# Marquetry > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Marquetry > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Marquetry.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquetry > Source revision: 1344000298 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Art and craft applying pieces of veneer to form decorative patterns Not to be confused with [parquetry](/source/Parquetry), wood mosaic floors This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Marquetry" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Casket, early 18th century, attributed to [André-Charles Boulle](/source/Andr%C3%A9-Charles_Boulle), oak carcass veneered with [tortoiseshell](/source/Tortoiseshell), gilt copper, pewter and ebony, in the [Art Institute of Chicago](/source/Art_Institute_of_Chicago) **Marquetry** (also spelled as **marqueterie**; from the French *marqueter*, to variegate) is the art and [craft](/source/Craft) of applying pieces of [veneer](/source/Wood_veneer) to a structure to form decorative patterns or designs. The technique may be applied to [case furniture](/source/Case_furniture) or even seat furniture, to decorative small objects with smooth, veneerable surfaces or to freestanding pictorial panels appreciated in their own right. Marquetry differs from the more ancient craft of [inlay](/source/Inlay), or [intarsia](/source/Intarsia), in which a solid body of one material is cut out to receive sections of another to form the surface pattern. The word derives from a Middle French word meaning "inlaid work". ## Materials The veneers used are primarily woods, but may include bone, ivory, turtle-shell (conventionally called "[tortoiseshell](/source/Tortoiseshell_material)"), [mother-of-pearl](/source/Mother-of-pearl), [pewter](/source/Pewter), [brass](/source/Brass) or fine metals. Marquetry using colored [straw](/source/Straw_marquetry) was a specialty of some European spa resorts from the end of the 18th century. Many exotic woods as well as common varieties can be employed, from the near-white of [boxwood](/source/Buxus)[1][a] to the near-black of [ebony](/source/Ebony); colors not found in nature can be achieved by applying dye to a veneer that retains stains well, such as [sycamore](/source/Sycamore). An example of sand-shading and shellac-inking; subject copied from a [Moronobu](/source/Moronobu) print The French cabinet maker [André-Charles Boulle](/source/Andr%C3%A9-Charles_Boulle) (1642–1732) specialized in furniture using metal and either wood or [tortoiseshell](/source/Tortoiseshell) together, the latter acting as the background. 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. However, the knife-cutting technique usually requires a lot of time. For that reason, many marquetarians have switched to [fret](/source/Fretsaw) or scroll saw techniques. Other requirements are a pattern of some kind, some brown gummed tape (this kind of tape is used because as its moistened glue dries the tape shrinks, pulling the veneer pieces closer together), [PVA glue](/source/Polyvinyl_acetate) and a base-board with balancing veneers on the alternate face to compensate stresses. Finishing the piece will require fine abrasive paper, always backed by a sanding block. Choices of sealers and finishes that can be applied include ordinary varnish, special varnishes, polyurethane (either oil or water based), wax, and [French polish](/source/French_polish). Sand shading is a process used to make a picture appear to be more three-dimensional. A piece of veneer to be incorporated into a picture is partially submerged in hot sand for a few seconds. Another shading process is engraving fine lines into a picture and filling them with a mixture of [India ink](/source/India_ink) and [shellac](/source/Shellac). ## History Furniture inlaid with precious woods, metals, glass and stones is known from the ancient world and Roman examples have been recovered from the first century sites of [Pompeii](/source/Pompeii) and [Herculaneum](/source/Herculaneum) demonstrating that the technique was highly advanced.[2] The revival of the technique of veneered marquetry had its inspiration in 16th century [Florence](/source/Florence) and at [Naples](/source/Naples) ultimately from classical inspiration. 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](/source/Cosmati)"-work of inlaid marble floors, altars and columns. The technique is known in English as [pietra dura](/source/Pietra_dura), for the "hardstones" used: [onyx](/source/Onyx), [jasper](/source/Jasper), [cornelian](/source/Cornelian), [lapis lazuli](/source/Lapis_lazuli) and colored marbles. In Florence, the [Chapel of the Medici at San Lorenzo](/source/Basilica_di_San_Lorenzo_di_Firenze) is completely covered in a colored marble facing using this demanding jig-sawn technique. External videos The Inlay Technique of Marquetry, J. Paul Getty Museum LaunchPad: Roentgen Marquetry, Art Institute of Chicago Techniques of wood marquetry were developed in [Antwerp](/source/Antwerp) and other Flemish centers of luxury [cabinet-making](/source/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](/source/Gobelins_manufactory), charged with providing furnishings to decorate [Versailles](/source/Palace_of_Versailles) and the other royal residences of [Louis XIV](/source/Louis_XIV). Early masters of French marquetry were the Fleming [Pierre Gole](/source/Pierre_Gole) and his son-in-law, [André-Charles Boulle](/source/Andr%C3%A9-Charles_Boulle), who founded a dynasty of royal and Parisian cabinet-makers (*[ébénistes](/source/%C3%89b%C3%A9niste)*) and gave his name to a technique of marquetry employing *tortoiseshell* and brass with pewter in [arabesque](/source/Arabesque_(Islamic_art)) 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](/source/Gilt-bronze) mounts. Floral marquetry came into favor in Parisian furniture in the 1750s, employed by cabinet-makers like [Bernard II van Risamburgh](/source/Bernard_II_van_Risamburgh), [Jean-Pierre Latz](/source/Jean-Pierre_Latz) and [Simon-François Oeben](/source/Simon-Fran%C3%A7ois_Oeben). The most famous royal French furniture veneered with marquetry are the pieces delivered by [Jean Henri Riesener](/source/Jean_Henri_Riesener) in the 1770s and 1780s. The *[Bureau du Roi](/source/Bureau_du_Roi)* was the most famous amongst these famous masterpieces. Marquetry was not ordinarily a feature of furniture made outside large urban centers. Nevertheless, marquetry was introduced into [London furniture](/source/Restoration_style) at the [Restoration](/source/English_Restoration) of [Charles II](/source/Charles_II_of_England) 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](/source/Huguenot) craftsmen went to [London](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Thomas_Chippendale) and less familiar names, like [John Linnell](/source/John_Linnell_18th_C_Cabinet-Maker_and_Upholsterer), the French craftsman Pierre Langlois, and the firm of [William Ince and John Mayhew](/source/Ince_and_Mayhew). Modern marquetry: a [tangram](/source/Tangram) table by [Silas Kopf](/source/Silas_Kopf), with *[trompe-l'œil](/source/Trompe-l'%C5%93il)* images of paper and brush made entirely of different shades of flat veneer 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](/source/Khatam). At [Tonbridge](/source/Tonbridge) and [Royal Tunbridge Wells](/source/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. Marquetry was a feature of some centers of German cabinet-making from c. 1710. The craft and artistry of [David Roentgen](/source/David_Roentgen), Neuwied, (and later at Paris as well) was unsurpassed, even in Paris, by any 18th-century marquetry craftsman. Marquetry was not a mainstream fashion in 18th-century Italy, but the neoclassical marquetry of [Giuseppe Maggiolini](/source/Giuseppe_Maggiolini), made in Milan at the end of the century is notable. The classic illustrated description of 18th century marquetry-making was contributed by [Roubo](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Jacob_Roubo) to the *Encyclopédie des Arts et Métiers,* 1770. ## New techniques Modern marquetry cabinet made from [Tasmanian](/source/Tasmanian) timbers. During the 1980s [Georges Vriz](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Vriz) developed a technique called technique VRIZ, layering two veneer layers on top of each other and sanding through the top one, to the point of fiber transparency. This has been used mainly in France, by professionals and marquetry students of the [École Boulle](/source/%C3%89cole_Boulle). With its technique, Georges Vriz promoted a resurgence of the marquetry he called RENAISSANCE. He launched the contemporary marquetry. In the US the technique has been used at the American School of French Marquetry by one of the teachers, artist Patrice Lejeune. The school staff is also proposing a new name for it: "Given that 'piercing' is an unfortunate mistake in the veneering world, we chose to use the word "Fusion" instead, by which term the artist expresses his intention of sanding through the veneer as a decorative, textural effect, not as a mistake." [Cutting-edge tech](/source/High_tech) has also been applied to marquetry. Among these is [laser cutting](/source/Laser_cutting), where the design is drawn or imported as a [CAD](/source/Computer-aided_design) or [vector](/source/Vector_graphics) file and each piece is cut separately; each different species of wood-and thickness-may need a specific adjustment of the beam power; the offset will determine the gap between the pieces. In some cases, the beam will leave a dark edge due to the high heat required by the process. ## Gallery - Marquetry picture, Germany 1776 - [Tip-top table](/source/Tip-top_table) veneered in a [parquetry](/source/Parquet) pattern by Isaac Leonard Wise, circa 1934. - Glass vas *Dahlia* designed by Betzy Ählström 1912, made in the *marqueterie de verre* technique developed by [Émile Gallé](/source/%C3%89mile_Gall%C3%A9). - Table with marquetry top (as evidenced by cracking joints on left and right of top, but having wood grain carry on to both cleats indicating the surface is veneered) [Mihailo Obrenović, Prince of Serbia](/source/Mihailo_Obrenovi%C4%87%2C_Prince_of_Serbia). ## See also - [Arts portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Arts) - [Parquetry](/source/Parquetry) - [Woodworking](/source/Woodworking) - [Lath Art](/source/Lath_Art) - [Khatam](/source/Khatam) - [Intarsia](/source/Intarsia) - [Damascening](/source/Damascening) - [Tunbridge ware](/source/Tunbridge_ware) - [Yosegi](/source/Yosegi) - [Charles Spindler](/source/Charles_Spindler) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Boxwood turns golden-tan as it ages. