The "Marquetry At It's Finest!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just parked my car along East Main Street in the town of Lititz and found my way into the 1792 Johannes Mueller House.  

Johannes Mueller House in Lititz, Pennsylvania

Neat wooden house that is home to the Lititz Historical Foundation.  After entering the house I began my search for a marquetry clock that was made by craftsman Rudolf S. Carpenter of Lititz, Pennsylvania.  Didn't take me long to locate the beautiful clock, but it didn't look the same as the clock that was recently featured in the local LNP Newspaper a few days ago.  About the same time I began to take a closer look at the clock and prepare to take a few photos of it, I was greeted by a woman who introduced herself as Ann Bowden.  She told me she could help me if I had any questions about the clock I was examining.  In a minute or so I found out that it was a cousin to her Grandfather who had made the clock which had over 32,000 inlaid pieces in it.  I introduced myself and told her I saw a photograph of the clock in the local newspaper and wanted to see it in person since I had taught wood shop at nearby Manheim Township High School years ago.  

Inlaid artistry featuring 32,000 pieces of wood.

For the next 15 minutes or so we had a very interesting conversation about the clock we were viewing which turned out to be a different clock than the one shown in the newspaper.  That particular clock was larger and more impressive and was in the next room.  The second clock was much larger and more impressive and had over 50,000 inlaid pieces in it.  Both clocks were made by Rudolf S. Carpenter of Lititz in the early 1900s using marquetry techniques which is using small pieces of variously colored wood to depict the image you are creating.  

Ann shows me the larger clock that has 50,000 pieces of wood.

Both incorporated about 20 different types of wood including walnut, pine, holly, ebony, cherry, maple, rose and mahogany.  The intricate detail and mosaics on both clocks was impressive.  How he managed to create the minute detail on the clocks was a mystery to me.  I taught woodworking and I just can't imagine how anyone could produce masterpieces such as these two clocks with the tools that were available over 100 years ago.  The inlaid designs and pictorials reminded me of famous artists of the past, but these were done with pieces of wood and not oils or pastels.  Mr. Carpenter was not only an accomplished woodworker, but a fabulous artist.  I am over six feet tall and both clocks stood at least a foot above me.  The domestic scenes depicted on both clocks would have been hard to produce with a paintbrush, but to do so with pieces of wood is amazing.  I thanked Ann for showing me both clocks and telling me the history of both.  I walked around the museum for a bit more and left with a very interesting story to share for today.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

This photo and the next two show the smaller clock.

The following three photographs show the detail of the clock with 50,000 pieces.