The Wonder of Wood: Decorative Inlay and Marquetry in Europe and America, 1600–1900
A Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library and Philadelphia Museum of Art Conference
April 26–28, 2022
The Wonder of Wood is a unique collaborative conference that will explore the history and artistry of inlay and marquetry within America and Europe. In both techniques, artisans apply small pieces of different species of wood to create pictures or patterns on furniture. The basic concept has a long and illustrious past. “The woodworker’s desire to decorate wooden objects,” noted a famed marqueter, “is as old as man’s desire to work with wood.” Inlay and marquetry traditions existed in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, were revived during the Renaissance (as seen in the glorious Gubbio studiolo at the Metropolitan Museum of Art), and have flourished ever since. Over the centuries, the complexity of the ornament has varied enormously, from simple bands of light and dark stringing to outline the drawers of a plain desk of the 1790s to breathtaking trompe l’oeil imagery on Dutch and French cabinets a century earlier. By focusing on the years from 1600 to 1900, The Wonder of Wood will consider an especially rich period in European and American furniture history during which craftsmen produced many of the grandest inlaid objects ever made.
This conference brings together 24 exceptional scholars—a creative mix of curators, academics, conservators, artists, and craftsmen drawn from museums and private practice in America and abroad—resulting in an unparalleled roster of conference speakers, including two of the globe’s finest marqueters, Silas Kopf and Yannick Chastang. Never before has such a talented team come together in the United States to share their collective expertise on this topic with the public.
A comprehensive, beautifully illustrated volume, edited by Brock Jobe, Professor Emeritus at Winterthur; Alexandra Kirtley, the Montgomery-Garvan Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and Steve Latta, craftsman, teacher, and historian of decorative inlay, will provide the lasting record of this ground-breaking conference.
$375; $300 for members of Winterthur or the PMA; $250 Access to Asynchronous Virtual Conference Content; $200 Access to Asynchronous Virtual Conference Content for members of Winterthur or the PMA; $225 for nonprofit employees. Scholarships are available.
All presentations will be recorded and made available two weeks after the conference for access by conference registrants for one month.
Space is limited. Register by April 19 to attend in person!
Please follow each institution’s Covid-19 guidelines. Please check their websites for the latest information:
Winterthur reserves the right to cancel the conference. Should Winterthur cancel, participants will be issued a full refund. Furniture Up Close participants who cancel by April 6, regardless of reason, will be issued a full refund minus a $50 handling fee. No refunds will be issued after April 6.
Hands-on Inlay Workshop, April 29 and 30
The conference will be followed by a two-day, hands-on workshop that will take place in the Furniture Conservation Lab at Winterthur and will be taught by Steve Latta. Due to space and equipment constraints, the workshop will be limited to six participants. This workshop is supported by the Wooden Artifacts Group (WAG) of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC). Preference will be given to applicants who attend the Marquetry and Inlay Conference or to those who are currently working in the field of furniture conservation or are interested in pursuing a career in furniture conservation and would like to enhance their woodworking skills to that end. The workshop will allow participants to work with materials, tools, and techniques demonstrated in the conference and produce a finished sample incorporating inlay methods. Materials and tools will be provided.
See the event program for presentation and workshop descriptions.
