Brass Inlay
During the Regency period, finely worked brass inlay became an important form of decoration on luxury boxes. Influenced in part by contemporary French design, intricate pieces of brass were cut, fretted and filed into decorative patterns before being precisely set into the surrounding veneer. The process required considerable skill, as both the metalwork and the corresponding recess in the wood had to fit accurately.
Richly coloured woods such as mahogany, rosewood, kingwood and coromandel were particularly effective when combined with brass, their darker tones providing a strong contrast to the polished metal.
As Victorian tastes changed, extensive brass inlay became less common on many English boxes, although it continued to be used for decorative stringing, escutcheons, monograms and other personalised details.
