Tortoise Shell Wood Mantel Clock

The Van Risamburgh family (with various spellings) was a dynasty of ebenistes originally from The Netherlands. Bernard I VanRisamburgh was the father and grandfather respectively of Bernard II and Bernard III who all characteristically used the stamp, ‘BVRB’. Bernard I was unusual in that he gave up making furniture in order to specialize in clock cases. He is also known for exquisite floral and contre-partie marquetry, and may have been the first to use contre-partie in clock cases. Contre-partie is a process where a full sheet of brass is cut out into a decorative design and then inlaid with colored or dyed ivory or horn and mother-of-pearl accents. BVRB was also known for his extraordinary lacquered panels.

Bernard I supplied furniture to Madame du Pompadour, through her favorite marchand-mercier, Lazar Duvaux. His work was of incomparable quality. Toward the end of his career, he incorporated Sevres porcelain plaques in his furniture. He also designed his own bronze mounts. The novel forms of these mounts appear only on his works and help to distinguish his furniture from that of other cabinetmakers.

Throughout his career he worked almost exclusively with the important marchands-merciers, such as Lazare Duvaux and Thomas-Joachim Hébert. As a result, BVRB had no direct contact with his aristocratic and royal clientele.