Here is my first client, patient,… well, it's up to you. It's a Boulle marquetry cartel clock in brown tortoiseshell, ebony and brass.
As you can see from the following photos, it is not in very good condition. There are many missing brass parts, and the remaining brass is peeling off everywhere.
At first glance, it's always difficult to precisely date a Boulle clock: this one doesn't bear a stamp. However, it does have corkscrew screws (typical of the 18th century). There are few visible tool marks. I had a hunch that this clock was a 19th-century copy, rather than an original from the previous century. It's worth noting that many Boulle pieces were made during the reign of Napoleon III.
But fortunately, sometimes we get pleasant surprises!!!
First, I remove the bronze pieces and store them so that I can put them back exactly in their original positions. I keep the brass tips, which will be reused.
Then I reattach the cartel structure before working on the marquetry.
Next, I carefully place the brass elements, taking care not to mix them up, and I clean the support to properly reattach the marquetry.
The back panel was cracked, so I had to completely disassemble it. I checked that the brass was positioned correctly in relation to the wood's shrinkage, because while the wood had shrunk, the brass hadn't. But once the glue was cleaned off, it turned out that by tightening the panel, the crack closed perfectly and the marquetry fit perfectly into its original position.
End of this first series on the restoration of Alexandre Morell's cartel.
