The earliest evidence that I am aware of for marquetry/inlay is a remarkable casket from the city or UR, in Mesopotamia dated c2600 BC. Much of the work is cut from ivory and set in bitumen and is a pictorial representation of a mixture of royal and daily life. Not until the European renaissance do we again encounter pictorial decoration using contrasting veneers in the form of intarsia. This inlay technique was originally centred in the Italian city of Sienna in the 11th century and much used to decorate church furniture and panels.Homer was the first, in 700 BC, to describe the ornamentation of furniture with prized materials. In book 23 of the Odyssey, Ulysses tells Penelope about the bridal bed that he made:

” Beginning from the bed post, I wrought at the bed head till I had finished it, and made it fair with inlaid work of gold, silver and ivory”.

The early use of wood veneers for decorative purposes dates to ancient Egypt. The Pharaohs were familiar with chairs and chests that incorporated thinly sliced sections of contrasting woods and semi precious materials assembled in geometric patterns. The definition between marquetry and inlay often engender confusion. All marquetry can be described as inlay because each individual component can be said to be ‘inlayed’ into each other. Conversely, true inlay can never be defined as marquetry as it is composed of segments in which a space is first chiselled into the solid ground to be then filled with a piece cut to fit. Intarsia panels come into this category.

Roman marquetry

The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century AD, tells us in book 16:

”the wood of beech is easily worked – cut into thin layers of veneers, it is very flexible, but is only used for the construction of boxes and desks. The wood of the holme oak is cut into veneers of remarkable thinness, the colour of which is far from unsightly. The best woods for cutting into layers are the terebinth, varieties of maple, box, palm, holly, root of the elder and poplar. In order to make a single tree sell many times over, laminae of veneer have been devised; then after all this, man must go and seek his materials in the sea as well! For this purpose he has learned to cut tortoise (turtle) shell into sections; and of late, in the reign of Nero, there was a monstrous invention devised of destroying its natural appearance with paint, making it sell at a still higher price by successful imitation of wood”.

So here we have the Romans nearly two thousand years ago, not only producing economically inspired veneered furniture, but also introducing imitation wood effects that out do the real thing.

Sorrento ware

Today, the Italian town of Sorrento, for the time being, is the centre of a thriving marquetry industry. I say at the time being because on a recent visit and talking to some of those involved, it appears that it is becoming more difficult to engage the young’s interest in following this traditional craft. Since the early 19th century highly skilled Sorrento practitioners have created a vast range of inlayed and marquetry work, it has even acquired its own descriptive title: Sorrento ware. This can range from huge marquetry wall panels like those in Sorrento Cathedral to delicately stunning musical boxes.

Marquetry in England and France

Until the last quarter of the 17th century the use of veneers in England was one of restraint, usually restricted to simple inlayed decoration on chests and dressers. All this was to change with the arrival to England of William of Orange to rule jointly with his wife Mary in 1689. Marquetry as a complete art form was introduced into England by the artisans who accompanied William and his court to London and made an immediate impact on chest/carcase type furniture and long case clocks in particular.

The zenith of marquetry was in the late 17th and early 18th century France, where the craft reached the status of high art through generous royal patronage. André Charles Boulle was in the vanguard of the French movement. By 1672 he was ensconced in the royal workshops of Louis XIV. Boulle supplied much furniture to the palace of Versailles.

His name lives on today in ‘Boulle work’, intricate marquetry that includes the use of silver, brass, pewter, tortoise shell and ebony (see photo, right). Boulle’s technique was similar to that used all over Europe at the time, known as ‘cut and counter cut’. A packet was made up of, say, ebony veneer and sheet brass in equal amounts and was then cut using a marquetry horse and fret saw (later to become united and referred to as a donkey!) The packets were then separated, and the individual components reassembled to produce contrasting panels, e.g.; brass inlaid into ebony and ebony inlaid into brass, both panels would have been used but on different articles.

As you can see, the story of marquetry is a long and complex one and I have only just scratched the surface in telling this tale. It is a journey I have enjoyed and wish you all a similarly fruitful trek through your chosen walk with wood.

Marquetry photos and illustrations

For more photos and illustrations from the history of  marquetry please visit the Marquetry Gallery on this website.

Glossary of marquetry terms

Bandings

Lengths of decorative strips made up of contrasting woods cut to various profiles and supplied in a variety of widths in one metre lengths. Used to frame or outline veneered panels. Producing bandings is the job of a specialist. (See cross-banding)

Boulle work

Marquetry consisting of a combination of materials e.g. chosen from pewter, brass, silver, tortoise (turtle) shell, ebony etc. French cabinetmaker André-Charles Boulle 1642-1732 perfected this art.

