Pietre Dura

Pietra dura is an inlay technique using highly polished cut and fitted stones to make images usually geometric or flower patterns.

The Italian use of the term embraces all hardstone (including gem) carving which also includes carving items from a single piece such as with Chinese jade. However, in English, the term has come to just mean multi-coloured inlay work.

A brilliant exponent of the technique was Giovanni Montelatici (1864-1930) an Italian Florentine artist whose work has been taken around the world by collectors and tourists. Owners of Giovanni’s work included Donald Trump.