• Decorating furniture with a veneer picture, scene or pattern made of wood, metal and precious or exotic materials is known as marquetry, developed in the 16th century. Materials can include bone, wood, mother of pearl, brass, pewter or whatever strikes the imagination of the artist. Marquetry projects are often used to decorate a home or office. Projects using marquetry techniques require skill and the dedication to the time it takes to complete such a project.
  
  

Pictures

• A popular project for marquetry artists is a picture to be hung or displayed vertically on a wall or shelf. Different from parquetry, which uses a similar technique to create a repetitive pattern of geometric shapes, marquetry pictures reproduce something specific. Depictions include something found in nature: a pattern, flowers, tree, animal or landscape. Scenes can also be of a map, a person or a home, ship or automobile, according to the American Marquetry Society. Skilled marquetry craftsmen reproduce photographs of a person. Marquetry can be used to decorate a picture's wooden frame as well.
  
  

Boxes

• Embellish favored wooden boxes using marquetry techniques. It is particularly appropriate for a jewelry box, a humidor, a stationary box, a box to hold card games or poker chips, or something in which precious or important mementos are kept or concealed. Boxes are typically adorned with a smaller, simpler design such as a flower, or a favorite item or token, rather than a picture of a person. It could be a picture indicating what is housed inside the box. The Marquetry Society indicates that the inside of the boxes could also be part of the marquetry project.
  
  

Furniture

• Use marquetry techniques on furniture, such as tables, ottomans, desks, dressers, nightstands, serving trays, even kitchen or bathroom cabinets and other items usually constructed of wood. Position the picture or scene on the top, the legs or the face of the object being decorated.
  
  

Bowls

• Skilled marquetry artisans produce pictures on the curved surface of a bowl, either the outside or the inside.
  
  

Floors

• Skilled artisans often create intricate pictures for floors, although designs usually involve parquetry's repetitive designs, rather than a picture. However, many custom marquetry floors incorporate a picture surrounded by a geometric pattern. The technique could be used with material other than wood, such as tile, stone or slate.