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diff --git a/old/54602-8.txt b/old/54602-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 7f4cb59..0000000 --- a/old/54602-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5425 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ancient and Modern Furniture and Woodwork, by -John Hungerford Pollen - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Ancient and Modern Furniture and Woodwork - -Author: John Hungerford Pollen - -Release Date: April 25, 2017 [EBook #54602] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT AND MODERN FURNITURE *** - - - - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Lesley Halamek and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM ART HANDBOOKS. - - EDITED BY WILLIAM MASKELL. - - No. 3.--FURNITURE ANCIENT AND MODERN. - - - - -_These Handbooks are reprints of the dissertations prefixed to the -large catalogues of the chief divisions of works of art in the Museum -at South Kensington; arranged and so far abridged as to bring each -into a portable shape. The Lords of the Committee of Council on -Education having determined on the publication of them, the editor -trusts that they will meet the purpose intended; namely, to be useful, -not alone for the collections at South Kensington but for other -collections, by enabling the public at a trifling cost to understand -something of the history and character of the subjects treated of._ - -_The authorities referred to in each book are given in the large -catalogues; where will also be found detailed descriptions of the very -numerous examples in the South Kensington Museum._ - - W. M. - _August, 1875._ - - - - - ANCIENT AND MODERN - - FURNITURE AND WOODWORK - - - BY - - JOHN HUNGERFORD POLLEN - - - WITH NUMEROUS WOODCUTS - - - [Illustration] - - - _Published for the Committee of Council on Education_ - - BY - - CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY - - - - -LONDON. - -DALZIEL BROTHERS, PRINTERS, CAMDEN PRESS, N.W. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I Furniture Ancient and Modern 1 - II Antique: Egypt, Nineveh and Greece 4 - III The Romans 17 - IV Byzantine Art 29 - V The Middle Ages 41 - VI The Fifteenth Century 59 - VII The Renaissance in Italy 66 - VIII Renaissance in England, Flanders, - France, Germany, ans Spain 78 - IX Tudor and Stuart Styles 85 - X Furniture of the Eighteenth Century 103 - XI Changes of Taste and Style 116 - Appendix: Names of the Designers of - Woodwork and Makers of Furniture 133 - Index 140 - - - - -LIST OF WOODCUTS. - - - PAGE - - Egyptian chair 4 - - Assyrian chairs 7 - - Greek chair 10 - - Greek chairs 11 - - Greek couches 13 - - Greek mirror 14 - - Greek chariot 15 - - Pompeian interior 19 - - Roman tripod 22 - - Roman candelabra 23 - - Roman candelabra 24 - - Roman table 26 - - Roman couch 27 - - Roman ceremonial chair 28 - - Roman _sella_ 28 - - Roman kitchen utensils 30 - - St. Peter's chair 35 - - The chair of king Dagobert 43 - - Anglo-norman bedstead 46 - - The Coronation chair 49 - - Interior of English mediæval bedroom 51 - - Anglo-saxon dinner-table 52 - - Dinner-table of middle-class, fifteenth century 53 - - Table of fifteenth century 53 - - Travelling carriage of fifteenth century; - "Tullia driving over the body of her father" 55 - - Oriental panels 57 - - A royal dinner-table of the fourteenth century 58 - - French panel; fifteenth century 60 - - Venetian cornice 68 - - Portion of carved Italian chest 69 - - Venetian chair 71 - - Italian bellows 72 - - Another example 73 - - Knife-case; 1564 76 - - Carved panels 80 - - French table; sixteenth century 81 - - French panel; 1577 82 - - English panel; about 1590 86 - - French cabinet; sixteenth century 88 - - Italian oak pedestal 90 - - Venetian mirror-frame 91 - - German arm-chair; seventeenth century 93 - - English bracket; about 1660 97 - - English doorway; about 1690 98 - - Venetian looking-glass 100 - - Holy-water stoup 101 - - English dinner-table; 1633 102 - - Italian distaff 106 - - Roman _triclinium_ 117 - - Bedstead; fifteenth century 118 - - The great bed of Ware 119 - - Bedstead at Hampton Court 120 - - Mediæval room 120 - - Cradle; fifteenth century 121 - - Folding chair; fifteenth century 122 - - Italian chair; sixteenth century 123 - - Antique Roman tables 125 - - Folding table; English, 1620(?) 126 - - Mediæval chest 127 - - Roman carriages 130 - - English carriage; fourteenth century 131 - - State carriages 132 - - - - -FURNITURE, - -ANCIENT AND MODERN. