''Ébéniste'' () is a
loanword
A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because t ...
(from French) for a
cabinet-maker, particularly one who works in
ebony
Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when ...
.
Etymology and ambiguities
As opposed to ''ébéniste'', the term ''menuisier'' denotes a woodcarver or chairmaker in French. The English equivalent for ''ébéniste'', "ebonist", is not commonly used. Originally, an ''ébéniste'' was one who worked with
ebony
Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when ...
, a favoured luxury wood for mid-17th century
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
ian cabinets, originating in imitation of elite furniture being made in
Antwerp. The word is 17th-century in origin. Early Parisian ''ébénistes'' often came from the
Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
themselves; an outstanding example is
Pierre Gole
Pierre Gole (''ca'' 1620, Bergen, North Holland – 27 November 1684) was an influential Parisian ''ébéniste'' (cabinet maker), of Dutch extraction.
Born at Bergen in the Dutch Republic, he moved to Paris at an early age. In 1645 he married ...
, who worked at the ''
Gobelins manufactory'' making cabinets and table tops veneered with
marquetry
Marquetry (also spelled as marqueterie; from the French ''marqueter'', to variegate) is the art and craft of applying pieces of veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns, designs or pictures. The technique may be applied to case fur ...
, the traditional enrichment of ''ébénisterie'', or "cabinet-work".
History
''Ébénistes'' make
case furniture, either
veneered or painted. Under Parisian guild regulations the application of painted varnishes, generically called ''
vernis Martin'', took place in separate workshops - sawdust being an enemy to freshly varnished surfaces. During the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
the guilds in Paris and elsewhere were abolished (1791), and with them went all their regulations. As one result of this, Parisian chairmakers were able to produce
veneered chairs - just as London furniture-makers, less stringently ruled, had been able to make since the production of the first chairs with
splats shortly before 1720, in imitation of
Chinese chairs.
Because of this amalgamation of trades, makers of chairs and of other seat furniture began to use veneering techniques, formerly the guarded privilege of ''ébénistes''. This privilege became less distinct after the relaxation of guild rules of the ''
Ancien Régime
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for "ancient, old"
** Société des anciens textes français
* the French for "former, senior"
** Virelai ancien
** Ancien Régime
** Ancien Régime in France
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for ...
'', and after the French Revolution's abolition of guilds in 1791. Seat furniture in the
Empire style
The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 durin ...
was often veneered with
mahogany, and later in pale woods also.
From the mid-19th century onward, the two French trades, ''ébéniste'' and ''menuisier'', often combined under the single roof of a "furnisher", and the craft began to make way for the industry. In Germany in
Frommern a line of high polished production take up the ideas of the royal ''Hofebenist''
Kultur
/ref>
From the mid-17th century through the 18th century, a notable number of ''ébénistes'' of German and Low Countries extraction were pre-eminent among Parisian furniture-makers, as the abbreviated list below suggests.
Some 17th- and 18th-century Parisian ''ébénistes''
*Joseph Baumhauer Joseph Baumhauer (died 22 March 1772) was a prominent Parisian ''ébéniste'', one of several of German extraction. Having worked for some years as a journeyman for the German-born ''ébéniste'' François Reizell, he was appointed ''ébéniste priv ...
* Pierre-Antoine Bellange
*Guillaume Beneman Guillaume Beneman or Benneman (1750 – after 1811) was a prominent Parisian ''ébéniste'', one of several of German extraction, working in the early neoclassical Louis XVI style, which was already fully developed when he arrived in Paris. Beneman ...
* André-Charles Boulle
*Jacques-Philippe Carel
Jacques-Philippe Carel () was a Parisian cabinet-maker (''ébéniste''), who was admitted to the cabinetmakers' guild in 1723 and specialized in rococo case pieces of high quality veneered in end-grain (''bois de bout'') floral marquetry. Two almo ...
*Martin Carlin
Martin Carlin (c. 1730–1785) was a Parisian ''ébéniste'' ( cabinet-maker), born at Freiburg, who was received as Master ''Ébéniste'' at Paris on 30 July 1766. Renowned for his "graceful furniture mounted with Sèvres porcelain", Carlin fed in ...
*Mathieu Criaerd
Mathieu Criaerd (1689–1776) was the most prominent of a large family of cabinetmakers (''ébénistes''), apparently of Flemish ancestry, who were working in Paris during the 18th century. He became a master in the Corporation des Menuisiers-Éb ...
*Adrien Delorme Adrien Faizelot-Delorme (master in 1748 – after 1783) was a well-known cabinetmaker (''ébéniste'') working in Paris, the most prominent in a family of ''ébénistes''
Becoming master 22 June 1748, he set up in the rue du Temple, a centrall ...
*François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter
François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter (1770–1841) oversaw one of the most successful and influential furniture workshops in Paris, from 1796 to 1825. The son of Georges Jacob, an outstanding chairmaker who worked in the Louis XVI style and ...
* Pierre Garnier
* Antoine Gaudreau
*Jean-Pierre Latz Jean-Pierre Latz (Paris, 4 August 1754 ) was one of the handful of truly outstanding cabinetmakers (''ébénistes'') working in Paris in the mid-18th century. Like several of his peers in the French capital, he was of German origin. His furniture is ...
*Jean-François Leleu
Jean-François Leleu (1729 - 1807) was a leading French furniture-maker (ébéniste) of the eighteenth century who was trained alongside his rival Jean-Henri Riesener, in the workshop of Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763). After his master's death, ...
