Marquetry is the art and craft of applying pieces of veneer to a structure to form 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 freestanding pictorial panels appreciated in their own right.
Marquetry differs from the more ancient craft of inlay, or 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".
The veneers used are primarily woods. Many exotic woods as well as common European varieties can be employed, from the near-white of boxwood to the near-black of ebony, with veneers that retain stains well, like sycamore, dyed to provide colors not found in nature.
My dad took up the craft of marquetry when he retired from work, and there are many examples of pictures that he made on display at the bungalow where mum lived. Most of them were created from kits that he bought, or which were bought for him. They make an attractive display. I have featured some of his marquetry before, most recently in April 2020.
This is so interesting. My Dad took up marquetry when he was an inpatient at Harefield Hospital for a year or so after WWII recovering from TB he caught in the Middle East. We still have some of his work.
Thank you for all your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
I do like to see marquetry pictures. There is one that my dad made of a view in Richmond, North Yorkshire, and I took a photo of the same view. It made a fascinating comparison.
Ian
August 16th, 2021
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I love this scene
Thank you for all your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
I do like to see marquetry pictures. There is one that my dad made of a view in Richmond, North Yorkshire, and I took a photo of the same view. It made a fascinating comparison.
Ian