Cabinet

The technique of veneering furniture with tortoiseshell, brass, and pewter, known as boulle work, first became popular in the late 1600s and early 1700s. The method became fashionable again during the 1780s, when craftsmen such as Philippe-Claude Montigny produced this cabinet.

Montigny specialized in the restoration and production of furniture decorated with tortoiseshell and brass marquetry panels, which he either made himself or took from early pieces. To veneer the central panel on the front of this piece, he took marquetry from the door of a cabinet of the late 1600s. The inner surfaces of old doors served to decorate the sides of this cabinet.