Anébéniste (pronounced[ebenist]) is acabinet-maker, particularly one who works inebony. The term is aloanword from French and translates to "ebonist".
As opposed toébéniste, the termmenuisier denotes a woodcarver or chairmaker in French. The English equivalent forébéniste, "ebonist", is not commonly used. Originally, anébéniste was one who worked withebony, a favoured luxury wood for mid-17th centuryParisian cabinets, originating in imitation of elite furniture being made inAntwerp. The word is 17th-century in origin. Early Parisianébénistes often came from theLow Countries themselves; an outstanding example isPierre Gole, who worked at theGobelins manufactory making cabinets and table tops veneered withmarquetry, the traditional enrichment ofébénisterie, or "cabinet-work".
Ébénistes makecase furniture, eitherveneered or painted. Under Parisian guild regulations, painted varnishes, generically calledvernis Martin, were applied in separate workshops, sawdust being an enemy to freshly varnished surfaces. During theFrench Revolution the guilds in Paris and elsewhere were abolished (1791), and with them went all their regulations. As one result of this, Parisian chairmakers were able to produceveneered chairs, just as London furniture-makers, less stringently ruled, had been able to make since the production of the first chairs withsplats shortly before 1720, in imitation ofChinese chairs.
Because of this amalgamation of trades, makers of chairs and of other seat furniture began to use veneering techniques, formerly the guarded privilege ofébénistes. This privilege became less distinct after the relaxation of guild rules of theAncien Régime, and after the French Revolution's abolition of guilds in 1791. Seat furniture in theEmpire style was often veneered withmahogany, and later in pale woods also.
From the mid-19th century onward, the two French trades,ébéniste andmenuisier, often combined under the single roof of a "furnisher", and the craft began to make way for the industry. In Germany inFrommern a line of high polished production take up the ideas of the royalHofebenist[1][2]
From the mid-17th century through the 18th century, a notable number ofébénistes of German and Low Countries extraction were pre-eminent among Parisian furniture-makers, as the abbreviated list below suggests.
