Pair of Bookcases (Bibliothèques) (c. 1720): Art, History and Details

Pair of Bookcases (Bibliothèques) (c. 1720) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Charles Cressent (French, 1685–1768).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

One of the obligations of a wealthy existence in the early 1700s was an interest in reading, or at least the impression of developing such an interest. Large bookcases such as these helped in that pursuit as they kept elaborately leather-bound books neatly behind a screen. The broad panels of marquetry and gilt-bronze mounts below suggest that the overall decorative scheme of figures symbolizing Geography and Commerce was perhaps more prominent than the rich intellectual holdings within.

Object facts

• Title: Pair of Bookcases (Bibliothèques)
• Date: c. 1720
• Creator attribution: Charles Cressent (French, 1685–1768)
• Culture: France
• Type: Furniture and woodwork
• Technique: kingwood and rosewood veneers, gilt metal mounts
• Dimensions: Overall: 247.6 x 132.1 x 57.2 cm (97 1/2 x 52 x 22 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Furniture
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1958.129

A detail from the museum

Pairs of bookcases such as these would have likely flanked a large fireplace within the library of a grand house.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Foote, Helen S. “Armoire-Bookcases.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 46, no. 1 (January 1959): 10–13.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.