau was a Parisian ébéniste who was appointed Ébéniste du Roi and was the principal supplier of furniture for the royal châteaux during the early years of Louis XV's reign. He is largely known through the copious documentation of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne; he entered the...
- Pierre GollePierre GollePierre Golle was an influential Parisian ébéniste, of Dutch extraction.Born at Bergen in the Dutch Republic, he moved to Paris at an early age, and married the widow of his master, assuming the workshop...
- Jean-Pierre LatzJean-Pierre LatzJean-Pierre Latz was one of the handful of truly outstanding cabinetmakers working in Paris in the mid-18th century. Like several of his peers in the French capital, he was of German origin...
- Jean-François LeleuJean-François LeleuJean-François Leleu was a leading French furniture-maker of the eighteenth century.Leleu was trained in the workshop of Jean-François Oeben , and after his master's death took the workshop's lead and became master in 1764. His furniture was known for its high quality, elegance, and restraint,...
- Pierre MacretPierre MacretPierre Macret was a well-known Parisian cabinetmaker . At the death of the widow of Jean-Pierre Latz in December 1756, he received Latz' court warrant as marchaud-ébéniste privilegié du Roi suivant de la Cour, , a brevet that exempted him from the stringent regulations of the Paris guild...
- André Jacob RouboAndré Jacob RouboAndré Jacob Roubo was a French cabinetmaker and author. The son and grandson of Master Cabinetmakers, he earned that designation in 1774 through the publication of his masterwork treatise on woodworking....
- Roger Vandercruse LacroixRoger Vandercruse LacroixRoger Vandercruse Lacroix , often known as Roger Vandercruse, was a Parisian ébéniste whose highly refined furniture spans the rococo and the early neoclassical styles....
- Jean-François OebenJean-François OebenJean-François Oeben, or Johann Franz Oeben was a French cabinetmaker whose career was spent in Paris. He is the maternal grandfather of the painter Eugène Delacroix....
- Jean OppenordGilles-Marie OppenordtGilles-Marie Oppenord[t] was a celebrated French designer at the Bâtiments du Roi, the French royal works, and one of the initiators of the Rococo, nicknamed "the French Borromini". He specialized in interior architecture and decoration, though he has been connected with the furniture of Charles...
- Jean-Henri Riesener
- Bernard II van RisamburghBernard II van RisamburghBernard II van Risamburgh, sometimes Risen Burgh was a Parisian ébéniste of Dutch and French extraction, one of the outstanding cabinetmakers working in the Rococo style. "Bernard II's furniture is brilliant in almost every respect...
- Adam WeisweilerAdam WeisweilerAdam Weisweiler was a pre-eminent French master cabinetmaker in the Louis XVI period, working in Paris.Weisweiler is said to have been born at Neuwied-am-Rhein and to have received his early training in David Roentgen's workshop. He was in Paris before1777, when he married Barbe Conte, and was...
Ébénistes outside France
- George Haupt (Stockholm)
- Christopher Fuhrlohg (London)
- Gerrit Jensen (London)
- Pierre Langlois (London)
- Charles-Honoré LannuierCharles-Honoré LannuierCharles-Honoré Lannuier, French-born American cabinetmaker , lived and worked in New York City. In Lannuier's time, the style of his furniture was described as "French Antique." Today his work is classified primarily as Federal furniture, Neoclassical, or American Empire.-Early life and...
(New York) - Abraham RoentgenAbraham RoentgenAbraham Roentgen was a German Ébéniste .Roentgen was born in Mülheim am Rhein, Germany. He learned cabinet making from his father. At age 20, he traveled to Den Haag, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, learning from established cabinet makers.He became known for his marquetry work, and worked in London...
(Neuwied) - David Roentgen (Neuwied)
See also
- Cabinetmaker
- Cabinet (furniture)Cabinet (furniture)A cabinet is usually a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors or drawers for storing miscellaneous items. Some cabinets stand alone while others are built into a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood or, now increasingly, of synthetic...
- List of furniture designers
- List of furniture types
- WoodworkingWoodworkingWoodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...