XVIIIth century french harbor pieces of furniture "Meubles de Port": Bordeaux

Meubles de Port are pieces of furniture made of solid exotic wood - primarily mahogany- in some French port cities throughout the eighteenth century.
 The three main production centers are St. Malo, Nantes and Bordeaux.

The mahogany pieces of furniture  appeared in 1520 in Spain, conveyed in the form of boards and blocks on board of the caravels and introduced around 1595 in England where they were used to build boats.

The Bordeaux pieces of furniture

In the eighteenth century, Bordeaux is a wealthy city  with an open port on the sea, which promotes trade with Africa, the Caribbean and America.
Bordeaux Shipowners, slave traders and merchants owned big beautiful mansions sumptuously furnished.
To accomodate and decorate their houses, they needed rich and lush furniture.

It is through the development of trade in precious woods that emerged solid mahogany pieces of furniture, a wood that came from Cuba, the Caribbean and Central America.
Recovered by local artisans, enormous quantities of mahogany ball thrown on platforms will be most often used in solid, not veneer.

Taking advantage of this, cabinetmakers created elegant "meubles de Port" furniture for the refined and discreet luxury palaces of Bordeaux.

Common characteristics of Bordeaux pieces

The style of furniture is often Louis XV as elsewhere in most regional centers.

The forms are strongly curved, richly carved and molded but there is a virtual absence of marquetry. The ornamentation is mostly floral with fluting and tendrils of foliage. The legs are scrolled.

The art of metalwork is flourishing in the eighteenth in Bordeaux, found on furniture.

    * Musée des arts décoratifs de Bordeaux, hôtel de Lalande

    * Le meuble de port, Louis Malfoy, Les éditions de l'amateur