mid 19th c., cut-corner black marble tops, the frieze with cut-brass and bronze portrait plaques (Louis XIV to one, his queen Maria Theresa to other) over pair of brass cut and boulle cupboard doors, all over figural ormolu mounts, 42”h; 40”w at widest; 16”d
Prov.: The family home of the American poet Amy Lawrence Lowell, Brookline, MA.
A true pair made in the traditional method, one cabinet’s cut-brass and boulle mirrors the other. A sheet of brass and a sheet of tortoiseshell were glued together, and the design was cut out of both pieces at the same time. The piece of brass which dropped out during the cutting could then be set into the tortoiseshell, making a decorative inlay; or the tortoiseshell could be used to fill in the brass sheet.

Marbles appear original, old repair to corner of one. Old crack, fill, to one door.