Schedule of Events
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Winterthur Museum, Copeland Lecture Hall
| 8:00–8:45 am | Coffee and registration | |
| 8:45–9:30 am |
Welcome and introduction |
|
| 9:30–10:30 am |
Boullework |
|
| 10:30–11:00 am | Break | |
| 11:00–11:45 am |
The Challenges of Identifying Woods Used in Marquetry and Inlay: Past, Present, and Future |
|
| 11:45 am–12:20 pm |
Made with a Knife, Not with a Brush |
|
| 12:20–1:30 pm | Lunch | |
| 1:30–2:40 pm |
European Marquetry in the Second Half of the 18th Century |
|
| 2:40–3:10 pm |
Taracea de las Américas: Inlay and Marquetry Traditions in Colonial Latin America, |
|
| 3:10–3:40 pm |
Two Cupboards by Herman Doomer– the Origins of Dutch Floral Marquetry |
|
| 3:40–4:10 pm | Break | |
| 4:10–4:40 pm |
The Marquetry of Gerrit Jensen |
|
| 4:40–5:10 pm |
Drawings for Parisian Marquetry of the Mid–Eighteenth Century |
|
| 5:10–5:45 pm |
Inlaid Lutes and Sand–Shaded Flutes: Marquetry Harpsichords from the Workshop of Jacob Kirkman |
|
| 5:45–6:00 pm | Announcements and concluding remarks | |
| 6:00–7:30 pm | Happy hour and displays of work by active marqueters and inlay specialists in the Visitor Center |
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Philadelphia Museum of Art
| 8:00–8:30 am |
Gather at the Winterthur Visitor Center for coffee; buses board at 8:30 am |
|
| 8:30–9:30 am | Bus trip to Philadelphia Museum of Art | |
| 9:30–10:00 am |
Welcome in the Skylight Atrium, Perelman Building |
(Divide into two groups: Group A to attend lectures before lunch; Group B to attend lectures after lunch)
Group A
| 10:00–10:30 am |
“A Beautiful Kind of Mosaic Work”: Inlaid Marquetry on Early Pennsylvania Tables |
|
| 10:30–11:00 am |
Recent Discoveries on 18th-Century Marquetry Furniture at Hillwood |
|
| 11:00–11:30 am |
Observations on the Furniture Attributed to Jean–Henri Riesener |
|
| 11:30 am–12:00 pm | Break | |
| 12:00–12:30 pm |
Turnbull’s Diversity: Marquetry in a Post–Slavery Workshop |
|
| 12:30–1:00 pm |
The Marquetry Work of Art Furniture Makers, Collinson and Lock, London |
|
| 1:00–4:15 pm | Lunch and self–guided tours of American and European galleries, with special focus on inlaid and marquetry objects |
Group B
| 10:00 am–1:00 pm |
Self–guided tours of American and European galleries, with special focus on inlaid and marquetry objects, and lunch |
|
| 1:00–1:15 pm |
Walk from the main building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the auditorium of the Perelman Building |
|
| 1:15–1:45 pm |
‘A Beautiful Kind of Mosaic Work’: Inlaid Marquetry on Early Pennsylvania Tables |
|
| 1:45–2:15 pm |
Recent Discoveries on 18th-Century Marquetry Furniture at Hillwood |
|
| 2:15–2:45 pm |
Observations on the Furniture Attributed to Jean–Henri Riesener |
|
| 2:45– 3:15 pm | Break | |
| 3:15–3:45 pm |
Turnbull’s Diversity: Marquetry in a Post–Slavery Workshop |
|
| 3:45–4:15 pm |
The Marquetry Work of Art Furniture Makers, Collinson and Lock, London |
Groups A and B
| 4:30–5:45 pm | Board buses and return to Winterthur | |
| 6:00–8:00 pm |
Reception at Winterthur; displays of work by active marqueters and inlay specialists in the Visitor Center. |
Thursday, April 28, 2022
Winterthur Museum, Copeland Lecture Hall
| 8:00–8:45 am |
Coffee |
|
| 8:45–8:55 am |
Announcements |
|
| 8:55–9:25 am |
German Inlay and German Influences on Inlaid Furniture from Charleston, South Carolina |
|
| 9:25–10:40 am |
Demystifying the ‘Art and Mystery’ of Inlay: Surface Ornamentation during the Federal Period |
|
| 10:40–11:10 am |
Break |
|
| 11:10–11:40 am |
Flowers, Fans, Shells, and Eagles: Creating an Online Dictionary of American Inlay |
|
| 11:40 am–12:10 pm |
Rife with Inlay: The Banding and Pictorial Inlay of One Virginia Cabinetmaker |
|
| 12:10–1:15 pm | Lunch | |
| 1:15–2:30 pm |
Historic Objects and Techniques and Their Influence on a Contemporary Marquetry Artist |
|
| 2:30–3:00 pm |
The Inlaid Furniture of the Upper Ohio River Valley, 1790–1830 |
|
| 3:00–3:30 pm |
Decorative Inlay in Kentucky |
|
| 3:30–4:00 pm |
Break |
|
| 4:00–4:30 pm |
Marquetry and Inlay in New York Furniture of America’s Gilded Age |
|
| 4:30–5:00 pm |
The Marquetry of George A. Schastey and Co. (1873–1897) |
|
| 5:00–5:10 pm | Concluding remarks | |
| 6:00–9:00 pm | Preview party, The Philadelphia Show (optional). Participants are responsible for their own admission and for transportation to and from The Philadelphia Show. |