Marquetry in a Weekend

Marquetry need not take weeks or even months to create and this fact alone discourages many from pursuing the craft. To illustrate the point to a group I gave a presentation to, I made a marquetry picture (see below) in a weekend. Taking a simple pattern with 20 individual pieces I cut them, and the border, in a few hours. The next morning the front, back and edges were pressed. By evening I was able to scrape and sand the picture. To finish it I applied 3 coats of spirit varnish.



All this was accomplished using materials and methods that have been around for centuries, but the important thing to remember is that this is not extremely hard. Being comfortable in the way you execute marquetry and trusting the medium are, I think, the most important. It helps to know the basics of the craft which can be self-taught or learned in a class. With a little knowledge many more people could be inspired to take up marquetry.

Cause Célébre and Marquetry

In the art world it has been established more than once that it is not what you have created, but who created it. And if that artist is of a character that has made them infamous, that is all the better. Is it possible that marquetry has a cause célébre?

Well, the answer is yes. Let me introduce you to Dr. Samuel Mudd, one of the conspirators, along with John Wilkes Booth, in the assassination of President Lincoln in 1865. He was sentenced to life imprisonment at Fort Jefferson, in the Dry Tortugas in 1867. Here he passed his time away making little boxes, decorating them with different varieties of wood found on the beach of Dry Tortugas.

The box shown below sold at auction in 2005 for $12,075. It measures 12" x 7.75" x 4.5" high. The name Bertha is inlaid into the top with black stained wood.
Dr. Mudd was pardoned in 1869 by President Andrew Johnson in part because of the doctor's humanitarian efforts in treating fellow prisioners during an epidemic of yellow fever at Fort Jefferson.