Rosewood

Rosewood is the name applied to a number of dense tropical hardwoods, many belonging to the genus Dalbergia, valued for their rich reddish-brown colour and distinctive dark figuring. The appearance can vary considerably between species and individual trees, from relatively straight-grained timber to strongly figured wood with dark brown or almost black streaks. Rosewoods used in nineteenth-century cabinetmaking were sourced principally from Brazil, India and parts of Southeast Asia.

Rosewood is dense, hard and often difficult to work, quickly blunting cutting tools. Its rich colour and pronounced grain made it particularly suited to decorative cabinetmaking and veneer, and it became one of the characteristic woods used for fine boxes during the nineteenth century.

Brazilian rosewood, Dalbergia nigra, was particularly prized for its rich colour and often dramatic figure. David and Thomas Edwards made extensive use of rosewood, employing particularly attractive veneers on some of their finest boxes.