Inlay
Decoration made by setting pieces of one material into recesses cut in another, so the design lies flush with the surface.
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About
Inlay fits contrasting materials into a base so the design sits level with the surface. Wood, stone, metal, shell, bone and ivory have all been used. In marquetry and its Italian cousin intarsia, pieces of different woods are cut and fitted into pictures or patterns; the study of Federico da Montefeltro in the ducal palace at Urbino, from the 1470s, is lined with wooden inlay that creates convincing illusions of cupboards and open doors.
Stone inlay reached great refinement in Florentine pietre dure and in the marble of the Taj Mahal, set with carnelian, lapis lazuli and jade. Islamic metalworkers hammered silver and gold into brass, and Japanese lacquerers perfected raden, inlay of mother-of-pearl. André-Charles Boulle gave his name to French furniture veneered in tortoiseshell and brass around 1700, and Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann set ivory into rare woods in the 1920s. Look for tight joins and a perfectly flush surface.