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - - -The study of a collection of old furniture has an interest beyond -the mere appreciation of the beauty it displays. The carving or the -ornaments that decorate the various pieces and the skill and ingenuity -with which they are put together are well worthy of our attention. A -careful examination of them carries us back to the days in which -they were made and to the taste and manners, the habits and the -requirements, of bygone ages. The Kensington museum, for example, -contains chests, caskets, cabinets, chairs, carriages, and utensils of -all sorts and of various countries. Some of these have held the bridal -dresses, fans, and trinkets of French and Italian beauties, whose sons -and daughters for many generations have long gone to the dust; there -are inlaid folding chairs used at the court of Guido Ubaldo, in -the palace of Urbino, and of other Italian princes of the fifteenth -century; buffets and sideboards that figured at mediæval feasts; boxes -in which were kept the jesses and bells of hawks; love-tokens of -many kinds, christening-spoons, draught and chess men, card boxes, -belonging to the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries; -carriages of the London of Cromwell and Hogarth, and of the Dublin of -Burke; panelling of the date of Raleigh; a complete room made for a -lady of honour to Marie Antoinette. - -Besides these memorials of periods comparatively well known to us, we -shall find reproductions of the furniture of ages the habits of which -we know imperfectly, such as the chair of Dagobert, and various relics -illustrating the old classic manners and civilisation, as they have -come down to us from Roman and Greek artists, and brought to light by -the discoveries at Herculaneum and Pompeii. - -The field through which a collection of old furniture stretches is -too wide to be filled with anything like completeness; but the South -Kensington collection is already rich in some very rare examples, such -as carved chests and cabinets, decorated with the most finished wood -carving of Flanders, France, and Italy, as well as of our own country. - -As wood is the material of which furniture for domestic use has -generally been made, there are, of course, limits to its endurance, -and not much furniture is to be found anywhere older than the -renaissance. Objects for domestic use, such as beds, chairs, chests, -tables, &c., are rare, and have not often been collected together. -The museum of the hôtel de Cluny, in Paris, is the best representative -collection of woodwork anterior to the quattro or cinque cento -period--_i.e._ the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth -centuries. Some carved and gilt carriages belonging to the last -century are also there; and a set of carriages, carved and gilt, made -for state ceremonials, used during the latter part of the last century -and down to the days of the empire of Napoleon III. are, or were till -the war of 1870, kept at the Trianon at Versailles. - -Many cabinets and tables in Boule work, Vernis-Martin work, and in -marquetry by Riesener, Gouthière, David, and others, in the possession -of Sir Richard Wallace, were lately exhibited in the museum at Bethnal -Green, and examples by the same artists from St. Cloud and Meudon are -in the Louvre in Paris. A fine collection of carriages, belonging to -the royal family of Portugal, is kept in Lisbon. These are decorated -in the "Vernis-Martin" method. Several old royal state carriages, -carved and gilt, the property of the emperor of Austria, are at -Vienna. - -In order to take a general review of the kinds, forms, and changes of -personal and secular woodwork and furniture, as manners and fashions -have influenced the wants of different nations and times, it will -be well to divide the subject in chronological order into -antique; Egyptian, Ninevite, Greek, Roman:--modern; early and late -mediæval:--renaissance; seventeenth and eighteenth century work: to -be followed by an inquiry into the changes that some of the pieces of -furniture in most frequent use have undergone. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -ANTIQUE: EGYPT, NINEVEH, AND GREECE. - - -Considering the perishable nature of the material, we cannot expect -to meet with many existing specimens of the woodwork or furniture of -ancient Egypt. There are to be found, however, abundant illustrations -of these objects in the paintings and sculptures of monuments. The -most complete are on the walls of the tombs, where we see detailed -pictures of domestic life, and the interiors of houses are shown, with -entertainments of parties of ladies and gentlemen talking, listening -to music, eating and drinking. The guests are seated on chairs of -wood, framed up with sloping backs, of which specimens are in the -British museum; others are on stools or chairs of greater splendour, -stuffed and covered on the seat and back with costly textiles, having -the wooden framework carved