Furniture ornamentation with inlay and marquetry emphasizing 19th century American furniture
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"Ornamentation of furniture is often more expressive of the individual cabinetmaker than anything else about the piece. The ornament expresses the design abilities of the maker and may, if the piece is custom made, tell something about the person for whom it was designed. In addition, it is often possible to see a reflection of contemporary life in furniture ornamentation. Poorly executed ornamentation of a well structured carcass can be every bit as detrimental to the overall quality of a piece of furniture as can be a poorly structured one. Styles of ornamentation include painting, carving, applied ornament, inlay and veneering. Each of these five processes is comprised of many sub-divisions. Each sub-division yields a totally different end result. Some differences are very subtle requiring a well informed person with a well trained eye to detect the differences. Each of the five processes continue in use today throughout the western world. As with all the arts, styles and popularity change with the times. Inlay and veneering are both very old, complex arts. In reading about furniture one evening, the terms inlay, marquetry and parquetry continually recurred. To verify interpretation several dictionaries and encyclopedias were consulted only to find a type of vagueness and seeming confusion about the meanings of the terms. A twentieth century British wood enthusiast, Edward H. Pinto, stated the problem well when he said "unfortunately, loose words and writing have tended to confuse what was already a difficult division." In addition, the mix of Italian, French, German, Arabic, Latin, English and other languages and many subsequent centuries have tended to further confuse definitions. It was determined a study of these arts should be made for clarification purposes. The intent of this paper therefore, is to study the arts of inlay and marquetry to identify the difference in the processes and the historical development of the two. The focal point of the paper will be the use of these processes in the United States during the nineteenth century."--Introduction.
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