19C Louis XV Style Boudoir Display Vitrine

Published by Nevan O Shaughnessy on May 19, 2025May 19, 2025

PRESENTING a BEAUTIFUL and ELEGANT 19C Louis XV Style Boudoir Display Vitrine .

From circa 1890 and made in France.

This is a tall legged vitrine and has beautiful ormolu mounts and moldings. Made of kingwood and amboyna veneers.

It stands on 4 tall cabriole legs each with ormolu edging and mounts.

The feet support the base of the main vitrine.

It has 2 front doors with beveled glass panels with ormolu beading. The sides, likewise, have 2 beveled glass panels for viewing.

It opens at the front to reveal a white or ivory silk covered shelf with a cushioned and buttoned back, again in white/ivory silk.

The sides and backs of the glass panels have decorative cord.

The top of the piece ha been restored/repaired. The cornice/molding is later and the top has been covered in a matching white/ivory silk with beveled glass panel insert to replicate the interior of the vitrine. We think that originally this would probably have been a see through, glass panel on top for viewing. The restoration work is good and sympathetic to the piece, however, and does not detract from the beauty of the piece. In fact, one could argue that it has improved it.

PERFECT FOR DISPLAYING YOU SMALL TREASURES OR FINE JEWELRY

Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (French: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defined as his 13th birthday) on 15 February 1723, the kingdom was ruled by Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, as Regent of France. Cardinal Fleury was his chief minister from 1726 until the Cardinal’s death in 1743, at which time the king took sole control of the kingdom.

His reign of almost 59 years (from 1715 to 1774) was the second longest in the history of France, exceeded only by his predecessor and great-grandfather, Louis XIV, who had ruled for 72 years (from 1643 to 1715). In 1748, Louis returned the Austrian Netherlands, won at the Battle of Fontenoy of 1745. He ceded New France in North America to Spain and Great Britain at the conclusion of the disastrous Seven Years’ War in 1763. He incorporated the territories of the Duchy of Lorraine and the Corsican Republic into the Kingdom of France. He was succeeded in 1774 by his grandson Louis XVI, who was executed by guillotine during the French Revolution. Two of his other grandsons, Louis XVIII and Charles X, occupied the throne of France after the fall of Napoleon I. Historians generally give his reign very low marks, especially as wars drained the treasury and set the stage for the French Revolution of 1789.