Simviation Forums

Anybody know anything about Marquetry woodworking? A buddy sent these to me wanting to know where they are from and if they were old. Beats me, but they are intricate as all get out and who ever made them is far more patient and talented than I could every hope to be.

All he knew was they were at least 30 years old and were given to his mother by of all people a former Ringling Brothers Clown in Florida years ago. If this is the case, they could be from literally any where.

Compression really killed these pictures....sorry.

Any constructive opinions would be greatly appreciated!





I have no earthly idea if this is the right forum for this or not, so sorry mods if I booboo'ed..... :-/

Not an expert but:

They don't look very old. They're not very intricate, which indicates they are probably fairly recent. Without any markings on them, it'd be hard to learn anything about their real value... any marks? On the back, maybe?


Offhand, I'd guess they were made in Europe, but like i said, i'm no expert.

They are nicely done, at any rate... i like the 2nd one.

Apparently they are made from different types of wood hand cut by either a carving knife or scroll saw and fit together like a puzzle. The backs are totally seamless, solid. All you see is layered on top.

Believe me, if you could see the uncompressed pictures and the full sized ones, you'd see how intricate they really are.

http://www.americanmarquetrysociety.com/index.html

Worthless, as with the coins, post them to me & I will bin them for you.

TSC.

Worthless, as with the coins, post them to me & I will bin them for you.

TSC.

WTF are you talking about.... :-/

They're not mine, I'm just trying to help a friend find out about them....

Unfortunately I too am no expert, however I had to post and say that I like the second one as well

Worthless, as with the coins, post them to me & I will bin them for you.

TSC.

WTF are you talking about.... :-/

There not mine, I'm just trying to help a friend find out about them....

I think he wants you to mail them to him so he can sell them and pocket the money... I mean save you the trouble of throwing them out yourself.

There are plans for those in the Rockler woodworking catalog as well as many other craft suppliers. Some can be bought in pre-cut kits. The reason the back of the piece is solid is because the pattern is made from veneers. Many furniture makers of the past used marquetry in their top-end pieces.  
 My dad keeps badgering me to do some of those as well as 3-D relief cuts. I've seen some custom marquetry pieces that would blow your mind.

Unfortunately I too am no expert, however I had to post and say that I like the second one as well

I'm not sure, but I think I've seen this scene in pictures of Bavaria.... :-/



It looks so familar to me. Possibly a castle set on the Rhine River?

It looks so familar to me. Possibly a castle set on the Rhine River?

Thats what i thought of.

I was thinking Mediterranean but yeah, same idea...European waterside...

Worthless, as with the coins, post them to me & I will bin them for you.

TSC.

WTF are you talking about.... :-/

There not mine, I'm just trying to help a friend find out about them....

I think he wants you to mail them to him so he can sell them and pocket the money... I mean save you the trouble of throwing them out yourself.

Ravang's got the idea, it's a new service I'm providing for people who have antiques, but no idea of their value old crap gathering dust.

[smiley=thumbsup.gif]

TSC.

I sent the pictures to the web master of the website I listed and he said the following-

These are indeed marquetry pictures. They are not "inlayed", but rather "overlayed".
Marquetry pictures are made from pieces of thin wood veneer, cut into the required shapes and then arranged to form a picture or pattern, like a very thin jigsaw, then the whole thing is glued down to a backing board (substrate) to make a hang-able picture. Sometimes, marquetry is applied to furniture (panels on doors and drawers for instance).

These two pictures look like they may be 50 years old or so. Not antique by any means. A lot of this type of picture were made in the early to middle of the last century. IMO, the quality of the workmanship in your two pictures is only average although the veneer selection is quite good. They look more like the work of a learner to me. The gaps between the veneers are quite large in some places (some of this may be due to wood shrinkage over time, but not all of it - as a qualifier, in my collection of marquetry, I have some high quality signed Buschmind and Greteaux pictures that are older than these where the joints are still absolutely perfect). Also, the detail really isn't as good as you might think (sorry!). These are, IMO, fairly simple pictures, maybe done from a pattern book or even possibly from kits that would have included the pattern, woods, simple tools, etc. (and might explain why the veneer selection is good, but the execution isn't).

Since they're not signed in any way that I can see (I did scour the photographs for evidence of a "hidden" signature, but couldn't find any), that would kind of support my hypothesis that they are the work of a learner or hobbyist kit maker. It's just possible they could be factory turned-out pieces made for the tourism trade (most of those were/still are never signed), but the workmanship in tourist pieces is usually much better than this, so I would rule that out.

You didn't say how big they are. I'd guess, from the grain and pores in the wood, they are about 8" x 10" or a little smaller, right?

As for value, I'd have to say that if you like them, hang them up in your house and enjoy them! They're not worth much at all, sorry.
You'd probably be able to get about $30 to $40 each for them on eBay at the most - folk art value only!! Type the word "Marquetry" into the eBay search engine and you'll see about 3 pages or so of stuff that will give you a good idea what the going value is for something like this.

Of course, my advice is worth exactly what you paid for it, that is, nothing! I've a relative newcomer to the world of marquetry. We have some much older and wiser/seasoned marquetarians in our group that more than likely know a lot more about these pictures than I. I'm forwarding my reply to several other AMS officers. If any of them have any other input, or would like to take issue with my analysis, then we'll hear from them, for sure! Have at it gents!!


I forwarded the e-mail to my buddy. I'm afraid he'll not be retiring on the sale of them.....lol.

My mum used to do this. Made some lovely tops for kiddies toy boxes at her house!
These tend not to be terribly valuable as they don't normally last to antique ages as the glue fails. They're just very pretty.
The scene one reminds me of a castle in Croatia on a lake surrounded by mountains. Can't remember the name of the place.... I'll rack my braincell.

I knew that scene looked familiar-



Chateau de Chillon located on the shore of Lake Geneva near Montreux, Switzerland.

I received this e-mail from one of the experts in Marquetry-

[b][i]I see two similar patterns in the societies pattern catalog. One is large and titled Chateau. The second is smaller and has a boat on the lake and the title is Chillon Castle. Your picture is a variation on these patterns and possibly others. These patterns originated in England. I can