The Cressent Boulle Clock is on view at The Conservation Center's Pop-Up Lab @ EXPO CHICAGO/2014 (Booth 113) from September 18–21.

Charles Cressent (1685-1768) was a descendant of a family of furniture makers and talented sculptors. As a pupil of André Charles Boulle (1642–1732)—the French cabinetmaker who is generally considered to be the preeminent artist in the field of marquetry—Cressent's work is characteristic of the Rococo period with adornments of feminine figures and motifs, floral Arabesques, and exotic animals. To combine the gilt-bronze elements of his unique style and to ensure the quality of his mounts, Cressent broke the rules of the French guild system and was prosecuted for practicing two professions in the same workshop—cabinetmaking and gilding.