fifty lire, to earn another fifty lire for each succeeding third,
and then to give "forty-eight planks to the Lady," whatever that may
mean! Among the instruments mentioned are: "Two screw profiles: one
outliner: four one-handed little planes: rods for making cornices:
two large squares and one grafonetto: three chisels, one glued and
one all of iron: a pair of big pincers: two little axes: and a bench
to put the tarsia on." Pyrography has its birth in intarsia, where
singeing was sometimes employed as a shading in realistic designs.

In the Study of the Palace at Urbino, there is mention of "arm
chairs encircling a table all mosaicked with tarsia, and carved
by Maestro Giacomo of Florence," a worker of considerable repute.
One of the first to adopt the use of ivory, pearl, and silver for
inlay was Andrea Massari of Siena. In this same way inlay of
tortoise-shell and brass was made,--the two layers were sawed out
together, and then counterchanged so as to give the pattern in
each material upon the other. Cabinets are often treated in this
way. Ivory and sandal-wood or ebony, too, have been sometimes thus
combined. In Spain cabinets were often made of a sort of mosaic of
ebony and silver; in 1574 a Prohibtion was issued against using
silver in this way, since it was becoming scarce.

In De Luna's "Diologos Familiarea," a Spanish work of 1669, the
following conversation is given: "How much has your worship paid
for this cabinet? It is worth more than forty ducats. What wood
is it made of? The red is of mahogany, from Habaña, and the black
is made of ebony, and the white of ivory. You will find the
workmanship excellent." This proves that inlaid cabinets were
usual in Spain.