19th Century Walnut Music Cabinet with Satinwood Inlay
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Music cabinet, late 19th century walnut single drawer over single glazed panel door decorative satinwood marquetry inlay brass rod gallery, height 93 cm, width 56 cm, depth 35 cm
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- 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
- Gallery - On furniture, a gallery is a small upright section, frequently pierced and decorated, around the tops of small items of furniture, such as davenports, side tables, and so forth. Galleries are made in brass or bronze,and be fretted, pierced or solid timber. A three-quarter gallery is one that surrounds three of the four sides of a table, desk or other top.
- 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. - 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.
- 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.
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