The exhibition Life & Luxury: The Art of Living in Eighteenth-Century Paris includes several masterworks of French marquetry. Learn more from Alton Bowman when he visits the MFAH today for two sessions devoted to the topic (10 am and 2 pm).

Marquetry, first described during the 16th century, is decorative work in which elaborate, organic patterns are formed on a surface such as furniture with wood veneers, shell, or ivory. The complexity and opulence of marquetry rose to new heights during the 18th century by the hand of André-Charles Boulle, cabinet-maker to King Louis XIV of France.

Join furniture conservator, designer, and fabricator Alton Bowman to view examples of marquetry in the Life & Luxury exhibition. Then observe a demonstration of a marquetry donkey; view other traditional wood-working tools; and hear about Bowman’s experience at l’École Boulle in Paris, where the art of marquetry is taught today as it was during the 18th century.

TICKETS Space is limited.
$10 MFAH Members
$20 Nonmembers (includes general museum admission)
►To purchase tickets for the morning session, click here.
►To purchase tickets for the afternoon session, click here.

About the Speaker
Furniture conservator and master craftsman Alton Bowman is a professional associate member of the American Institute of Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works.