Pierre Golle

Who was Pierre Golle?

Pierre Golle was an influential Parisian ébéniste, of Dutch extraction.

Born at Bergen in the Dutch Republic, he moved to Paris at an early age, and married the widow of his master, assuming the workshop. Golle was the originator of marquetry of tortoiseshell and brass, named for his son-in-law, André-Charles Boulle, as "Boulle marquetry". The Boulle dynasty of royal and Parisian cabinet-makers endured to the mid-18th century.

Golle had been employed by Cardinal Mazarin before he was taken under royal protection; from 1656 onwards, Golle is described in documents as maître menuisier en ébène ordinaire du roi. By 1681 he had a woprkshop at the Gobelins Manufactory. From 1662 he supplied marquetry cabinets and numerous other pieces of case furniture for the use of the King and the Grand Dauphin at Versailles and other royal châteaux, the most expensive of which were several cabinets delivered over a span of years at the outstanding sum of 6000 livres apiece. For the marquetry floor of the Cabinet Doré of the Grand Dauphin, he was paid 7500 livres; the dazzling interior was swept away in new redecorations after the Dauphin's death in 1711.