and gilt, generally in the form of the -fore and hind legs of tigers, panthers, and other animals of the -chace, sometimes supported, as in the accompanying woodcut, on figures -representing captives. - -[Illustration] - -The British museum contains six Egyptian chairs. One of these is made -of ebony, turned in the lathe and inlaid with collars and dies of -ivory. It is low, the legs joined by light rails of cane, the back -straight, with two cross-bars and light rails between. The seat is -slightly hollowed, and is of plaited cane as in modern chairs. Another -is square, also with straight back, but with pieces of wood sloped -into the seat to make it comfortable for a sitter. Small workmen's -stools of blocks of wood hollowed out and with three or four legs -fastened into them may also be referred to, and a table on four legs -tied by four bars near the lower ends. - -The Egyptians used couches straight, like ottomans; with head boards -curving over as in our modern sofas, sometimes with the head and -tail of an animal carved on the ends, and the legs and feet carved -to correspond. These were stuffed and covered with rich material. -The Egyptians did not recline at meals. Their double seats, [Greek: -diphroi], or bisellia, were such as were used by the Greeks and -Romans. They had shelves and recesses, chests and coffers, made -of pine or cedar wood, and of a material still used in Egypt, the -_cafass_--palm sticks formed into planks by thin pegs or rods of -harder wood passing through a series of these sticks laid together. -"Of their bedroom furniture," says Sir Gardner Wilkinson, "we know but -little." They used (he tells us) their day couches probably, or lay -on mats, and on low wooden pallets made of palm sticks. These last had -curved blocks, which served for a pillow, forming a hollow to receive -the head. Examples in alabaster and wood are in the Louvre and in the -British museum. - -Their materials for dress were of the most delicate and costly -description. The robes of the ladies were often transparent, and the -gold and silver tissues, muslins, and gossamer fabrics made in India -and Asia were probably also used in Egypt. All these, as well as their -jewels and valuables, imply corresponding chests and smaller -coffers. Small toilet boxes elegantly carved into the form or with -representations of leaves and animals, are preserved in the Louvre and -in the British museum and other collections. They were generally -of sycamore wood, sometimes of tamarisk or sont (acacia), and -occasionally the more costly ivory or inlaid work was substituted for -wood. Larger boxes may also be seen in the Louvre, some large enough -to contain dresses. They are square, with flat, curved, or gable tops, -painted on the surface, and generally lifted from the ground by four -short legs or prolongations of the rails that form the framework. -These boxes are dovetailed, and secured by glue and nails. - -Their chariots and the harness of their horses were rich in -proportion, the former painted, inlaid with ivory and gold, or with -surface gilding, containing cases for their bows and arms, and made of -wood filled in with the lightest materials, perhaps canvas stiffened -with preparations of lac in the Japanese manner, and put together with -a skill that made the carriage-makers of Egypt famous in their day. -It will be sufficient to add that the great Jewish kings had their -chariots supplied from Egypt. Solomon paid about £75 of our money for -a chariot, and of these he kept (for war purposes alone) a force of -fourteen hundred, with forty thousand horses. - -Mummy cases of cedar, a material readily procured and valued for -its preservative qualities, are to be seen in many collections, -and examples can be examined in the British museum. They are richly -decorated with hieroglyphic paintings executed in tempera, and -varnished with gum mastic. - -The furniture of Nineveh is not so elaborately or completely -represented as that of Egypt, where the preservation of sculpture and -painting was helped out by a climate of extraordinary dryness. But -the discoveries of Mr. Layard have thrown on the details of Ninevite -domestic life light enough to give us the means of forming a judgment -on their furniture. - -"Ornaments," says Mr. Layard, "in the form of the heads of animals, -chiefly the lion, bull, and ram, were very generally introduced, -even in parts of the chariot, the harness of the horses, and domestic -furniture." In this respect the Assyrians resembled the Egyptians. -"Their tables, thrones, and couches were made both of metal and wood, -and probably inlaid with ivory. We learn from Herodotus that those in -the temple of Belus in Babylon were of solid gold." - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -According to Mr. Layard, the chair represented in the earliest -monuments is without a back, and the legs tastefully carved. This -form occurs in the palace of Nimrúd, and is sculptured on one of the -bas-reliefs now in the British museum. Often the legs ended in the -feet of a lion or the hoofs of a bull, and were made of gold, silver, -or bronze. "On the monuments of Khorsabad and by the rock tablets of -Malthaiyah we find representations of chairs supported by animals -and by human figures, sometimes prisoners, like the Caryatides of the -Greeks. In this they resemble the arm-chairs of Egypt, but appear to -have been more massive. This mode of ornamenting the throne of the -king was adopted by the Persians, and is seen in the sculpture of -Persepolis." The woodcut represents such a chair, from a bas-relief -at Khorsabad. The lion head and lion foot were used by other oriental -nations. The throne of king Solomon was supported by lions for arms, -probably in the same position as the horses in the Khorsabad chair; -and lions of gold or chryselephantine work stood six on each side on -the six steps before the throne. - -The forms of furniture of a later date in the sculptures of Nineveh -at Khorsabad are of an inferior style. "The chairs have generally more -than one cross-bar, and are somewhat heavy and ill-proportioned, the -feet resting upon large inverted cones, resembling pine-apples." -All these seats, like the [Greek: diphroi] and _sellæ_ of important -personages in Greece and Rome, were high enough to require a -footstool. "On the earlier monuments of Assyria footstools are very -beautifully carved or modelled. The feet were ornamented, like those -of the chair, with the feet of lions or the hoofs of bulls." - -The tables seem in general to have been of similar form and decoration -to the thrones or seats, the ends of the frame projecting and carved -as in the woodcut above, only on a larger scale. The couches were of -similar form, but made of gold and silver, stuffed and covered on the -surface with the richest materials. The tables and the chairs were -often made in the shape also found in Greece and Rome, with folding -supports that open on a central rivet like our camp-stools, and like -the curule chairs which were common not only in Rome but throughout -Italy during the renaissance. - -A large piece of wood of pine or cedar is in the British museum. It is -of a full red colour, the effect of time. Cedar was probably most in -use; but both in Egypt and Nineveh, as also in Judæa under Solomon -and his successors, woods were imported from Europe and India; ebony -certainly, perhaps rosewood, teak, and Indian walnut. Ebony and -ivory were continually used for inlaying furniture. Of their bedroom -furniture we can say little, nor do we know of what kind were the -cabinets or chests made to preserve their dresses and valuables. It is -probable, however, that these were occasionally as rich and elaborate -as any of their show or state furniture. - -Of Hebrew furniture we can give few details. It is probable that -the Jews differed but little from the Assyrians in this respect. The -throne of Solomon has been already noticed. In the story of Judith the -canopy and curtains of the bed of Holofernes may have been taken -by the chronicler from familiar examples at home, or may have been -strictly drawn from traditional details. In the figurative language of -the Canticles, the bed of Solomon is of cedar of Lebanon, the pillars -of silver, the bottom of gold. Ordinary bedroom furniture is spoken of -in the Chronicles, when the Shunamite woman, a person of great wealth, -built for the prophet Elias "a little chamber on the wall, and set -therein a bed, a table, a stool, and a candlestick." Ivory wardrobes -are mentioned in the 45th psalm, but of what size or form we cannot -determine. In the book of Esther allusions are made to Persian -furniture decorations, white, green, and blue hangings fastened with -fine linen to silver rings and pillars of marble. The beds were of -gold and silver, &c. The bed of Og, king of Bashan, was nine cubits -long by four, and was of iron: it was preserved as a trophy. - -As the chariots of Solomon were made in Egypt, and the artists -employed on the Temple came from Tyre, it is not unreasonable to -suppose that furniture was either made by foreign workmen, or that -the Hebrews borrowed freely the forms and decorations of surrounding -Asiatic nations. Though specially and purposely jealous of any -innovation or interference with religious rites and observances, we -have no cause to think that they objected to the use of furniture or -utensils such as they found first during the long sojourn in Egypt, -and afterwards in other countries. They