Louis Seize cabinet, various types of veneer inlaid and pietra dura.
Dutch around 1780
Pietra dura also pietre dure (Italian for "hard stone” or "hard stones") is a technique in which a stone is inlaid with stone fragments of other types of stone and with different colors. This operation produces very durable and colorfast decorations. The effect is similar to the marquetry who works with wood.
Small, very precisely cut and filed, plates of Stone are laid on a plate with grooves. The grooves correspond to ridges in the underside of the stone plates. This creates a puzzle, with the understanding that each piece has a color or nuance of a color. The whole is glued and held together firmly by the edge. The surface is sanded very finely flat but there are plates with relief known.
The most commonly used material is marble, which is mined in Italy itself in various colors. Other stones are imported from all over the world for use in the Pietro dura. The name Pietro dura is misleading insofar as not all stones are equally hard. They are selected primarily by color and surface. The commonly used red or orange coral is of course not stone.