Book/Mirror matched

Using consecutive leaves of veneer turned over as in ‘opening a book’.

Book/Mirror matched

Using consecutive leaves of veneer turned over as in ‘opening a book’.

Backing-off

Applying a backing tape to the reverse side of a veneer ‘packet’ whilst cutting is in progress to give support to elements that may otherwise ‘break-out’ from the back.

Cut and counter cut

Method of cutting marquetry using a fretsaw, usually via the marquetry donkey or horse. A ‘packet’ of equal numbers of (for instance) light and dark veneers is fret-cut, the contents then dissembled and rearranged into a design of contrasting veneers.

Cross banding;

Wide strip of straight grained veneer applied at right-angles to the main panel, usually cut and applied by the veneer matcher. Used to ‘frame’ the outer edge of veneered panels, often in conjunction with decorative bandings.

Feather matching

Using straight grained veneer to produce a chevron effect.

Intarsia

Early technique whereby thick saw-cut veneers are individually inlaid into a solid wood ground, developed during the Italian renaissance.  The term is used today in Italy to describe marquetry. It is also used today to describe designs (usually pictorial) made up of shaped solid wood permanently assembled jig-saw fashion.

Inlay

True inlay is where individual veneer sections are inserted into a solid wood ground or ‘inlayed’.

Knife-cut

Veneer produced on a large machine where the solid log is sliced with a large knife, typically .7mm thick

Log or Flitch;

Term used to describe a complete log that has been converted into veneers where the veneer leaves are tied in ‘bundles’ of 32 and remain in the order in which they were cut until ready for use.

Marquetry

The art of creating decorative designs using contrasting veneers.

Marquetry horse

Foot-operated pair of jaws incorporating a seat allowing the operator to fret-cut packets of veneers.

Marquetry cutters donkey

Development of the ‘marquetry horse ’dating to c1780, now incorporating a fixed arm to support the fretsaw frame and allowing more accurate work to be achieved.

On and off the line

Method of cutting marquetry using a fretsaw, usually via the marquetry donkey. This is the most skilful of techniques; it requires a number ’packets’ of veneers to be made-up representing all the different colours contained in the design. Duplicates of the paper design are printed to allow a section of each design element to be cut out and applied to the appropriate ‘packet’. Each of the adjacent edges of the design is then cut, one edge on the line of the design, the other just off the line, thus ensuring a perfect fit!

Paterea

Usually small self-contained marquetry elements of geometric outline, often containing a classical motif within, e.g. a shell, flowers, urn etc.

Packet

‘Sandwich’ of veneers held together using fine ‘veneer pins’ and paper tape.

Quarter matched

A veneered panel made up of four consecutive veneers each aligned as in ‘book matching’ but creating a panel consisting of a leaf of veneer at all four corners.

Rotary cut

Veneer produced on a large machine where the solid log is rotated against a large stationary knife ‘pencil sharpener’ fashion.

Saw cut

Veneer produced by sawing, originally by hand and subsequently sliced using circular saws. Saw-cut veneer is thicker than knife/rotary cut.

Stringing / lines

One metre lengths of small square section solid wood often used in conjunction with cross banding to provide a thin line of contrasting colour. Boxwood and ebony are the most commonly used woods.

Seaweed marquetry (also known as arabesque marquetry). Very fine and delicately scrolled marquetry popular at the beginning of the 18th century; probably the most difficult of all marquetry forms to execute.

Sand shading

Dipping appropriate elements of a marquetry design into hot sand to scorch it, so achieving a three dimensional effect.

Veneer

A very thin sheet of wood

Veneer matching

Creating a decorative panel consisting of veneers held together using gummed paper tape prior to ‘pressing’ onto a board or ‘ground-work’. The completed veneer sheet is referred to as a ‘lay-on’.

Veneer hammer

Not really a hammer but a short handled tool with a head fixed at right-angles, used for squeezing out excess glue whilst hand-veneering.

Window method

Marquetry created using a ‘waster’ upon which the design is applied and from which each element of the design is individually replaced with a contrasting veneer.

I left school in 1957 aged 15 years with notions of being an archaeologist or naturalist, or even a film cameraman, but with not one qualification to my name. My furniture-making farther said that I had no choice but to seek a job in the local furniture industry. There has been such an industry in my home town of High Wycombe (35 miles north of London) for over 200 years so it seemed perfectly natural, although not very exciting, to follow in my father’s footsteps.