are said in earlier times to -have spoiled the Egyptians with reference to the ornaments and jewels -carried away at the migration. We know that Moses was "learned in -all the wisdom of the Egyptians;" and two particular artists, and -two only, are named in the book of Exodus as qualified to execute the -sacred vessels and utensils. Whatever their technical qualifications -were, these had been acquired in Egypt. - -In any attempt to picture to ourselves the kind of furniture and -objects of daily use apart from chariots, arms, &c., that surrounded -the Greeks in early ages, it will be necessary to bear in mind the -close connection which that people must have had with the Asiatic -races, and the splendour and refinement that surrounded the wealthy -civilisation of the oriental monarchies. - -They were so continually the allies or the rivals of the various -states in Asia Minor, and pushed out into that fertile region so many -vigorous colonies, that it cannot be doubted that the splendid stuffs, -beds, couches, thrones, chariots, &c., used by Greeks on the Asiatic -continent or in Europe, had much of eastern character in form and -method of execution; perhaps, at first, in decoration also. This -woodcut represents a chair of Assyrian character on a bas-relief from -Xanthus, in the British museum. - -[Illustration] - -Much that is oriental figures in poetic accounts of the arms, -furniture, and equipments of the Greek heroic ages. The chiefs take -the field in chariots. These could have been used but in small numbers -on ground so uneven as the rocky territories of the Morea. The -beds described by Homer, the coverlids of dyed wool, tapestries, or -carpets, and other instances of coloured and showy furniture, were -genuine descriptions of objects known and seen, though not common. -Generally the furniture of the heroic age was simple. Two beds of -bronze of Tartessus, one Dorian and one Ionian, the smallest weighing -fifty talents, of uncertain date, were kept in the treasury at Altis, -and seen there by Pausanias towards the end of the second century. The -chariots differed little except in the ornamental carving, modelling, -or chasing, from those of Egypt. - -The oldest remaining models of Greek furniture to which we can point -are the chairs in which the antique figures in the Syrian room at -the British museum are seated. These are dated six, or nearly six, -centuries before Christ. They represent chairs with backs, quite -perpendicular in front and behind. The frame-pieces of the seats are -morticed into the legs, and the mortices and tenons are accurately -marked in the marble, the horizontal passing right through the upright -bars. These early pieces of furniture were probably executed in wood, -not metal, which was at first but rarely used. The woodcuts show the -different forms taken from antique bas-reliefs. - -[Illustration] - -The chest or coffer in which Cypselus of Corinth had been concealed -was seen by Pausanias in the temple of Olympia. It was made about the -middle of the sixth century B.C. The chest was of cedar, carved and -decorated with figures and bas-reliefs, some in ivory, some in gold or -ivory partly gilt, which were inlaid on the four sides and on the top. -The subjects of the sculpture were old Greek myths and local legends, -and traditions connected with the country. This coffer is supposed to -have been executed by Eumelos of Corinth. - -The great period of Greek art began in the fifth century B.C.; but -those were not days favourable to the development of personal luxury -among the citizens. An extreme simplicity in private manners balanced -the continual publicity and political excitement of Greek life. The -rich classes, moreover, had little inducement to make any display -of their possessions. The state enjoyed an indefinite right to the -property of its members; the lawgiver in Plato declared "ye are -not your own, still less is your property your own." In Sparta the -exclusive training for war admitted of no manner of earning money by -business. In Athens the poorer class had so exclusively the upper -hand of the rich that the latter had to provide the public with -entertainments of sacrificial solemnities, largesses of corn, and -banquets. "The demos," says the author of the "Gentile and the Jew," -"understood the squeezing of the rich like sponges." Greece was the -paradise of the poor. - -It is therefore to be expected that the sculpture of the day, though -employed sometimes upon the decoration of thrones or state seats, -chariots, chests, looking-glasses, tripods, as the painting was -on walls, vases, and movable pictures on panels, should have been -employed mostly in temples and, with occasional exceptions, on objects -of some public use. The