marquetry

marquetry, thin sheets of wood, metal, or organic material, such as shell or mother-of-pearl, cut into intricate patterns according to a preconceived design and affixed to the flat surfaces of furniture. The process became popular in France in the late 16th century and received an enormous stimulus in the two following centuries as the European economy started to expand and created a demand for luxurious domestic furniture. The work of André-Charles Boulle, in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, achieved such beauty that furniture adorned with marquetry patterns is sometimes known as boulle work.

To produce the desired effect, the ébéniste, or specialist in marquetry, either drew the pattern directly on the base wood or affixed a paper pattern onto the wood. The thin sheets were then cut out with a burin or, later, sometimes with a saw, the pattern assembled and glued onto the carcass. Boulle initiated an ingenious method for use with contrasting materials, such as ebony and ivory. Two sheets of identical thickness were glued together and the pattern cut out. When the sheets were taken apart, it was then possible to decorate two panels of the same size with identical patterns in contrasting materials. As marquetry-work tends to splinter, vulnerable places such as the outer edges of the design and keyholes were often protected with mounts of bronze or other metals, often of an intricate shape, which add to the decorative richness of the piece of furniture. Marquetry patterns became more and more complex and, though often floral, they could also include geometric and narrative subjects. The range of materials used also became more varied, including not only rare tropical woods and metals such as silver, bronze, and brass but also a wide range of other materials of a semiprecious nature.