ctural forms in ebony projecting. It is Tyrolese work of the
beginning of the 17th century, and is a typical example. To the few
names of German intarsiatori may be added those of Isaac Kiening, of
Frissen, and Sixtus Loblein, of Landshut.
In the lower Rhine and in Holland tarsia was used for great and small
chests, sideboards and doors with rich gable crownings, with good
drawing of flowers, and sprigs of leaves with birds and beasts among
them, the ground being generally light. The doors ordered by the Swedish
Chamberlain, Axel Oxenstiern, now in the drinking-room of the King's
Castle of Ulriksdal, near Stockholm, are said by Von Falke to be the
finest examples extant of this kind of work, and to have been made in
the 17th century by a Dutch craftsman. The best period in Holland was
the second half of the 16th and the first half of the 17th century. In
the work of this period the handling is broad, and the composition often
a little over-full, but the many different woods which Dutch commerce
made available seduced the marqueteurs into too pictorial a treatment in
point of colour. Their reputation was so great that Colbert engaged two
Dutch marqueteurs, Pierre Gole and Vordt, for the Gobelins at the
beginning of the 17th century, and Jean Mace also learnt the craft by a
long stay in Holland. Here, as well as in France and Italy, rich chairs
were commonly decorated with marquetry, and in William and Mary's reign
such things became the fashion in England. The design employed tulips
and other flowers, foliage, birds, etc., all in gay colours; ivory and
mother-of-pearl were used occasionally for salient points, such as eyes.
Examples of the use and misuse of these materials may be seen in the
Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington.
[Illustration: Plate 43.--_Top of card table in the Drawing-room,
Roehampton House. Dutch, 18th Century._
_To face page 92._]
[Illustration: Plate 44.--_Panelling from Sizergh Castle, now in
Victoria and Albert Museum._]
Although not much work of importance is known in England which is
certainly the production of native craftsmen, a few notable examples may
be called to mind, such as the room from Sizergh Castle, now at South
Kensington, with inlays of holly and bog-oak, and the fine suite of
furniture at Hardwick Hall, made for Bess of Hardwick by English workmen
who had been to Italy for some years. Correspondence passed between her
and Sir John Thynne on the subject of the
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