Class XXVI.] “TARSIA” AXD “ BUIIL” WORK—PORCELAIN INLAID FURNITURE.
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Cabinet-work of a more useful description has beencarried to a high state of perfection in Great Britain ,whose manufacturers have studied to produce objects in■which the prominent excellence is substantial quality andfinished workmanship.
It was in England that mahogany, now so generallyused, was first employed for cabinet furniture, about1720. Dr. Gibbons, an eminent physician, having hadsome planks of this wood given to him by his brother, aWest India captain, who had brought them in his vesselas ballast, wished to use them fora house he was buildingin King Street, Covent Garden, but the carpenters com-plained that the wood was too hard; it was therefore laidaside as useless. Soon after, Mrs. Gibbons wanted a can-dle-box, and the Doctor called in his cabinet-maker, Mr.Wollaston, to make him one of this wood, then lying inthe garden. He also declared that it was too hard: theDoctor said he must get stronger tools; the candle-boxwas completed and approved, insomuch that the Doctor then insisted on having a bureau made of the same wood,which was accordingly done; and the fine colour, polish,&c., were so pleasing, that he invited his friends to comeand see it. Among them was the Duchess of Buckingham.Her Grace begged some of the same wood from Dr. Gib-bons, and employed Wollaston to make a bureau for heralso ; on which the fame of mahogany and Mr. Wollastonwas much raised. The wood became the fashion, wasmuch admired, and from that time has continued to beused for furniture more than any other.
It will not be possible to give a description of thevarious details of the manufacture of cabinet-work, butan account of some of the more ornamental processes andresults connected with it may be desirable.
Of these the marqueterie inlay is one of the mostbeautiful and interesting. In this work the design, havingbeen first drawn on paper and properly coloured, ispricked with a fine needle, so that the outline of theornament or other objects can be pounced on the variouscoloured woods proposed to be employed ; these outlinesbeing carefully marked in, are cut with a fine watch-spring saw, worked in a lathe: in most cases the woodforming the ground is cut with that forming the orna-ment, so that a piece cut out of white wood correspondsexactly in shape and size with the opening left in blackwood, in which it therefore fits and forms the requiredpattern.
Tarsia-work, or the art of inlaying woods, had beenpractised from a very early date in Italy , and extensivelyemployed in the decoration of wall panelling; and re-mains of this kind of work, revived by Fra Giovanni diVerona, in the 15th century, still exist in some of theItalian churches.
The earlier specimens of this work were executed inwoods of different shades, but natural hues; afterwards,when flowers, birds, and coloured ornaments were intro-duced, various stained woods were employed: these, inmost cases, have the disadvantage of fading, but in theadmirable specimens of marqueterie inlay exhibited byM. Cremer, of Paris , (1573, p. 1252),‘the woods arestained by the process of M. Boucherie, which is statedto give them a permanent dye to a considerable depth.Notwithstanding, however, the beautiful effect of thiswork, it is desirable to adopt, as far as possible, theemployment of woods of natural hues, as being moreharmonious and more consistent with the nature of thework.
In those ornaments which are shaded, the effect is givenby immersing the pieces in hot sand. The various parts,being cut out of the required tints in the proper form,are then placed according to the design, and fixed onpaper; afterwards they are applied, like veneer, to thepiece of furniture; being mounted, they are cleaned offand slightly polished, and the finer lines are then engraved.
The manufacture of buhl inlay is by exactly the sameprocess, only that metals, tortoiseshell, and ebony arehere the materials employed: the nature of the design issomewhat different, depending more upon simple outlineforms. There are many beautiful specimens of this kindof work in the Exhibition, more particularly the cabinetsof M. Fortcer, of Wurtzburg, Bavaria (69, p. 1101),
where the figures and ornaments are designed andfinished with infinite talent and skill.
There is another kind of inlay applied to furniture, whichmay be called mosaic inlay. The beautiful boxes madein India give some good specimens of tins work in ivoryand metal, equalled, however, by the inlaid furniture andboxes of M. Marcelix, of Paris (606, p. 1207): the ex-traordinary table of Senor Perez, of Spain (271a,p. 1346), gives a fine example of this style of work,executed entirely in minute portions of wood ; the sameprinciple is carried out in a table by Nye, of TonbridgeWells (54, p. 733).
Where the patterns assume geometric forms, this kindof work is executed by laying together slips of wood ormetal, &c., in the particular forms required; these unitedslips are then cut transversely, and affixed to the grounds,as in marqueterie.
Immediately connected with inlaid cabinet-work is themanufacture of parqueterie, for floors; in this work thesame principle is carried out as in marqueterie, only on abolder scale: woods of different colours are cut to pattern,and inlaid one in the other, or so arranged as to producevery beautiful effects for floors. The specimens exhibitedof MM. Couvert and Lucas (404, p. 1163), and M.de Keyn, of Belgium (406. p. 1063), of MM. Leistlerand Sox, of Vienna (633, pp. 1039-40), and of Mr. Mil-ler, of Russia (299, p. 1376), show the perfection towhich this art lias been brought.
A very beautiful novelty at this Exhibition was theintroduction of porcelain inlaid in furniture like mar-queterie, by Messrs. Rivart and Andrieux (1439,p. 1245); in these examples, not only were panels ofporcelain inserted, but the painted flowers were cut toform, and inlaid like the ornamental woods. In thecabinet of Mr. Downiccix, of London (404, p. 760),porcelain of a very high class of art is mounted in thepanels and pilasters; and M. Gambs, of St. Petersburg (297, p. 1376), contributes a cabinet in tulip-wood,mounted in or-molu, containing beautiful panels in por-celain. M. A. E. Kinguf.t-Lkprince (1437, p. 1245)has introduced carvings of ivory, mounted with ormolu,on one of his cabinets, with excellent effect; and in hismost beautiful ebony cabinet for medals, relieved withexquisite carvings, fine stones are inlaid so as to formpart of its decoration. Many of the pieces of furnitureowe much of their attraction to the metal ornaments withwhich they are mounted; but the ebony cabinet ofM. Barbedienne (1709, p. 1258) combines, in the veryelement of its construction, bronze ornaments and figuresof a high class of art, so arranged as to form one unitedwhole.
Of carved furniture there are many magnificent exam-ples in the Exhibition. In the struggle to produce objectsthat might be specimens of the talents of the partiesemployed upon them, utility and purpose have in somedegree been forgotten, and works brought forward thatare objects of art rather than manufacture; still it is oneof the advantages of this result that it tends to improvethe art workman • it gives opportunity for the display ofhis skill; it causes a school of art to grow up and extenditself; and if it err by excess, it at any rate creates theability to do right. Of the carved furniture, the grandbuffet of M. Fourdinois, of Paris (1231, p. 1236), is ofthe highest merit; whether for its composition, thecarving of the more artistic portions, or its generalexecution, it is a noble work. The specimens byM. Lienard, of Paris (1326, p. 1239), though not large,are of great excellence, showing to what perfection andbeauty the art of sculpture in wood can be brought.A large frame in pear-tree wood, very beautifully carvedby M. Lechesne (573, p. 1205), affords another fine spe-cimen of this branch of art.
The grand collection of furniture by MM. Leistlerand Sox, of Vienna (633, pp. 1039,1040), exhibited in fourrooms, displays considerable fancy and excellent work-manship, though the ornament is far too redundant forordinary purposes.
The grand bookcase of Messrs. Holland, of London (161, p. 745), is another example of carved furniture of ahigh class, and the sideboard and bookcase of Messrs.
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