chest described above was kept as a relic, -and the elaborately carved thrones in the temples were those of the -statues of gods and heroes. Ivory and gold laid over a substructure -of olive wood were the materials quite as frequently used by great -sculptors as marble or bronze for statues which did not form parts -of the actual decorations of their architecture. In later times these -materials were used in sumptuous furniture. - -The Greeks used couches for sleeping and resting upon, but not for -reclining on at meals, till the Macedonian period. We give two or -three examples, from marbles: one of which resembles the modern sofa. -Women sat always, as in Rome, sometimes on the couch at the head or -foot, on which the master of the house or a guest reclined, generally -on chairs. Besides chairs like the one represented here, the Greeks -made arm-chairs; and folding chairs of metal. In the Parthenon frieze -Jupiter is seated in a square seat on thick turned legs, with a round -bar for a back, resting on short turned posts fitted into the seat. -The arms are less high than the back; they are formed by slight bars -framed into the uprights at the back, and resting on winged sphinxes. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -Mirrors of mixed metal alloys, silver, tin, and copper, have come down -to our times in great numbers. They were made occasionally in pure -silver, and in gold probably among the Greeks as they were in later -times among the Romans. The cases are of bronze, and engraved with -figure designs of the highest character. There is, however, no proof -that these were used as furniture in houses, as in Rome. They are hand -mirrors, and the description of them, as works of art, belongs rather -to that of antique bronzes. The woodcut shows the usual type, with the -richly ornamented handle. - -[Illustration] - -Designs of the Greek couch, whether for sleeping or for reclining -at meals, are abundant on tomb paintings, and sculptures, and on the -paintings of vases. In the British museum we may see a large vase in -the second vase room, on which a couch for two persons is arranged -with a long mattress covered with rich material, lying within what -appears to be a border of short turned rails with a cushion on -each end, also covered with rich striped material. A long low stool -decorated with ivory lies below the couch as a kind of step. The -legs, as in many vase representations, are thick turned supports with -lighter parts below, and a turned knob at the foot. On another vase -Dionysus reclines on a thick round cushion at the head of the couch, -while Ariadne sits on it. Figures feasting or stretched in death -on similar couches can be seen in two beautiful and perfect funeral -chests in the Ægina room. All these pieces of furniture seem made -of or decorated with ivory, and furnished with coloured cushions or -coverings of an oriental character. Tripods were made of bronze in -great number for sacred use, and probably also as the supports of -brasiers, tables, &c., in private houses. The tables were of wood, -marble, and metal; the supports being either lion or leopard legs -and heads, or sphinxes with lifted wings, a favourite form in Greek -ornamentation. - -With regard to Greek houses generally, their arrangements differed -very little from the earlier houses of the Romans. The bas-relief in -the British museum--Bacchus received as a guest by Icarus--represents -a couch with turned legs, the feet of which are decorated with leaf -work; a plain square stool, perhaps the top of a box, on which -masks are laid, and a tripod table with lion legs. The houses in the -background are tiled. The windows are divided into two lights by an -upright mullion or column, and a bas-relief of a charioteer driving -two horses ornaments a portion of the wall, and may be intended for -a picture hung up or fixed against the wall. The whole shows us -an Athenian house, decked for a festive occasion, and garlands and -hangings are festooned round its outer walls. - -The Greek chariot was of wood, probably similar to that of the -Egyptians. It had sometimes wheels with four strong spokes only, as in -the woodcut. The chariot wheel of the car of Mausolus, in the British -museum, has six. The Ninevite wheels have sometimes as many as twelve, -as may be seen in the sculptured bas-reliefs of the narrow Assyrian -gallery of the British museum. - -[Illustration] - -The woods used by the Greeks for sculpture were ebony, cypress, cedar, -oak, _smilax_, yew, willow, _lotus_, and citron. These materials were -rarely left without enrichments of ivory, gold, and colour. The faces -of statues were painted vermilion, the dresses, crowns, or other -ornaments were gilt or made in wrought gold. