one of France’s leading cabinetmakers, whose fashion of inlaying, called boulle, or buhl, work, swept Europe and was heavily imitated during the 18th and 19th centuries. Multitalented, Boulle practiced as an architect, worked in bronze and mosaic, and designed elaborate monograms.

As a young man, Boulle studied drawing, painting, and sculpture; his fame as the most skillful furniture designer in Paris led to his being chosen, in 1672, by Louis XIV to succeed Jean Macé as royal cabinetmaker at Versailles

. Boulle created much of Versailles’s furniture. His masterpiece, however, was his decoration of the dauphin’s private study with flooring in wood mosaic and extraordinarily detailed paneling and marquetry (1681–83; now destroyed). Allowed to execute private commissions, he included among his patrons such eminent royalty as King Philip V of Spain, the duke of Bourbon, and the electors of Bavaria and Cologne

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Boulle’s style is characterized by elaborate adornment with brass (occasionally engraved) and tortoiseshell marquetry. Although the technique of marquetry was originally used by 16th-century Italian craftsmen, Boulle developed it to a fine art. He incorporated exotic woods from India and South America. His personal collection of master drawings, prints, and paintings, from which he extracted much of his inspiration, included works by the 15th–16th-century Italian artist Raphael, the 17th-century Flemish artist Rubens, and the 17th-century Italian engraver Stefano della Bella.