* Pierre Macret
* Bernard Molitor
*Roger Vandercruse Lacroix
Roger Vandercruse Lacroix (1728–1799), often known as Roger Vandercruse, was a Parisian ''ébéniste'' whose highly refined furniture spans the rococo and the early neoclassical styles. According to Salverte, he "is counted among the great ebe ...
*Jean-François Oeben
Jean-François Oeben, or Johann Franz Oeben (9 October 1721
Heinsberg near Aachen – Paris 21 January 1763) was a German ébéniste (cabinetmaker) whose career was spent in Paris. He was the maternal grandfather of the painter Eugène Delacroix. ...
* Jean Oppenord
*Jean-Henri Riesener
Jean-Henri Riesener (german: Johann Heinrich Riesener; 4 July 1734 – 6 January 1806) was a famous German ''ébéniste'' (cabinetmaker), working in Paris, whose work exemplified the early neoclassical "Louis XVI style".
Life and career
Riesene ...
*Bernard II van Risamburgh
Bernard II van Risamburgh, sometimes Risen Burgh (working by c 1730 — before February 1767) was a Parisian ''ébéniste'' of Dutch and French extraction, one of the outstanding cabinetmakers working in the Rococo style. "Bernard II's furniture is ...
*Adam Weisweiler
Adam Weisweiler (c.1750 — after 1810) was a pre-eminent French master cabinetmaker (''ébéniste'') in the Louis XVI period, working in Paris.
Weisweiler is said to have been born at Neuwied-am-Rhein and to have received his early training in ...
Later French ''ébénistes''
* Henry Dasson
* François Linke
*Louis Majorelle
Louis-Jean-Sylvestre Majorelle, usually known simply as Louis Majorelle, (26 September 1859 – 15 January 1926) was a French decorator and furniture designer who manufactured his own designs, in the French tradition of the ''ébéniste''. ...
*Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann
Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann (28 August 1879 – 15 November 1933), (sometimes called Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann), was a French furniture designer and interior decorator, who was one of the most important figures in the Art Deco movement. His furn ...
German Ebenists, or Kunstschreiner
* Rudolf Gambs, St. Petersburg, Karlsruhe
* Wilhelm Kimbel
* Klinckerfuß Johannes (1770–1831) 1790 Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...
* Friedrich Wirth (Entrepreneur) (1806–1883) 1857 Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...
* Wilhelm Wirth (Entrepreneur) (1837–1917) Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...
''Ébénistes'' outside France
* Gabriele Capello (Turin)
* Christopher Fuhrlohg (London)
* Mathäus Funk (Bern)
* Gerrit Jensen
Gerrit is a Dutch male name meaning "''brave with the spear''", the Dutch and Frisian form of Gerard. People with this name include:
* Gerrit Achterberg (1905–1962), Dutch poet
* Gerrit van Arkel (1858–1918), Dutch architect
* Gerrit Badenho ...
(London)
* Georg Haupt
Georg Haupt (10 August 1741, in Stockholm – 18 September 1784, in Stockholm) was a Swedish Ébéniste, cabinet maker. Haupt was the son of a Nuremberg carpenterFleming, John & Hugh Honour. (1977) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts. '' ...
(Stockholm)
* Pierre Langlois (London)
* Charles-Honoré Lannuier
Charles-Honoré Lannuier, French cabinetmaker (1779–1819), lived and worked in New York City. In Lannuier's time, the style of his furniture was described as "French Antique." Today his work is classified primarily as Federal furniture, Neocla ...
(New York)
* Abdelkader Saaidi (Casablanca)
* Pietro Piffetti (Turin)
* Abraham Roentgen
Abraham Roentgen (30 January 1711 – 1 March 1793) was a German Ébéniste (cabinetmaker).
Roentgen was born in Mülheim am Rhein, Germany. He learned cabinet making from his father. At age 20, he traveled to The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam ...
(Neuwied)
* David Roentgen
David Roentgen (1743 in HerrnhaagFebruary 12, 1807), was a famous German cabinetmaker of the eighteenth century, famed throughout Europe for his marquetry and his secret drawers and poes and mechanical fittings. His work embraces the late Rococ ...
(Neuwied)
* Decon Brodie (Edinburgh)
See also
* List of furniture designers
This is a list of notable people whose primary occupation is furniture design.
A
* Alvar Aalto (1898-1976)
* Eero Aarnio (born 1932)
* Robert Adam (1728-1792)
* Thomas Affleck (1745-1795)
* Franco Albini (1905-1977)
* Davis Allen (1916-1999 ...
* List of furniture types
This is a list of furniture types. Furniture includes objects such as tables, chairs, beds, desks, dressers, and cupboards. These objects are usually kept in a house or other building to make it suitable or comfortable for living or working in ...
* Woodworking
Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning.
History
Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first mate ...
References
*Pierre Verlet, 1963. ''Les Ébénistes Du XVIII Siècle Français''
*Pierre Verlet and Penelope Hunter-Stiebel, 1991. ''French Furniture of the Eighteenth Century''
*G. Janneau, 1975. ''Les ateliers parisiens d'ébénistes et de menuisiers aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles''
*Alexandre Pradère, 1990. ''French Furniture Makers: The Art of the Ébéniste from Louis XIV to the Revolution'' The standard modern text.
French ébénistes of the 18th century Anticstore
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ebeniste
Crafts
Cabinetmakers
Furniture-making
Woodworking