Working for Castle Brothers

Castle Brothers was a large concern manufacturing typical post war furniture with modernist clean lines, furniture designed with what the machine could produce rather than what a craftsman could achieve. I remember white coated men with clipboards and stop-watches taking an intense interest in the minutiae of a workman’s movements at the machine or assembly bench, and being cursed by the employee under his breath. This was a revelation to me: school didn’t seem so bad after all!

Part of the firm’s out-put was veneered cabinets and in retrospect, I was fortunate to be placed in the veneer shop. The veneers were bundled in long packets (or irregular packets if the veneers were burr, crotch or curl) of 32 sheets tied with string at each end and in sequential order just as they had been sliced on the manufacturers veneer cutting machine. It was normal practice to purchase the whole ‘log’ or ‘flitch’, in other words a whole logs worth of veneer, tied in manageable packets. Most of the veneers were obtained from London dealers, most of who both cut their own, and imported veneers. Rio Rosewood from South America was always imported ready cut giving added value to the country of origin, as was Canadian Maple and Australian Walnut.

After soaking in large vats of water to soften the logs the veneers were either ‘sliced’ or ‘peeled’ on huge machines. Sliced veneers were just that, with the log firmly secured, a super-sharp heavy-duty blade slowly converted the solid log into thousands of thin slices of veneer, the average thickness being .7mm thick. Peeling was where a log was rotated against a blade (similar to a giant pencil sharpener) producing continuous sheets of veneer that was then guillotined to width. Each method produced a different grain configuration with much of the rotary cut material going for plywood production. Veneers are a very efficient and cost effective way to utilise rare, exotic and expensive timber as a little goes a long way. Prior to the machine produced veneer, they were ‘sawn cut’. This was both more time consuming and wasteful of material, the veneers were cut much thicker with as much again being wasted by the saw-cut in the form of sawdust.

I never ceased to get a thrill from ‘opening up’ a packet of veneer and to see the grain of a highly figured wood ‘move’ as each single leaf was turned over one by one like individual photographic frames of a movie in slow motion, it really was like revealing the heart of the tree.

For the first few weeks in the job, I was given the boring task of trimming the edges of veneered panels, although soul destroying, it was a necessary introduction into handling a delicate material. Instruction to bench work followed, this was the creative process, ‘veneer matching’, using boxwood rulers, steel ‘straight edges’ and razor sharp hollow-ground knives hand made from worn-out commercial hacksaw blades. I soon learnt how to use veneers economically whilst at the same time to their best visual advantage. Quartering, feather matching, cross banding, inlaying boxwood lines and fancy bandings, soon I possessed enough skill to produce chess boards in my spare time. This was an early source of extra pocket money.  Better luck still was being introduced to ‘knife-cut’ marquetry by a fellow employee who did this as a hobby. He showed me how to create marquetry pictures of landscapes and birds using the ‘window’ method; this was a revelation and appealed at once to my artistic instincts.

The window method is the one usually adopted by hobbyists and involves using a ‘waster’ veneer on which the design is applied; it must be of a variety that is easy to cut with a sharp pointed knife. Put simply the method is this; one by one each separate element of the design is replaced with a veneer of appropriate colour and grain. The term ‘window’ reflects each individual aperture cut out with the knife before the chosen veneer is placed underneath to be traced and cut out. It is then inserted into the waster and taped into position; this is continued until the whole waster/design is replaced with artistically chosen contrasting veneers.

Within two years Castle Brothers ‘went bust’ and I found employment doing simple veneer work in a small village chair factory, ‘Cherry Tree Chair Works’. This wonderful little firm was working in the ‘dark ages’ using methods that even then were virtually confined to the furniture history books. Suffice to say, this business also met its demise whilst I was there and it was time to move on once more, this time to work in a long established veneer panel company called Richard Graefe, established in High Wycombe C1847 by a German émigré.

The Marquetry Cutter’s Donkey

It was here that I received my first introduction to commercial marquetry, work that was produced using the ‘marquetry cutter’s donkey’. The donkey is a fantastic bit of kit! It incorporates a seat, a foot operated clamp to hold the work being cut and a horizontal fretsaw frame. It was fully developed by the 1780s and has not been improved since then. This horizontal fretsaw enables the production of multiples to be cut together, therefore making highly intricate work more cost effective, but still never really cheap.

The marquetry cutter’s donkey was developed from the marquetry ‘horse’, this being the seat and clamp portion without the combined fixed arm for the saw frame. The fretsaw was held separately in the right hand with the work being secured in the clamp and rotated by the left hand. The disadvantage of this was that accurate right-angled cutting was more difficult, but not impossible, as evidenced by the work of the 19th century Sorrento craftsmen from Italy who persisted in using the marquetry ‘horse’. Today the marquetry horse and the donkey have been replaced by industrial fretsaws.

