Intarsia

Fragment of an intrigued door from 1756 from the Church of the Holy Ghost in Torun

Intarsia - decorative technique consisting in creating an image by lining the surface of wooden objects (especially furniture) with other species of wood, sometimes tinted, stained or tan. The inserts are placed in place of the removed pieces from the surface of the object.

The technique already known in antiquity was developed during the Baroque and Renaissance periods. The oldest preserved object is the cedar sarcophagus from about 2000 p.n.e.

A special flowering of the intarsia took place in Toruń in the 18th century. Although this technique was present in Torun from the second half of the 16th century, however, from about 1730 it became the dominant decorative technique in Toruń artistic carpentry. It was decorated with all elements of the bourgeois interiors (eg: wardrobes, wall cabinets, clock cabinets, boxes, cassettes, wainscoting, doors) and representative - town hall, churches (eg portals, doors, wainscot). The furniture, which is characterized by its formal qualities, has been called Toruń furniture. The furniture produced in Torun has achieved high artistic value and gained great popularity.

Direct relations with Toruń furniture show a similar but less numerous 18th-century Elblag output. Nowadays, it is a dying technique and very few people are involved in the implementation of the intarsia. They create not only decorations for wooden furniture and elements of interior decoration, but also deal with the so-called. 'painting with wood'. Literature

wiki