INLAYING is the art of decorating flat surfaces by the insertion of similar or differ ent materials; thus, wood of one color is decorated by inlaying with others of different colors: to this kind of inlaying the French term marqueterie is now generally applied. Metal of one kind is inlaid with oilier kinds, and often very beautiful effects are pro duced. When steel is inlaid with gold or brass, it is usually called Damascene work. One variety produced in.India is called Kuft-gori—in this, the inlaid metal, usually gold, occupies more of the surface than the metal forming the ground. Another beau. tau] variety of Indian inlaying is called Tutenague or Bedery-work, which consists in making the article to be inlaid, most frequently a hookah bowl, of an alloy consisting of copper one part to peWter four parts. This is hard, but is easily cut; the pattern is then engraved, and little pieces of thin silver cut to the desired forms are dexterously ham mered into the spaces thus cut out to receive them, Ivory, ,pearl, shell, bone, tortoise shell, are favorite substances for inlaying wood; and stone or marble is inlaid with an immense variety of colored stones. In the art of stone-inlaying, the Florentines have long held the palm; their favorite work is black marble, with inlaid figures of brilliant colored stones; this work is called pietra darn, or Florentine work. Very beautiful
work of this kind, excelling the Florentine, is now made in the imperial works at St. Petersburg, where the art has of late been sedulously cultivated by the Russian govern. ment. This art was always a favorite one iu Delhi and Agra, where some of the most exquisite work is still produced. Usually, in the Indian work,, white marble forms the ground-work, and the figures are formed of carnelian, jasper, agate, jade, lapis-lazuli, and other costly hard stones. No stone-inlaying has ever rivaled the inlaid marble walls of the celebrated Tilj Mahal, the tomb of the sultana of shah Jelian, at Agra. The designs are very artistic, the execution almost marvelous, and the harmony of color produced by the different stones employed is most beautiful. Many other materials than those mentioned are used for inlaying; and there is a style of inlaid-wo•k in which small squares of colored stone, glass, or pottery are made to form pictorial and artistic decor ations; this is called mosaic-work (q.v.).