Inkstand in palisander marquetry, inlaid with maple wood flowers and tinted

Rectangular in shape, this inkstand has four straight sides, three compartments with cups (ink, a bowl for the sponge and drying sand) as well as a curved compartment with semi-circle bands. The marquetry elaborated presents on the principal fronts a foliaged decor embellished with flowers and fleurets in different wood species or horn framing the volutes topped with a flower. The sides have a similar and shorter decor, centred by unfolded leaves. The four sides are framed by brighter wood threads and interlacing with a subtle shade game running around the framing and the compartments. The main curved compartment presents a rich bouquet of flowers above a mask where scroll various foliages and fleurets. On each side of the bouquet, two characters add to the dynamism of the composition. On the left, an empanelled man seems to walk in rhythm to the sound of the instrument in which he blows while, on the right, a young woman, facing him, swings on a garland, alternating fleurets in natural horn and small circles in green tinted horn.
The art of floral marquetry
The floral marquetry present on this inkstand is inspired by ornaments deployed by flower painters in vogue at the time, showing at all seasons abundant blooming. This interest, combined to the Dutch “tulipomania”, is the origin of the craze for flower ornaments on furniture and objets d’art. First developed by craftsmen like Dutches installed in Florence, Dirk Van Rijswijk (1769-1848) or Jan Van Mekeren (1658-1733), it spreads then to the French workshops including Pierre Gole’s, which is, since 1760, one of the principal propagators. Mixing different specious of wood, sometimes tinted in green or slightly burnt, this technique permits to give depth to the marquetry in the overall, which is of a naturalism particularly remarkable. The presence of a mask in the central part and of two characters in movement particularly picturesque.