Arts and crafts in the Middle Ages : $b a description of mediaeval workmanship in several of the departments of applied art, together with some account of special artisans in the early RenaissanceAddison, Julia de Wolf
History
Arts and crafts in the Middle Ages : $b a description of mediaeval workmanship in several of the departments of applied art, together with some account of special artisans in the early Renaissance
Addison, Julia de Wolf
Arts and crafts movement; Decoration and ornament, Medieval; Decorative arts -- History; Illumination of books and manuscripts
Of the work of Canozio, a worker of about the same time, Matteo
Colaccio in 1486, writes, "In visiting these intarsiad figures I
was so much taken with the exquisiteness of the work that I could
not withold myself from praising the author to heaven!" He refers
thus ecstatically to the Stalls at St. Antonio at Padua, which
were inlaid by Canozio, assisted by other masters. For his work
in the Church of St. Domenico in Reggio, the contract called for
some curious observances: he was bound by this to buy material
for fifty lire, to work one third of the whole undertaking for
fifty lire, to earn another fifty lire for each succeeding third,
and then to give "forty-eight planks to the Lady," whatever that may
mean! Among the instruments mentioned are: "Two screw profiles: one
outliner: four one-handed little planes: rods for making cornices:
two large squares and one grafonetto: three chisels, one glued and
one all of iron: a pair of big pincers: two little axes: and a bench
to put the tarsia on." Pyrography has its birth in intarsia, where
singeing was sometimes employed as a shading in realistic designs.
In the Study of the Palace at Urbino, there is mention of "arm
chairs encircling a table all mosaicked with tarsia, and carved
by Maestro Giacomo of Florence," a worker of considerable repute.
One of the first to adopt the use of ivory, pearl, and silver for
inlay was Andrea Massari of Siena. In this same way inlay of
tortoise-shell and brass was made,--the two layers were sawed out
together, and then counterchanged so as to give the pattern in
each material upon the other. Cabinets are often treated in this
way. Ivory and sandal-wood or ebony, too, have been sometimes thus
combined. In Spain cabinets were often made of a sort of mosaic of
ebony and silver; in 1574 a Prohibtion was issued against using
silver in this way, since it was becoming scarce.
In De Luna's "Diologos Familiarea," a Spanish work of 1669, the
following conversation is given: "How much has your worship paid
for this cabinet? It is worth more than forty ducats. What wood
is it made of? The red is of mahogany, from Habana, and the black
is made of ebony, and the white of ivory. You will find the
workmanship excellent." This proves that inlaid cabinets were
usual in Spain.
Ebony being expensive, it was sometimes simulated with stain. An
old fifteenth century recipe says: "Take boxwood and lay in oil
with sulphur for a night, then let it stew for an hour, and it
will become as black as coal." An old Italian book enjoins the
polishing of this imitation ebony as follows: "Is the wood to be
polished with burnt pumice stone? Rub the work carefully with canvas
and this powder, and then wash the piece with Dutch lime water so
that it may be more beautifully polished... then the rind of a
pomegranate must be steeped, and the wood smeared over with it,
and set to dry, but in the shade."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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