Julien-Nicolas Rivart (1802-1867) is the inventor of a hitherto unseen technique, which never afterwards could be reproduced : porcelain marquetry. Patented in 1849, it enables to inlay a painted decoration without taking more space than necessary, and to left exposed the beauty of the support’s other materials.
Applied in furniture pieces in rosewood, ebony, mahogany, but also in velvet or leather, these incrustations have the bright colors and the delicacy which is proper to porcelain painting. They are admired at the Universal Exhibitions of 1851, 1855 and 1867, for they are in fact perfect examples of the technical emulation in the age of the great inventions.
Adopted by the most prominent cabinet-makers like Tahan and Alphonse Giroux et Cie, Julien-Nicolas Rivart’s process has seduced the aristocracy, and even sovereigns such as Napoleon III, Eugenie de Montijo and Queen Victoria.
