Description

Pair of straw thread * inlays depicting coastal landscapes in an oval frame decorated with plant motifs, Northern Europe, 18th century.

Our reference: A03655

* The straw inlay seems to date from the 13th century, but experienced its greatest development in the 18th century. The straw inlay consisted of gluing straw segments of different colors to the surface of the wood. Stalks of wheat, barley or oats were used; both natural and dyed. Straw could also be shaded in the same way as plating. At first the stems necessary for the composition were selected, opened lengthwise with the nail and stretched with a hot iron. We proceeded to dye, with the different colors chosen, the quantity of threads necessary for the work. The inlay design was carried out on a sheet of paper, it was cut out with a knife, obtaining different sheets, like the tesserae of a mosaic, which needed the same type of straw and color. On them with starch glue the pieces of straw were glued, from the part of the inner surface which is the least bright, cut slightly abundantly. Everything was placed under the press and once dried, the overflowing straw was cut with precision, following the shape of the paper card. Once all the tiles were obtained, the inlay was reassembled by gluing them on the paper side and starting from the center towards the outside of the design. As with the wood inlay, maximum precision was required, especially since the straw was not originally painted or finished in any way, but left as it appeared after gluing. Even for the straw inlay, pre-packaged fillets were prepared as for the wooden one.

Source: card written by the antiquarian Pierdario Santoro for “L’Informatore Europeo”.

Height 36 cm, width. 54 cm – Height 33 cm, width. 51.5 cm