A SCULPTED BILLIARD

The client was not Russian, but his wife was. So, the agency which was in charge of the decoration of this stately mansion belonging to the couple, one of the biggest in the country, calls upon Chevillotte. For this six year long project which has just into its final phase, some of the furniture is adapted to the contours of the building, and match the wood utilized in the decoration of the walls. The billiards table is part of the ensemble.

The pool table is 12 feet, or 3m90 long, the biggest in the world, here in its Russian version, which is played with 16 balls, 15 white and 1 red, on a table with six holes. The game is to put 8 balls into the holes, knowing that the pockets are bigger than the balls by only 2 to 4mm. To add complexity to the game, the balls cannot be dropped directly into the pockets, but must first rebound off another white ball. The first person to drop 8 white balls is the winner. Needless to add, the games are very long.

In this project, the totality of the pool table, its legs and its sides, is decorated with hand-made sculptures. That meant 3 months of work, ie, 500 hours, for just the sculptures. The navy blue of the carpet matches the wallpaper (? Or tapestry?) of the billiards room. A board of four equal parts, can cover the table and convert it into a massive banquet table on which one can place an enormous cup filled with caviar, along with buckets of  ice containing vodka read to serve.