Woodwork from the cabinet of the Hôtel Colbert de Villacerf [private mansion], no. 23 rue de Turenne
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In the seventeenth century, the main rooms in the more lavish private mansions in Paris were covered with wood paneling.
The wood panels from the study of the Colbert de Villacerf mansion, which was built around 1650, were acquired in 1867 by the municipality of Paris and reinstalled in the Carnavalet Museum ca. 1913-1914. This rare, fully paneled room decor from the mid-17th century is a characteristic example of the “French wood paneling” style. The decor features an innovative coved ceiling instead of the traditional beams and joists or a flat ceiling with compartments. The paneling is composed of individual panels decorated with motifs. Their ornamental language includes lots of fanciful imagery that blends human figures with animals and plants.
