English Arts and Crafts Inlaid Screen

• Birch - Birch is a Northern Hemisphere hardwood, closely related to the beech/oak family, and was a timber popular with 18th century craftsmen. Because of the blonde-golden colour of the grain when polished and its close grain, as a veneer it is often used as a substitute for satinwood where cost savings are required. From the late 18th century cabinetmakers in Russia and Eastern Europe used it in the solid for chairs and other furniture.
  
  Karelian birch is birch with a burr grain that resembles marble, from the Karelia region between Finland and Russia. Because only 30% to 40% of seeds result in trees with Karelian birch features, and the fact that it is very slow growing, the timber is very expensive.
• Satinwood - Satinwood is a dense pale gold coloured timber that was imported into Britain in the second half of the 18th century, and early 19th centuries from the East Indies and the West Indies. The name derives from the satin-like surface sheen when the timber is polished.
  
  It was used in the solid, as a veneer and in inlays. As well as furniture, satinwood was used for making musical instruments, barometers, boxes and clocks.
  
  It will usually be found on only the very best quality objects, presumably because of of its cost at the time.
• Art and Crafts Movement - The Arts and Crafts movement began in Britain around 1880 and quickly spread across America and Europe. The Movement took its name from the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, founded in London 1887. One of the most influential figures behind the Arts and Crafts movements was the designer and writer William Morris. The movement continued until about 1920 and was followed by the Art Deco movement.
• Circa - A Latin term meaning 'about', often used in the antique trade to give an approximate date for the piece, usually considered to be five years on either side of the circa year. Thus, circa 1900 means the piece was made about 1900, probably between 1895 and 1905. The expression is sometimes abbreviated to c.1900.
• Inlay - Decorative patterns inserted into the main body of a piece of furniture, generally in wood of contrasting colour and grain, though brass, ivory, ebony, shell and sometimes horn have been used. Inlay may consist of a panel of well figured timber inset into a cabinet door front, geometric patterns, or complex and stylized designs of flowers, swags of foliage, fruits and other motifs. As a general rule, in pieces where the carcase is constructed in the solid, the inlay is relatively simple such as stringing, cross banding and herringbone banding. Where more elaborate and decorative work was required veneer was used. Inlay has been fashionable from at least the latter half of the 17th century, when a variety of elaborate forms were developed
• Parquetry - Parquetry is inlay laid in geometric patterns, the contrast being achieved by the opposing angles of the grain and veneers. The herringbone pattern is the most commonly used in flooring, but this is almost never seen in furniture - the patterns used are more complex and unlike flooring, can include several different varieties of timber.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• furniture, period or style - Tudor style 25
• screens - folding, English and Australian 103