Evening star., 1895-11-01
ARTISTIC WORKMANSHIP.
IncruxtntiOn of Precious Woods With
MOther-Of-Pearl In Hanoi.

MOther-of-Pearl In Hanoi.
Hanoi, a city of French Tonquin, says a
writer in the Journal des Voyages. has
fourishirg industry in the incrustation OF
pre- cious woods with mother-of-pearl. The
Industry is so important that whole street,
called the street of the 1nlayers, Is given up
to it, and constitutes the sole curiosity OF
the city. Strangers to the art pass hours
in watching the native workmen. The lat
ter are genuine artists. masters Of a DELI
cate handicraft demanding artistic percepe
ton and high manual skill. Furnished with
rude tools. but with much patience anu
skill these workmen produce articles OF
great beauty. cleaning with rainbow hues.
Here is a sheaf of many-colored flowers,
there are delicious arabesques, yonder is
landscape glittering in the sun.
The Division of Labor.
The workmen have applied the principle
of the division of labor to their art. There
are the cabinet-makers, who put together
the different parts of the material to be in
crusted. The process of joining Is done
without the aid of nails, and with system
of nice dovetailing and the use of paste Of
which lacquer is the base. The wood en-
ployed is of two distinct species of pals
arder, sometimes callet violet ebony, and
by the natives tiac, and a true
ebony from the forests Of the Red
river of Tonquin. This latter. which the
natives call noun. is especially valued by
reason of the close grain and its deep black,
which brings out the shifting glories of the
mother-of-pearl. Objects of incrusted
ebony are more costly than those OF violet
ebony.
When the cabinet-maker has prepared the
wood it passes into the hands of the de-
s:gner, who makes sketches of the orna-
mentation upon rice paper. These designs
are transferred to the wood by the inlayer.
y1yhn dlIfv G n
will best serve to bring out the beauty of
the design. The mother-of-pearl Is obtained
from a species of large shellfish. called
casque. chiefly caught upon the shores OF
the island of Poulo-Condar. The inlayers
cut the mother-of-pearl into bits four or
five centimeters in diameter, and choose
the combination Of colors that shall yield
the contrasts necessary for the artistic sue
cess of the work. His art lies in the skill
| to arrange the pieces so as to obtain the
best effects Of iridescence This he height
ems by the use of a sort of pearl dust fur
nished by sort of great mussel taken
| from the brooks Of the region. The play of
| light upon these mussels gives the whole
gamut Of the rainbow.
Making Mosaic Designs.
The bits of pearl chosen, the inlayer
| strives to give them the form of the design
| and to dispose them as veritable mosaic in
| the wood. The crude morsel is rendered
| translucent with pumice stone 1t is then
! fixed in a wise, and the inlayer's labor of
patience begins. Crouching upon his heels
before the wise. he shapes the piece with a
| file smaller than an ordinary colored cray
| on. The pearl fashioned, 1t is necessary to
| trench the wood to receive it. This is Or
| dinarily done by children from fourteen to
| fifteen years old. They follow the lines OF
the design with burin and channel tiny
| trenches of millimeter in diameter. The
| bits of pearl are then set in the grooves
and fixed with a lacquer paste. The whole
is gently heated to melt the paste. and Sc
| fill all the interstices. The inlayer then pol
ishes his work, varnishes it, and gives II
| finishing touches with the burin The work
| is SO beautiful and so costly that 1t is much
| counterfeited by cheaper methods, though
| never with entire success.