Turkey is a country that produces some really superb examples of applied marquetry. The wonderfully decorated urns and vases you see below are just such a case in point. The large urn on a stand, for example, is a real joy to behold. The workmanship is faultless, and the geometrical marquetry is truly pleasing to the eye.
Although marquetry is a technique separate from inlay, English marquetry-makers were called "inlayers" throughout the 18th century. In Paris, before 1789, makers of veneered or marquetry furniture (ébénistes) belonged to a separate guild from chair-makers and other furniture craftsmen working in solid wood (menuisiers).
Tiling patterning has been more highly developed in the Islamic world than anywhere else, and many extraordinary examples of inlay work have come from Middle Eastern countries such as Lebanon and Iran.
Marquetry, the art of inlaying veneers of woods or natural material onto a body of timber, is reputed to have been used since the Egyptian and Roman eras. It became popular in the 17th and 18th centuries when period Cabinet Makers used the technique to enhance the exquisite furniture created in the ‘golden age’ of Cabinet Making.
Turkey is a very historic country, and that history, the culture and the art work produced by generations of craftsmen and artists has ultimately contributed to the high quality of that wonderful marquetry work emanating from the warm and friendly country that is Turkey.
Marquetry (and parquetry too) 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"
Sand shading is a process used to make a picture appear to be more three-dimensional. A piece of veneer to be incorporated into a picture is partially submerged into hot sand for a few seconds. Another process is engraving fine lines into a picture and filling them with a mixture of India Ink and Shellac.
Filiz UZUN
Marquetry artist
Ministry of Culture of Turkey
Advisor to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Turkey