French Marquetry Poudreuse with Inlaid Trophy Motif

• 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
• Boxwood - Boxwood is a hard, yellow coloured, close grained timber. In the 19th century it was often used for inlays, especially stringing, because of its contrasting colour to the darker timbers of the carcase. Stringing is the inlay of a narrow strip of veneer of a lighter colour, such as boxwood along or close to the edges of an object that has been veneered in a darker timber such as mahogany.
  
  Because of its fine grain and resistnce to splitting or chipping it has also been used for treen, turnings, carvings and other small wooden items, such as chess pieces.
• Fluting - A form of decoration found on many pieces of furniture, as well as ceramics, silver and clocks, in which round-bottomed grooves, of varying width and depth, are let into columns, pilasters, legs. As a general rule, flutes are cut in the vertical, though they may follow a turned leg in a spiral pattern. In cross-section, they may be described as a series of 'U' shapes, rising and narrowing at each end of the groove. Fluting is the opposite of reeding, with which fluting is often associated.
• Ebonised - Timber that has been stained or lacquered black in imitation of ebony. The process has been used since the Renaissance, but is most commonly found in late 19th century furniture, sometimes gilded and turned in imitation of bamboo. Furniture with an ebonised finish is not currently in vogue, and this is reflected in the price for such pieces.
• Marquetry - In marquetry inlay, contrasting woods, and other materials such as ivory, shell and metal are inlaid either as panels or in a single continuous sheet over the surface of the piece. The design may be straightforward, such as a shell pattern or a basket of flowers, or it may be infinitely complex, with swirling tendrils of leaves, flowers and foliage, such as one finds, for example, in the "seaweed" patterns on longcase clocks of the William and Mary and Queen Anne periods.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• dressing tables, period or age
  • French 69
  • Victorian 128
• poudreuse (ladies dressing table) 28