New Catalogue on French Rococo Furniture Available Online and in Print

Starting in 1938, J. Paul Getty began collecting French ébénisterie furniture in the Rococo style, including works by some of the most talented cabinet masters of 18th-century Paris, including Bernard van Risenburgh II, Jaques Dubois, and Jean François Oeben.

Commissioned by members of the French royal family and various aristocrats, these revered craftsmen produced luxurious furniture, fashionable for their lavish surfaces, refined gilt-bronze mounts, and elaborate designs.

Using Getty’s digital publishing platform Quire, French Rococo Ébénisterie in the J. Paul Getty Museum (J. Paul Getty Museum) catalogues the Museum’s collection of 28 pieces of Rococo ébénisterie furniture, including their history across three centuries, changing patterns of taste, and the evolution in techniques of manufacture and the attempts at imitation.

Introductory essays explore the formation of the ébénisterie collection as well as the technical study of the lacquer panels and gilt bronze mounts that are integral parts of these objects. In the entries, a number of surprising, and often hidden, aspects of these intricately crafted objects are revealed, from complex lock systems to secret compartments and carefully matched patterns of wood grain—testaments all to the extraordinary sophistication and skill of their makers.

Access French Rococo Ébénisterie in the J. Paul Getty Museum free online.