Cabinet - set

During the reign of Napoleon III, the fashion for a rich Baroque style of interior design returned. During the Second French Empire era, furniture from the 17th and early 18th centuries was imitated. The displayed pair of cabinets from the Potockis' collection is an example of Louis XIV era imitation. The decoration placed on the doors draws particular attention. It evokes the Florentine 'pietra dura' technique used in French Baroque furniture, which involves the use of thin, colourful mosaics made of marble, semi-precious stones, slate, or quartz in ornamentation. A distinctive modification of the 'pietra dura' technique in the displayed furniture is the inlaying of motifs against the background of ebonized (stained black) wood. These are made of, among other things, convex semi-precious stones resembling birds, leafy branches, and fruits in their shape and colour and enclosed in borders cast in galvanised gilded bronze. This type of inlay was introduced and used in furniture making by the Parisian ébéniste Hippolyte Edmé Pretot (1812-1855), who practised his craft since 1836. He received awards at the 1849 Universal Exposition in Paris and the 1851 Great Exhibition in London for Louis XIV-style furniture encrusted with stones and richly decorated with mahogany veneer and bronze castings. In his inlays, the ébéniste also used tortoiseshell, lapis lazuli, tin, and mother-of-pearl, paraphrasing Baroque patterns. Hippolyte Edmé Pretot also became famous for imitating 'Boulle-style' marquetry, the style of a French ébéniste from the time of Louis XIV. In the Łańcut collection, there is a pair of cabinets decorated with marquetry and signed with the name 'PRETOT' (see 372MŁ). Although the pair of cabinets described here is not signed, taking into account the technique of the ornamentation and the surviving examples, it is possible to conclude that it is highly likely that their author was Hippolyte Edmé Pretot. Teresa Bagińska-Żurawska https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9243-3967