Boucher, Juste-François Plate 65. “Bureau à l’Italienne”

Juste-François Boucher. Plate 65.  “Bureau à l’Italienne.”  From Livre de Meubles....

Paris, ca. 1780. Folio. 7 1/4 x 12 3/8 (image). Engraving. Early hand color. Excellent condition. 

In this comprehensive snapshot of French design, Boucher offers decorators, architects, and cabinetmakers a print source for the latest designs of the 1780s. With features ranging from garden gates to candlesticks, from library cases to bathtubs, each group of these prints (sold by subscription in cahiers) showcased the many styles of the period: English, Rhenish, Italian, Roman, and, of course, French. In order to produce the highly-coordinated rooms demanded by fashionable customers, craftsmen (including cabinetmakers, metalsmiths, architects, and ceramicists) needed a common design source. Books like Boucher's provided necessary, cutting-edge information to those who made and purchased decorative arts in the eighteenth century. In the twenty-first century, prints like these lend classic French taste to modern interiors.

Other available plates from Livre de Meubles:

Plate 1. “Commode à la Dauphine.”

Plate 2. “Petites Chiffonières."

Plate 2(a). “Serre-Papier.”

Plate 2(b).  “Sécrétaire à la moderne.”

Plate 2(c).  “Petites Chiffonières.”

Plate 3.  “Sécrétaire à la Dauphine.”

Plate 3(a).  “Petite table à tiroir.  Petite Chiffonière.”

Plate 3(b).  “Gaines et Piedestal.”

Plate 4. “Commode à l’Angloise.”

Plate 4(a).  “Sécrétaire à la Provençale.”

Plate 4(b).  “Coffres Forts.”

Plate 4(c).  “Petite Table.  Vuide-Poche.”

Plate 5.  “Encoignures à la Dauphine.”

Plate 5(a).  “Encoignure.  Petit Vide-Poche.”

Plate 5(b).  “Tables à déjeuner à L’Angloise."

Plate 5(c). “Sécrétaire à panse.”

Plate 6.  “Bureau à l’antique.”

Plate 6(a).  “Petites Chiffonières.”

Plate 6(b).  “Gaines.”

Plate 50.  “Sécrétaire à la Chancelière.”

Plate 61.  “Bureau à la Financière.”

Plate 62.  “Bureau à la Chancelière.”

Plate 63.  “Bureau à la Française.”

Plate 66.  “Bureau à la Royale.”

Plate 68.  “Gaines pour porter des Bustes.”

Plate 71.  “Gaines pour porter des Bustes.”

Plate 72.  “Gaines et Pieds de table.”

Plate 94.  “Petites Bibliotheques ambulantes.”

Plate 109. [Ornate Table]

Plate 110.  [Ornate Side Table]

Plate 111.  [Ornate Side Table]

Plate 112.  [Ornate Side Table]

Plate 114.  [Ornate Side Table]

Plate 119.  [Ornate Side Table]