ho made
altars, pulpits, mass-desks, and other church furniture for their
monastery, ornamented with inlays, at the beginning of the 16th century,
and Hans Stengel, of Nuremberg, but none of the inlaid work of either
has come down to us. Two earlier pieces are figured by Hefner Alteneck,
the harp already referred to on p. 8, and a folding seat of brown wood
inlaid with ivory, stained yellow or light green, and black or dark
brown wood, in oriental patterns, both of the latter part of the 14th or
beginning of the 15th century. Two other names are mentioned as capable
craftsmen in Nuremberg, Wolf Weiskopf and Sebald Beck; the latter died
in 1546. The Augsburg work was much sought after, the "so-called
mosaic work of coloured woods." The designs for the panels were
generally made by painters, architectural and perspective subjects being
most common, but flower pieces, views of towns, and historical
compositions were also made. A German work thus characterises the later
16th century productions of this type--"A certain kind of intarsia
becomes common in the German panelling and architectural woodwork; also
in cabinets, vases, and arabesques, with tasteless ruins and
architectural subjects with arabesque growths clinging all over them, of
which examples may be seen in the museums at Vienna and Berlin, where
one may also see works in ebony with engraved ivory inlays, which are
generally more satisfactory. In German work, however, inlay was never of
so much importance as carving, and the Baroque influence almost
immediately affected the character of the design for the worse." At
Dresden and Munich there were several celebrated inlayers in the 17th
century, among whom may be named Hans Schieferstein, Hans Kellerthaler,
of Dresden, and Simon Winkler, N. Fischer, and his son Johann Georg, of
Munich, the last of whom, with his contemporary Adam Eck, practised
relief intarsia, of which the latter is said to have been the inventor.
It was known in the art trade as "Praeger arbeit," which was not a name
which accurately described its origin. Panellings of walls and doors
were often decorated with inlays, most frequently of arabesques, of
which the town halls of Luebeck and Danzig furnish fine examples. The
"Kriegsstube" at Luebeck was done by Antonius Evers, who in 1598-9 was
master of the joiners' guild, with his companions. The Rathsaal at
Lueneburg was made in 1566-78, and the name of Albert von Soest is
connected with it. Danzig,