boiserie

[bwah-zuh-ree]

noun

1. sculptured paneling, especially that of French architecture in the 18th century.

Word History and Origins

Origin of boiserie¹

1825–35; < French: wainscot, equivalent to bois wood + -erie -ery

Example Sentences

Although early on he had restored virtually every surface, including the parquetry floors and boiserie, the décor was relatively stark — at least for him — and done in shades of ivory and wheat.

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She paired the elaborately gilded boiserie walls and outsize chandelier with a pale-hued suite of geometric postmodern furniture, including barrel chairs and a half-moon desk so aesthetically significant that it was kept by at least five successive French presidents.

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One of Tapiau’s first purchases for the home in Paris had been a pair of fluorescent-hued acrylic sculptures by Jean-Claude Farhi; he began to see the world anew when he placed them in front of the 19th-century oak boiserie in his living room.

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Although the building is square, its rooms are octagonal, precisely 548 square feet each, with the mechanicals and bathrooms tucked behind the plaster and boiserie walls.

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Imposing yet gleeful, they stand sentry on the parquet de Versailles, adjacent to chairs and tables of Zana’s own design, bulwarks of early Pop radicalism amid the haute-bourgeois sage-painted boiserie walls.

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