Small Ring Box

The inlay craft dates back to ancient Egyptians. The Inlay craft flourished by Jews, Christians and Muslims of Egypt during the Fatimid and Mamluk time and when the Ottomans invaded Egypt, they took by force 3000 best skilled labor to build Istanbul and hence, we lost amazing craftsmanship in the country and we had to teach Turkey, Iran, Syria and Palestine the secrets of our unique craftsmanship. The craftsmanship witnessed different ups and downs since then. Inlay covers a range of techniques for embedding pieces into depressions in a base object to form ornaments or pictures. A great range of materials can be used both for the base and for the inlays inserted into it including natural materials ranging from animal skin and bones to precious stones to different types of wood and different types of sea products such as mother of pearl. The most common form of inlay is that which uses wood as its base and there are many variants of it, including the one most popular in Europe: marqueterie. Artisans interested in learning the craft can be expected to undertake apprenticeships of no less than five years; it takes around 3 months to learn basics and can remain under the mentorship of a master craftsman for up to ten to fifteen years before completing works independently.