The crustae marmoris are stone elements used in the incrustation technique to decorate surfaces by inserting small parts, including in different materials, metals, mother-of-pearl and ivory, to obtain a geometric design or figure.
This technique, also used by the Greeks, was later called marble intarsia or pietre dura and widely used in Roman times, with the name of incrustatio marmorea. The small marble slabs used in the composition of the designs were called crustae marmoreae.
