The image on the cover of this box was made using the technique of marquetry.

Tilt-top table veneered in parquetry pattern by Isaac Leonard Wise, circa 1934.

Marquetry is the craft of covering a structural carcass with pieces of veneer forming decorative patterns, designs or pictures. The technique may be applied to case furniture or even seat furniture, to decorative small objects with smooth, veneerable surfaces or to free-standing pictorial panels appreciated in their own right. Parquetry is very similar in technique to marquetry: in parquetry the pieces of veneer are of simple repeating geometric shapes, forming tiling patterns such as would cover a floor (parquet), or forming basketweave or brickwork patterns, trelliswork and the like. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (2032 × 1524 pixel, file size: 681 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Wooden box with marquetry image of a guitar. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (2032 × 1524 pixel, file size: 681 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Wooden box with marquetry image of a guitar. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (480 × 640 pixel, file size: 147 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Photo of tilt-top table in the Parquetry style crafted by Isaac Leonard Wise. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (480 × 640 pixel, file size: 147 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Photo of tilt-top table in the Parquetry style crafted by Isaac Leonard Wise. ... Parquet redirects here. ... For other uses, see Craft (disambiguation). ... In woodworking, veneer refers to thin slices of wood, usually thinner than 3 millimetres (1/8 inch), that are usually glued and pressed onto core panels (typically, wood, particle board or medium density fiberboard) to produce flat panels such as doors, tops and side panels for cabinets, parquet floors and... Parquet redirects here. ...

Marquetry (and parquetry too) differ from the more ancient craft of inlay, in which a solid body of one material is cut out to receive sections of another, to form the surface pattern. Inlay: Decorative technique of inserting pieces of coloured materials to form patterns or pictures. ...

Materials

The veneers used are primarily woods, but may include bone, ivory, turtle-shell (conventionally called "tortoiseshell"), mother-of-pearl, pewter, brass or fine metals. Marquetry using colored straw was a specialty of some European spa resorts from the end of the 18th century. Many exotic woods as well as common European varieties can be employed, from the near-white of boxwood^[1] to the near-black of ebony, with veneers that retain stains well, like sycamore, dyed to provide colors not offered in nature. A piece of nacre Nacre, also known as mother of pearl, is an organic mixture of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the form of platy crystals of aragonite and conchiolin (a scleroprotein). ... Pewter plate Pewter is a metal alloy, traditionally between 85 and 99 percent tin, with the remainder consisting of 1-15 percent copper, acting as a hardener, with the addition of lead for the lower grades of pewter, which have a bluish tint. ... Brazen redirects here. ... Straw marquetry is a craft very similar to that of wood marquetry except that straw replaces the wood veneer. ... For other uses, see Ebony (disambiguation). ... Sycamore is a name applied at various times and places to three very different types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. ...

The simplest kind of marquetry uses only two sheets of veneer, which are temporarily glued together and cut with a fine saw, producing two contrasting panels of identical design, (in French called partie and contre-partie, "part" and "counterpart").

Marquetry as a modern craft most commonly uses knife-cut veneers: the knife used is therefore of paramount importance. Other requirements are a pattern of some kind, some cheap (i.e. not very sticky) clear sticky tape, PVA glue and a base-board. Finishing the piece will require sand-paper or wire wool, possibly with a sanding block. Either ordinary varnish or the techniques of french polish can be used to seal the piece. Polyvinyl acetate or PVA is a rubbery synthetic polymer. ... French Polishing is a wood finishing technique (and not a substance, as commonly assumed) for wooden furniture that results in a very high gloss, deep colour and tough surface. ...

History

Modern marquetry: a tangram table by Silas Kopf, with trompe l'oeil images of paper and pencil made entirely of different shades of flat veneer