In its heyday, Richard Graefe employed 24 marquetry cutters working at their respective ‘donkeys’ producing inlays for the furniture industry. Women were employed to assemble the marquetry panels and paterea. With the advent of the railways they also produced pictorial English scenes to decorate the Pullman coaches. However, the aesthetic taste of post war Britain was moving away from fussy, over ornamented design, woodcarvers were having a difficult time and there was little enthusiasm for old fashioned decoration such as marquetry, and Richard Graefe were moving with the times.

Furniture restoration

Fortunately the firm retained one traditional marquetry cutter, Ken Lindsey, from whom I received some basic instruction. It was during this time that my interest in furniture history developed resulting in a sideline of restoring antique furniture and specialising in the repair of marquetry, it made sense to capitalise on these specialist skills. Furniture restoration will never be an exact science as each job is unique; marquetry probably presents more challenges than most woodworking disciplines such as, say, polishing or carving. One has to develop knowledge of timber species used at various periods and of course to be able to identify them and to understand their individual working characteristics. A ‘feel’ for the style of any given piece of furniture and the methodology of the artisan who created it are of utmost importance if new work is to blend in with the old.

‘Hand veneering’ is a technique rarely encountered today. In the 1960s Ken Lindsey instructed me in this; it can be a rather messy job of applying veneer unless great discipline is maintained. An understanding of the way veneer swells and stretches when in contact with water and the hot ‘animal’ glue (also known as Scotch, slab, pearl and ‘hoof and horn’ glue), and the movement that can take place as it dries is essential.  The veneer ‘hammer’ used to squeeze out excess glue would normally be made by the user. Its use required dexterity. With the veneer hammer held in one hand whilst the other applied a warm clothes to iron to the veneer to maintain the glue in a liquid state, its efficient use came only with a lot of practice. Hand veneering was not only used for applying plain veneers but also for quartering, cross banding and the like.

Learning from Andrew Oliver

My restoration work brought me into contact with my marquetry mentor, the late Andrew Oliver. Here was the ultimate craftsman, a man of great intellect: if you asked him the time he would tell you how the watch was made! Andrew had studied the history of his craft and the artefacts associated with it, the differing techniques used through the ages and the social influences that affected them. He was equally able to cut panels of William and Mary seaweed marquetry as he was with the exacting requirements of the 18th century classical designs of the Adam brothers. In ‘the old days’ a marquetry cutter would serve a five year apprenticeship under a master who would school the apprentice in the ‘art and mystery’ required for a life times career.

How does one apply marquetry to a curved surface? Back then, for me, it was a case of ‘ask Andrew’!  Andrew (shown in the photo below laying out marquetry) would patiently explain and demonstrate different techniques to me as and when I enquired, then expand as to their development in history and where to purchase any special materials I might need etc. Little things like snipping off the pointed ends of veneer pins so that they would not spit the veneers when making-up a ‘packet’ for cutting. I remember his childish delight one day in telling me how he had worked-out the original method of ‘backing-off’ seaweed marquetry, and his keenness to share this with me. The art of ‘sand shading’, cutting brass, choice of fretsaw blades, recipes for toning new work down to match a time worn original, all this knowledge was shared with me.

Such generous mentors are seldom encountered today, I owe Andrew a great deal for his time and patience; it has stood me in good stead. It was Andrew who encouraged me to become self employed (free lance), a decision I have never regretted. Becoming unfettered from the factory floor provided me with the freedom to develop and use skills that were unavailable to me in a factory setting.  Today, apart from books aimed at the hobbyist marquarian there is little in the way of instruction available to those seriously interested in following this traditional craft as a profession.

Going freelance

By 1974 I was sufficiently established with my part-time antique restoration work and occasional lectures coupled with demonstrating at woodworking shows /exhibitions that I packed in the day job and went freelance; the best decision of my life! Since then I have been commissioned to create many one-off pictorial marquetry panels that have been incorporated in bespoke furniture. Much of this has been produced using a combination of knife techniques and input from the marquetry donkey. These modern day clients expect the finished piece to have a photographic quality; this can only be achieved using special techniques developed for the purpose. The commission that provided me with the most pleasure was a depiction of Victoria Falls complete with a buffalo hunt and eagles soaring above the mist: that piece took me over six months to complete. Another of my commissions, a marquetry panel of gorillas, all knife work, is shown below.

For examples of Stuart King’s marquetry as well as photos and illustrations from the history of marquetry, visit my Marquetry Gallery on Flickr.