Inlay or marquetry began as early as the 6th or 7th centuries with the Benedictine monks.  During the 19th century, the Sorrento Inlay (tarsia Sorrentina) enjoyed international recognition winning awards and reaching half the world's markets.  Important patrons of the arts, contributed to the growth of the Sorrentine inlay industry.

Unlike other inlay work in its use of different woods, Sorrentine inlay based its coloring effects on the contrast of two local woods-walnut and orange.  Olive and other exotic imported woods were soon added providing additional colors and shading.

The initial technique was a mosaic-like inlay.  This evolved into painting with water colors on the wood designs although the work was still performed by hand and gouges and saws.  In 1876 machines were designed and developed in America that were perfectly adopted to fretting (cuting) of the wood.

The high artistic value of Sorrento inlay is due to its absolute independence from contemporary forms of inlay work. The artisans have developed unique methods of shading and coloring the woods.  Today the evolution of these techniques continues in Sorrento, Italy.  Each jewelry/music box can be fitted with a variety of musical tunes made in Switzerland, Japan or China.  The musical movement was invented in 1796 and credited to Antoine Favre Salomon in Geneva Switzerland.  Around 1811, the industry moved to the village of Sainte Croix, which has been the home of the swiss musical movements ever since.  Besides Switzerland, there are two other centers in the world today, Japan and China producing quality musical movements.