The technique of veneered marquetry had its inspiration in 16th century Florence (and at Naples). Marquetry elaborated upon Florentine techniques of inlaying solid marble slabs with designs formed of fitted marbles, jaspers and semi-precious stones. This work, called opere di commessi, has medieval parallels in Central Italian "Cosmati"-work of inlaid marble floors, altars and columns. The technique is known in English as pietra dura, for the "hardstones" used: onyx, jasper, cornelian, lapis lazuli and colored marbles. In Florence, the Chapel of the Medici at San Lorenzo is completely covered in a colored marble facing using this demanding jig-sawn technique. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (2592 × 1944 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (2592 × 1944 pixel, file size: 2. ... For other uses, see Tangram (album). ... Silas Kopf is a furniture maker specializing in the art of marquetry. ... [[: Le Image:Mural de Narbonne. ... Florence (or Firenze, Florentia and Fiorenza) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany, and of the province of Florence. ... Location of the city of Naples (red dot) within Italy. ... The Cosmati were a Roman family, seven members of which, for four generations, were skilful architects, sculptors and workers in mosaic. ... Pietra dura (Italian for hard stone) is marble inlaid with designs in precious or semi-precious stonework. ... This article is about the mineral. ... Polished jasper pebble, one inch (2. ... Carnelian is a red or reddish-brown variety of chalcedony. ... A block of lapis lazuli Lapis lazuli is one of the oldest of all gems, with a history of use stretching back 7,000 years. ... Exterior from the Piazza San Lorenzo. ...

Techniques of wood marquetry were developed in Antwerp and other Flemish centers of luxury cabinet-making during the early 16th century. The craft was imported full-blown to France after the mid-seventeenth century, to create furniture of unprecedented luxury being made at the royal manufactory of the Gobelins, charged with providing furnishings to decorate Versailles and the other royal residences of Louis XIV. Early masters of French marquetry were the Fleming Pierre Golle and his son-in-law, André-Charles Boulle, who founded a dynasty of royal and Parisian cabinet-makers (ébénistes) and gave his name to a technique of marquetry employing tortoiseshell and brass with pewter in arabesque or intricately foliate designs. Boulle marquetry dropped out of favor in the 1720s, but was revived in the 1780s. In the decades between, carefully matched quarter-sawn veneers sawn from the same piece of timber were arranged symmetrically on case pieces and contrasted with gilt-bronze mounts. Floral marquetry came into favor in Parisian furniture in the 1750s, employed by cabinet-makers like Bernard van Risenbergh, Jean-Pierre Latz and Simon-François Oeben. The most famous royal French furniture veneered with marquetry are the pieces delivered by Jean Henri Riesener in the 1770s and 1780s. The Bureau du Roi was the most famous amongst these famous masterpieces. For other uses, see Antwerp (disambiguation). ... Cabinet making is the practice of utilizing various woodworking skills to create cabinets, shelving and furniture. ... The Manufacture des Gobelins is a tapestry factory located in Paris, France. ... This article is about the city of Versailles. ... Louis XIV redirects here. ... André Charles Boulle (11 November 1642–28 February 1732), was a French cabinetmaker, who is generally considered to be the preeminent artist in the field of marquetry. ... Ébéniste is the French word for a cabinetmaker, as menuisier denotes a woodcarver or chairmaker. ... Arabesque pattern at the Alhambra An element of Islamic art usually found decorating the walls of mosques, the arabesque is an elaborate application of repeating geometric forms that often echo the forms of plants and animals. ... Jean-Henri Riesener (1734 - 1806) was born in Gladbeck in Germany and became a master cabinet maker at the court of France. ... The Bureau du Roi (Kings desk), known in France as the Secrétaire à cylindre de Louis XV (Louis XV roll-top secretary), is the name given to the richly ornamented royal Cylinder desk whose construction was started under Louis XV and finished under France. ...

