Buhl or Boule Work, the name applied to a sort of inlaying of brass scrolls and other ornamental patterns in wood. The name is derived from its inventor, Charles André Boule (1642–1732), an Italian cabinetmaker in the service of Louis XIV. He employed veneers of dark-coloured tortoise-shell, inlaid with brass. Cabinets of his manufacture are highly prized, as are also those of his contemporary Reisner, a German, who used a ground of tulip-wood, inlaid with flowers, &c. in darker woods, and varied with margins and bands of light wood, with the grain crossed for contrast. This modification of buhl-work is correctly called
Reisner work. For details of the methods of working, see INLAYING, and MOSAIC; also MARQUETRY.