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Mac Sween, Peter (28 January 2018). ["Boxwood: Buxus sempervirens"](https://canadianwoodworking.com/woods/woods-to-know-boxwood/). *Canadian Woodworking*. Retrieved 21 September 2024. European boxwood has a creamy white to pale yellow colour. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Couch and footstool with bone carvings and glass inlays"](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/249232). *[Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art)*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140158/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/249232) from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-12-08. ## External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Marquetry](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Marquetry). - ["Marquetry"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Marquetry). *[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition)*. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 751–752. - [A Short History of Marquetry](https://stuartking.co.uk/history-of-marquetry/) Includes a glossary. - [*The Gubbio Studiolo and its conservation, volumes 1 & 2*](http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/search/collection/p15324coll10/searchterm/Gubbio%20Studiolo%20and%20its%20conservation/field/title/mode/all/conn/and/order/nosort), from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on marquetry v t e Decorative arts and handicraft Textile Banner-making Crocheting Cross-stitch Embroidery Felting Friendship bracelet Knitting Lace-making Lucet Macrame Millinery Needlepoint Needlework Patchwork Quilting Ribbon embroidery Carpet Rug hooking Rug making Sewing Shoemaking Spinning String art Tapestry Tatting Tie-dye Weaving Paper Altered book Bookbinding Calligraphy Cardmaking Cast paper Collage Decoupage Papier collé Photomontage Decal Iris folding Kamikiri Origami Kirigami Moneygami Embossing Marbling 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Oak Padauk Pear Plum Poplar Purpleheart Ovankol Ramin Red Quebracho Rosewood Rubberwood Sapele Teak Totara Utile Walnut Wenge Willow Zebrano Engineered Cross-laminated Glue laminated Hardboard MDF OSB Particle board Plywood Wood–plastic composite Tools Abrasives Axe Adze Burnisher Chisel Drawknife Drill Fence Float Gimlet Gauge Hinge bender Impact driver Janka hardness test Jointer Mallet Milling machine Miter box Rasp Router Sandpaper Shaper Shaving horse Square (Carpenters, Combination, Miter, Speed, Try) Thickness planer Timber-framing Veneer hammer Vise Warrington hammer Winding sticks Wood scribe Workbench Clamps Band clamp C-clamp F-clamp Flooring clamp Gripe Holdfast Miter clamp Pipe clamp Sawbuck Saws Backsaw Bandsaw Bow Bucksaw Chainsaw Circular Compass Coping Crosscut Frame Fretsaw Hand saw Jigsaw Keyhole Miter Ripsaw Scroll Table Veneer Whipsaw Planes Bedrock plane Block plane Chamfer plane Compass plane Finger plane Fore plane Grooving plane Jack plane Japanese plane Jointer plane Moulding plane Razee plane Rebate plane Router plane Scrub plane Shoulder plane Smoothing plane Spokeshave Surform Geometry Joints Birdsmouth Biscuit Box Bridle Butt Butterfly Coping Crown of thorns Dado Dovetail Finger Groove Halved Hammer-headed tenon Knee Lap Mason's miter Miter Mortise and tenon Rabbet/Rebate Scarf Splice Tongue and groove Profiles Bead Bevel Chamfer Ogee Ogive Ovolo Surface piecing Binding Edge banding Intarsia Marquetry Oystering Parquetry Purfling Treatments Adhesive French polish Heat bending Lacquer Oil Paint Paint stripper Steam bending Thermal Varnish Wax Wood drying Wood preservation Wood stain Wood finishing Organizations American Association of Woodturners Architectural Woodwork Institute British Woodworking Federation Building and Wood Workers' International Caricature carving International Federation of Building and Wood Workers National Wood Carvers Association Society of Wood Engravers Timber Framers Guild Conversion Chainsaw mill Hewing Sawmill Whipsaw Wood splitting Flat sawing Quarter sawing Rift sawing Techniques Frame and panel Frameless construction Green woodworking Category WikiProject Commons Authority control databases International GND National United States Israel Other Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Marquetry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquetry) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquetry?action=history)). 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