Modern marquetry cabinet made from Tasmanian timbers

Marquetry was not ordinarily a feature of furniture made outside large urban centers. Nevertheless, marquetry was introduced into London furniture at the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, the product of immigrant Dutch 'inlayers', whose craft traditions owed a lot to Antwerp. Panels of elaborately scrolling "seaweed" marquetry of box or holly contrasting with walnut appeared on table tops, cabinets, and long-case clocks. At the end of the 17th century, a new influx of French Huguenot craftsmen went to London, but marquetry in England had little appeal in the anti-French, more Chinese-inspired high-style English furniture (mis-called 'Queen Anne') after ca 1720. Marquetry was revived as a vehicle of Neoclassicism and a 'French taste' in London furniture, starting in the late 1760s. Cabinet-makers associated with London-made marquetry furniture, 1765-1790, include Thomas Chippendale and less familiar names, like William Linnell and his more famous son John Linnell, the French craftsman Pierre Langlois, and the firm of William Ince and John Mayhew. Motto: Ubertas et Fidelitas (Fertility and Faithfulness) Other Australian states and territories Capital Hobart Governor William Cox Premier Paul Lennon (ALP) Area 90,758 km² (7th)  - Land 68,401 km²  - Water 22,357 km² (24. ... For other uses, see Restoration. ... Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. ... From the 16th to the 18th century the name Huguenot was applied to a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of France, historically known as the French Calvinists. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Late Baroque classicizing: G. P. Pannini assembles the canon of Roman ruins and Roman sculpture into one vast imaginary gallery (1756) Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that... A provincial Chippendale-style chair with elaborate Gothick tracery back Thomas Chippendale (June 5, 1718 – November 13, 1779), born at Farnley near Otley, West Yorkshire, was a London cabinet-maker and furniture designer in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo, and Neoclassical styles. ... A promotional photograph from the late 1990s. ... Ince and Mayhew was a firm of furniture designers, upholsterers and cabinetmakers, founded and run by William Ince (died 1804) and John Mayhew (1736 – 1811) in London, England, from 1759 to 1803; Mayhew continued alone in business until 1809. ...

Although marquetry is a technique separate from inlay, English marquetry-makers were called "inlayers" throughout the 18th century. In Paris, before 1789, makers of veneered or marquetry furniture (ébénistes) belonged to a separate guild from chair-makers and other furniture craftsmen working in solid wood (menuisiers).

Tiling patterning has been more highly developed in the Islamic world than anywhere else, and many extraordinary examples of inlay work have come from Middle Eastern countries such as Lebanon and Iran.

At Tonbridge and Royal Tunbridge Wells, England, souvenir "Tunbridge wares"— small boxes and the like— made from the mid-18th century onwards, were veneered with panels of minute wood mosaics, usually geometric, but which could include complicated subjects like landscapes. They were made by laboriously assembling and gluing thin strips and shaped rods, which then could be sliced crossways to provide numerous mosaic panels all of the same design. Tonbridge is a market town in the English county of Kent, with a population of 31,600 in 2001. ... , Royal Tunbridge Wells (often called simply Tunbridge Wells) is a Wealden town in west Kent in England, just north of the border with East Sussex. ...

Marquetry was a feature of some centers of German cabinet-making from ca 1710. The craft and artistry of David Roentgen, Neuwied, (and later at Paris as well) was unsurpassed, even in Paris, by any 18th Century marquetry craftsman. David Roentgen,[1] (Herrenhag 1743–February 12, 1807), was the single most famous German cabinetmaker of the eighteenth century, famed throughout Europe for his marquetry and his secret drawers and mechanical fittings. ...

Marquetry was not a mainstream fashion in 18th-century Italy, but the neoclassical marquetry of Giuseppe Maggiolini, made in Milan at the end of the century is notable. Giuseppe Maggiolini (13 November 1738 — 16 November 1814), himself a marquetry-maker (intarsiatore), was the pre-eminent cabinet-maker (ebanista) in Milan in the later 18th century. ...

The classic illustrated description of 18th century marquetry-making was contributed by Roubo to the Encyclopédie des Arts et Métiers, 1770. The most thorough and dependable 20th century accounts of marquetry, in the context of Parisian cabinet-making, are by Pierre Verlet.

See also

• Parquetry
• Woodworking
• Lath Art
• Khatam
• List of furniture designers
• Tunbridge ware

Parquet redirects here. ... Artists can use woodworking to create delicate sculptures. ... Khatam is one of persian versions of marquetry, and is the art of decorating the surface of wooden articles with delicate pieces of wood, bone and metal precisely-cut geometrical shapes. ... --69. ... Tunbridge ware is a form of decoratively inlaid woodwork characteristic of the spa town of Tunbridge Wells in Kent in the 18th and 19th centuries. ...

References

1. ^ Boxwood turns golden-tan as it ages.

External links

• The Marquetry Society of Canada
• The Marquetry Society of Great Britain
• A Dunn & Son, Marquetry & Boulle since 1895
• Example of Contemporary Marquetry Artists
• Another Example of Contemporary Marquetry Artists
• Yet Another Example of Contemporary Marquetry Artists
• Examples of contemporary marquetry
• More History and examples of contemporary marquetry
• More contemporary marquetry and description of methods
• LathArt How to and Patterns LathArt is similar to Marquetry, but more rustic
• A Short History of Marquetry Includes a glossary.