he _palazzo_,
and at Gubbio the modest _casa_. Nevertheless, at this last place the
intarsias were of almost as great importance, though now the palace is
ruinous and the intarsias dispersed, some of them being at South
Kensington. Dennistoun quotes descriptions from Sig. Luigi Bonfatti and
Mr. F. C. Brooke, which are worth reproducing, as showing the care some
times expended on the decoration of quite small apartments. This study,
which was commissioned by Duke Guidobaldo, is only 13 by 6-1/2 feet in
plan, though it is 19 feet high. The inlaid work only went half-way up,
as at Urbino, the upper part of the walls having been covered with
tapestries. The tarsie showed "emblematic representations of music,
literature, physical science, geography, and war; bookcases, or rather
cupboards, with their contents, among which were a ship, a tambourine,
military weapons, a cage with a parrot in it, and as if for the sake of
variety only, a few volumes of books, over one of which, containing
music, with the word 'Rosabella' inscribed on its pages, was suspended
a crucifix. On the central case opposite the window, and occupying as it
were the place of honour, was the garter, with its motto, 'Honi soit q.
mal i pense,' a device which was sculptured on the exterior of the stone
architrave of the door of this apartment. It appeared again in tarsia in
the recess of the window, where might also be seen, within circles, 'G.
Ubaldo Dx. and Fe Dux.' Amongst the devices was the crane standing on
one leg, and holding, with the foot of the other, which is raised, the
stone he is to drop as a signal of alarm to his companions. Among other
feigned contents of a bookcase were an hour-glass, guitar, and pair of
compasses; in another were seen a dagger, dried fruits in a small basket
made of thin wood, and a tankard, while in a third was represented an
open book surmounted with the name of Guidobaldo, who probably made the
selection inscribed on the two pages of the volume, comprising verses
457-491 of the tenth AEneid." On the cornice was an inscription. It was
thought to be the work of Antonio Mastei of Gubbio, a famous artist in
wood, who executed the choir of S. Fortunato at Todi, and who is known
to have been much in favour with Dukes Guidobaldo and Francesco Maria
I., the latter of whom gave him an exemption from imposts.

In the 17th century tarsia was more used for domestic furniture than
for stationary decoration. The character of the desi