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then as it matures, showing a definite
new type, and, later, when the elation of success has worn off, yielding
to various foreign influences. By way of example, note the Chinese
decoration on some of the painted furniture of the Louis XVI type, the
Dutch influence on Chippendale in line, and the Egyptian on Empire.
One fascinating
way of becoming familiar with history is to delve into the origin and
development of periods in furniture. The story of Napoleon is recorded in
the unpretentious Directoire, the ornate Empire of Fontainebleau, while
the conversion of round columns into obelisk-like pilasters surmounted by
heads, the bronze and gilded-wood ornaments in the form of the Sphynx, are
frank souvenirs of Egypt.
Every period,
whether ascribed to England, France, Italy or Holland, has found
expression in all adjacent countries. An Italian Louis XVI chair, mirror
or appliqué is frequently sold in Paris or London as French and Empire
furniture was "made in Germany." Periods have no restricted nationality;
but nationality often declares itself in periods.
That is to say,
lines may be copied; but workmanship is another thing. Apropos of this
take the French Empire furniture, massive as much of it is, built squarely
and solidly to the floor, but showing most extraordinary grace on account
of the amazing delicacy of intricate designs, done by the greatest French
sculptors of the time and worked out in metal by the trained hands of men
who had a special genius for this art. At no other time, nor in any other
country, has an equal degree of perfection in the fine chiseling of metals
so much as Approached the standard attained during the Louis and the
Empire periods.
If in your
wandering, you happen upon a genuine bit of this work in silver or ormoulu,
buy it The writer once found in a New Jersey antique shop, a rare Empire
bronze vase, urn-shaped, a specimen of the very finest kind of this metal
engraving. The price asked for it (in ignorance, of course) was $2.50! The
piece would have brought $40 in Paris. But the quest of the antique is
another story.
When one realizes
the eternal borrowing of one country from another, the ever-recurring
renaissance of past periods and the legitimate and illegitimate mixing of
styles, it is no wonder that the amateur feels nervously uncertain, or
frankly ignorant. Many a professional decorator hesitates to give a final
judgment.
To take one case
in point, we glibly speak of "Colonial" furniture, that term which covers
such a multitude of sins, and inspiring virtues, too! We have the
Colonial, which closely resembles the Empire, and we have what is
sometimes styled the Chippendale Colonial, following Louis XIV, XV and
XVI. The Chippendale of England. Our Colonial cabinet-makers used as
models, beautiful pieces imported from England, Holland and France by the
wealthier members of our communities.
Also a Chinese
and Japanese influence crept in, on account of the lacquer and carved teak
wood, brought home by our seafaring ancestors. It is quite possible that
the carved teak wood stimulated the clever maker of some of the most
beautiful Victorian furniture made in America, which is gradually finding
its way into the hands of collectors.
Some of these
cabinet-makers glued together and put under heavy pressure seven to nine
layers of rosewood with the grain running at every angle, so as to produce
strength. When the layers had been crushed into a solid block, they carved
their open designs, using one continuous piece of wood for the ornamental
rim of even large sofas.
The best of the
Victorian period is attractive, but how can we express our opinion of
those American monstrosities of the sixties or seventies, beds in rosewood
and walnut, the head-boards covering the side of a room, bureaus
proportionately huge, following out the idea that a piece of furniture to
be beautiful must be very large and very expensive! It is to be hoped that
wary cabinet-makers are to day rescuing the lovely rosewood and walnut
wasted at that time.
The art of
furniture making, like every other art, came into being to serve a clearly
defined purpose. This must not be forgotten. A chair and a sofa are to sit
on; a mirror, to reflect. Remember this last fact when hanging one.
It is important
that your mirror reflect one of the most attractive parts of your room,
and thus contributes its quota to your scheme of decoration. It is
interesting to note that chairs were made with solid wooden seats when men
wore armor, velvet cushions followed more fragile raiment, and tapestries
while always mural decorations were first used in place of doors and
partitions, in feudal castles, before there were interior doors and
partitions.
Any piece of
furniture is artistically bad when it does not satisfactorily serve its
purpose. The equally fundamental law that everything useful should at the
same time be beautiful cannot be repeated too often.
Period rooms
which slavishly repeat, in every piece of furniture and ornament, only one
type, have but a museum interest If your rooms are to serve as a home,
give them a winning, human quality, keep before your mind's eye, not royal
palaces which have become museums, but homes, built and furnished by men
and women whose traditions and associations gave them standards of beauty,
so that they bought the choicest furniture both at home and abroad.
In such a home,
whether it be an intimate palace in Europe, a Colonial mansion in New
England, or a Victorian interior of the best type, an extraneous period is
often represented by some objet d'art as a delightful, because harmonious
note of contrast.
For example, in a
Louis XVI salon, where the color scheme is harmonious, one gradually
realizes that one of the dominant ornaments in the room is a rare old
Chinese vase, brought back from the Orient by one of the family and given
a place of honor on account of its uniqueness.
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