, encoignures, clocks, and
brackets with tortoiseshell, into which a cutting of brass was laid, the
latter being cut out from a design, in which were harmoniously arranged
scrolls, vases of flowers, satyrs, animals, cupids, swags of fruit and
draperies; fantastic compositions of a free Renaissance character
constituted the panels; to which bold scrolls in ormolu formed fitting
frames; while handsome mouldings of the same material gave a finish to the
extremities. These ormolu mountings were gilt by an old-fashioned
process,[14] which left upon the metal a thick deposit of gold, and were
cunningly chiselled by the skilful hands of Caffieri or his
contemporaries.

[Illustration: Boule Armoire, In the "Jones" Collection, S. Kensington
Museum. Louis XIV. Period.]

Boule subsequently learned to economise labour by adopting a similar
process to that used by the marqueterie cutter; and by glueing together
two sheets of brass, or white metal, and two of shell, and placing over
them his design, he was then able to pierce the four layers by one cut of
the handsaw; this gave four exact copies of the design. The same process
would be repeated for the reverse side, if, as with an armoire or a large
cabinet, two panels, one for each door, right and left, were required; and
then, when the brass, or white metal cutting was fitted into the shell so
that the joins were imperceptible, he would have two right and two left
panels. These would be positive and negative: in the former pair the metal
would represent the figured design with the shell as groundwork, and the
latter would have the shell as a design, with a ground of metal. The terms
positive and negative are the writer's to explain the difference, but the
technical terms are "first part" and "second part," or "Boule" and
"counter." The former would be selected for the best part of the cabinet,
for instance, the panels of the front doors, while the latter would be
used for the ends or sides. An illustration of this plan of using all four
cuttings of one design occurs in the armoire No. 1026 in the Jones
Collection, and in a great many other excellent specimens. The brass, or
the white metal in the design, was then carefully and most artistically
engraved; and the beauty of the engraving of Boule's finest productions is
a great point of excellence, giving, as it does, a character to the
design, and emphasizing its details. The mounting of the furniture in
ormolu of a rich and highly