Maison Franck

Few Belgian houses of the early twentieth century achieved the refinement of Maison Franck of Antwerp. Celebrated above all for its furniture and mirrors veneered in tortoiseshell, it brought to this rare and demanding material a virtuosity that places its finest pieces among the most luxurious creations of their time. Ranging freely from Renaissance and eighteenth-century revival to the sleek elegance of Art Deco, its production combined exceptional craftsmanship with a distinctive sense of opulence, and remains highly prized by collectors today.

The house was founded in Antwerp in the mid-nineteenth century by F. Franck, who lived from around 1839 to 1905. It was under the direction of his son, Frans Franck (1872-1932), that it reached its greatest success, becoming one of the most renowned cabinetmaking workshops in Belgium. At its height it employed some 150 craftsmen and embraced every aspect of the decorative arts, from antiques and furniture making to complete interior decoration.

Tortoiseshell furniture was the summit of the workshop's production, and each piece in the material was designed either by Frans Franck himself or by Frans Bruylants (1890-1966). The technique was as painstaking as it was spectacular. Plates of tortoiseshell, in its warm red or rarer golden-yellow varieties, were laid over gold leaf so that the ground glowed through the translucent shell, and were set within frames of ebony or ebonised wood, often enriched with gilt bronze mounts. The result was a surface of extraordinary depth and luminosity.

The house worked across a remarkable range of styles. Its repertoire includes neo-Renaissance mantel mirrors in two-coloured tortoiseshell with gilded decoration, display cabinets in the Louis XV manner, and Art Deco vitrines and cabinets of great sophistication, many of them made to order for a select circle of clients. Its mirrors, in particular, with their deep, richly figured frames, are among the most sought-after expressions of its art.

The house's tortoiseshell furniture of the years 1920 to 1932 was the subject of a two-volume doctoral thesis.