Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1895-08-19
THE INLAYERS OF HANOI.
Skiilfui Artists Mt Incrusting Ebony Wit
Mother of Pearl.


Hanoi, a city of French TonuNjn, saws
writer in the Journal des N,yages,
has fourishing industry in thepincrus-
tation of precious woods with mother of
pearl. The industry is so important
that a whole street, called the Street of
the lnlayerS, is given up to it, and con-
stitutes the sole curiosity of the city.
Strangers to the art pass hours in watch
ing the native worlImen. The latter are
genuine artists, masters of a delicate
handicraft demanding at once artistic
perception and high manual skill. Fur
niShed with rude tools, but with much
patience and skill, these workmen pro-
duce articles of great beauty, cleaning
with rainbow hueS. Here is a sheaf or
many colored flowers there are deli
cious arabesques, yonder is Il Landscape
glittering in the sun.
The workmen have applied the prin-
ciple of the division of labor to their art
There are the cabinetmakers, who put
together the different parts of the ma
terial to be incrusted. The process of
joining is done without the aid of nails,
and with a system of nice dOVetailing
and the use of a paste of which lacquer
il the base. The wood employed Is of
two distinct species of palisander, some
times called violet ebony, and by the
natives tiac, and a true ebony from the
forest of the Red river of Tonquin. This
latter, which the natives call noun, is
especially valued by reason of its close
grain and it's 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 cabinetmaker has prepared
the wood it passes into the hands of the
designer who makes sketches of the or
namentatiOn upon rice paper. Those de-
signs are transferred TO the wood by the
inlayer, whose duty 1t is to choose the
pearl that will best serve to bring out
the beauty of the design. The mother Of
pearl is obtained from species of large
shellfish called caSque, chiefly caught
upon the shores of the island OF Poulo-
Condar. The inlayer cuts the mother OF
pearl into bits four or five centimeters
in diameter, and chooes the combination
of colors that shall yield the contrasts
necessary for the artistic success of his
work. His art lies in the skill to ar
effect of iridescence. This he heightens
by the use of a sort of pearl dust fur
nished by a kind Of great mussel taken
from the brooks of the region. The play
of light upon these mussels gives the
whole gamut of the rainbow.
The bits of pearl chosen, the inlayer
strives to give them the form of the de-
sign and To dispose them as a veritable
mosaic in the wood. The crude morsel
is rendered translucent with pumice
stone. II is then fixed In a wise, and
the inlayers labor of patience begins.
Crouching upon his heels before the
wise, he shapes the piece with file
smaller than an ordinary colored cray
on. The pearl fashioned, ii is necessary
to trench the wood to receive ii. This
Is ordinarily done by children II or IL
years old. They follow the lines of the
design with burin and channel tinv
trenches of a milimeter in diameter.
The bits of pearl are then set i'm the
grooves and fixed with a lacquer paste.
The whole is gently heated to melt me
paste, and SO ill all interstices The in
layer then polishes his work varnjshes
it, and gives ii finishing touches with
the burin. The work is so beautiful
and 50 costly that 1t is much counter
ieited by cheaper methods, though never
with entire success.