Antiques Dealer Guide - Articles
Marquetry
Craftsmen from the Low Countries introduced the marquetry that superseded the inlay work of the Elizabethan period during the 1640s, but the Civil War and the Protectorate hindered its development. It sprang back to life in the Restoration of the 1660s, and retained, for most of this period, a distinctly Dutch look.
Thin sheets of contrasting coloured woods are fixed together with a water-soluble glue to form a multi coloured laminate. A design is drawn onto one outer surface and the lines followed and cut through. The glue that holds the laminate together is melted so that it falls apart, and a picture is formed from the pieces using appropriate colours, red for a flower head, green for a leaf, and so on. This picture is then pasted onto a piece of furniture to be decorated (its surface will have been coated with wet glue first). Pressure is applied until the glue has seeped through to the upper surface of the picture making it literally part of the piece.
The process was made possible by the development of veneer cutting, which is slicing timber across its grain to show its medullar rays, or the “fan”. Thus it was known as “faneer” cutting but this was soon corrupted and became known as “veneer” cutting instead.
There are several types of marquetry, some using no more than two woods, and delicate scrolling designs, known as “Seaweed”. Another type uses a variety of woods and ivory to create foliate panels with birds and butterflies, and is known as “Foliate”, or “Arabesque”, another using brass and tortoiseshell is named “Boulle” or “Buhl” after its chief exponent, Andre Charles Boulle.
Another use for veneer during this early period was the application of separate small regular-sized pieces laid one against another to form a geometric pattern. The wood most used for this was laburnum, a branch of which could be cut at right angles to form a circle or at 45 degrees to form an oval. The latter was called an “oyster” and such decoration was, and still is, known as oyster wood veneer. The process employed to create this is parquetry.
Thin sheets of contrasting coloured woods are fixed together with a water-soluble glue to form a multi coloured laminate. A design is drawn onto one outer surface and the lines followed and cut through. The glue that holds the laminate together is melted so that it falls apart, and a picture is formed from the pieces using appropriate colours, red for a flower head, green for a leaf, and so on. This picture is then pasted onto a piece of furniture to be decorated (its surface will have been coated with wet glue first). Pressure is applied until the glue has seeped through to the upper surface of the picture making it literally part of the piece.
The process was made possible by the development of veneer cutting, which is slicing timber across its grain to show its medullar rays, or the “fan”. Thus it was known as “faneer” cutting but this was soon corrupted and became known as “veneer” cutting instead.
There are several types of marquetry, some using no more than two woods, and delicate scrolling designs, known as “Seaweed”. Another type uses a variety of woods and ivory to create foliate panels with birds and butterflies, and is known as “Foliate”, or “Arabesque”, another using brass and tortoiseshell is named “Boulle” or “Buhl” after its chief exponent, Andre Charles Boulle.
Another use for veneer during this early period was the application of separate small regular-sized pieces laid one against another to form a geometric pattern. The wood most used for this was laburnum, a branch of which could be cut at right angles to form a circle or at 45 degrees to form an oval. The latter was called an “oyster” and such decoration was, and still is, known as oyster wood veneer. The process employed to create this is parquetry.