ntury. (_In the South
Kensington Museum._)]

The enrichment of woodwork by means of inlaying deserves mention. In the
chapter on Ancient Furniture we have seen that ivory was used as an inlaid
ornament as early as six centuries before Christ, but its revival and
development in Europe probably commenced in Venice about the end of the
thirteenth century, in copies of geometrical designs, let into ebony and
brown walnut, and into a wood something like rosewood; parts of boxes and
chests of these materials are still in existence. Mr. Maskell tells us in
his Handbook on "Ivories," that probably owing to the difficulty of
procuring ivory in Italy, bone of fine quality was frequently used in its
place. All this class of work was known as "Tarsia," "Intarsia," or
"Certosina," a word supposed to be derived from the name of the well-known
religious community--the Carthusians--on account of the dexterity of those
monks at this work.[6] It is true that towards the end of the fourteenth
century, makers of ornamental furniture began to copy marble mosaic work,
by making similar patterns of different woods, and subsequently this
branch of industrial art developed from such modest beginnings as the
simple pattern of a star, or bandings in different kinds of wood in the
panel of a door, to elaborate picture-making, in which landscapes, views
of churches, houses and picturesque ruins were copied, figures and animals
being also introduced. This work was naturally facilitated and encouraged
by increasing commerce between different nations, which rendered available
a greater variety of woods. In some of the early Italian "intarsia" the
decoration was cut into the surface of the panel piece by piece. As
artists became more skilful, veneers were applied and the effect
heightened by burning with hot sand the parts requiring shading; and the
lines caused by the thickness of the sawcuts were filled in with black
wood or stained glue to give definition to the design.

[Illustration: A Sixteenth Century "Coffre-Fort."]

The "mounting" of articles of furniture with metal enrichments doubtless
originated in the iron corner pieces and hinge plates, which were used to
strengthen the old chests, of which mention has been already made, and as
artificers began to render their productions decorative as well as useful,
what more natural progress than that the iron corners, bandings, or
fastenings, should be of ornamental forged or engraved iron. In the
s