Cabinet attributed to Pierre Gole, Louis XIV period, ca. 1670.

Cabinet attributed to PIERRE GOLE (ca. 1620, Bergen -1685), Louis XIV period, ca. 1670.
Inlaid with ebony, pewter, maple, sycamore and boxwood. Chiseled and gilded bronze applications.
Back legs in blackened pear wood with ivory-colored fillets.
Measurements: 65 x 93 x 40 cm (cabinet); 157 x 105 x 44 cm (total).

The extraordinary and solemn cabinet now being auctioned suggests that it may have been made by Pierre Gole, a master craftsman who supplied marquetry cabinets and numerous other pieces of furniture for the use of the King and the Grand Dauphin at Versailles. He specialized in exquisite floral marquetry, a new and colorful type of veneer decoration first introduced in Paris by Gole himself. Uncovered sample, the cabinet features two rows of four side drawers each harmoniously decorated with rich inlaid flowers, different in each, and foliage around allegories of winged mermaids in engraved pewter; the gilt bronze keyholes are surrounded by an ivory-colored festoon. The center is inlaid with exuberant compositions of flowers, foliage, drapery, fantastic animals, various woods and pewter. These rows of drawers flank a central portico centered by Corinthian pilasters with chiseled and gilded bronze capitals. With a door opening, the interior of the portico reveals a theater with a chequered floor, colonnades, lateral mirrors and a ceiling veneration, all a display of the craftsman's knowledge of perspective. The upper drawer has a small sliding door at the back from which two secret drawers emerge. The door on its reverse side is adorned with a Greek-style portico in light wood bearing on its pediment a series of French lilies, the interior of ebony foliage on a pewter background.

Born in Bergen, Netherlands, Pierre Gole moved to Paris around 1643 and apprenticed there to Adriaan Garbrand, a cabinetmaker known for his ebony work. Married to his daughter, Gole took over the workshop and continued his father-in-law's style, building a reputation for the quality of his ebony-veneered furniture and his marquetry work. In 1651 he was appointed maker of ebony furniture, or ébéniste, for the king and later at the Manufacture Royale des Meubles de la Couronne, at the Hôtel des Gobelins, where, from 1662, furniture was produced for the royal residences. In 1681 he had a workshop at the Manufacture des Gobelins. Gole supplied two cabinets decorated with flowers, birds and insects in ivory, tortoiseshell and various types of wood to Cardinal Jules Mazarin (1602-1661), prime minister of Louis XIV. Other of his creations are kept at Knole House, which were probably diplomatic gifts made by Louis XIV to Lord Sackville, English ambassador. Two tripod tea or coffee tables, in première and contra-partie, one in the Royal Collection, the other in the J. Paul Getty Museum, have been attributed to Golle by Gillian Wilson. His works are now in museums such as the Rijksmuseum, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, among other important international institutions.