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE ROMANS. - - -The splendour that surrounded the personal usages of the earlier races -of antiquity, the Egyptians, Ninevites, Persians, Greeks, and Tuscans, -was inherited by the Romans. Not only did they outlive those powers, -but they absorbed their territory as far as they could reach it; they -affected to take in their religions and deities to add to their own -system; they drained the subject populations for slaves, and eagerly -adopted from them every art that could administer to the magnificence -and luxury of their own private life. They have left both written -records in their literature and actual examples of their furniture, -made in metal or of marble. The discovery of Herculaneum and of -Pompeii has given us not only single pieces of furniture, but very -considerable remains of houses, shops, streets, fora or open public -places of assembly, theatres, and baths. It is in such evidences of -Roman social life that we shall find the materials for our present -inquiry. - -The Romans spent their earlier ages in unceasing struggles for -independence and dominion: and so long as the elder powers of Italy -survived to dispute the growth of Roman greatness, there could not be -much expansion of private wealth or splendour in the houses of -Roman citizens. Though surrounded by splendid social life among the -Etruscans, the Roman people long remained exceptionally simple in -personal habits. It was after the Punic wars that oriental luxuries -found their way into Italy along with the Carthaginian armies. -Tapestry is said to have been first brought to Rome by Attalus, the -king of Pergamus, who died B.C. 133 possessed of immense wealth, and -bequeathed tapestries, generally used in the east from the early ages, -to the Roman citizens. When Augustus became emperor the conquest of -the world was complete. Thenceforward military habits and simplicity -of individual life were no longer necessary to a state that could find -no political rivals. The great capital of the world absorbed like a -vast vegetable growth the thought, the skill, and the luxuries of -the whole world. Nothing was too valuable to be procured by the great -Roman nobles or money-makers, and nothing too strange not to find a -place and be welcome in one or other of their vast households. - -While this was so at Rome in chief, it must be remembered that -other capitals were flourishing in various countries, as wealthy, as -luxurious in their own way and degree, only less in extent and means, -and lacking that peculiar seal of supremacy that gives to the real -capital a character that is never attained in subordinate centres of -civilisation. Antioch was such a centre in the east; Alexandria in -the south. Both these great cities contained wealthy, refined, and -luxurious societies. Both were known as universities and seats of -learning. Antioch was the most debauched and luxurious; Alexandria the -most learned and refined. They did not exactly answer to the distinct -capitals of modern kingdoms and states, such as we now see flourishing -in Europe, to London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, or St. Petersburg, -because no one supreme state or city predominates over them; and -further still, no one draws the pick and choice of the intellect and -refinement of the whole of Europe to absorb them into itself as Rome -did in the old world. But, in those days, Antioch and Alexandria, -one at the head of the wealth and splendour of Asia, the other -representing Greek learning grafted on the ancient scientific and -artistic traditions of Egypt, must have contributed much to the -general fusion of "ideas" and notions on art and personal manners and -customs in the capital of the Roman empire. - -The Roman house was of traditional plan, and consisted generally of -two or more square enclosures surrounded by arcades, open to the air -in the centre, but which openings could be closed in summer or winter -by awnings when the courts were not large enough to include a garden, -as the inner enclosure usually did. - -The house had in front a _vestibulum_, an open space covered by a -verandah-shaped roof, sometimes enclosed by lattices, sometimes open. -An _ostium_ or lobby inside the entrance-door, deep enough to contain -a small porter's lodge on one side, led to an inner door which opened -on the _atrium_. This court had an opening to the air, and a tank for -rain water was sunk in the middle. Fountains with jets or falls of -water were not uncommon, the ancients being well acquainted with the -principle that water if brought from an elevation in pipes will force -its way up to its natural level. - -Inside the _atrium_ was the _nuptiale_, the nuptial bed, and here were -kept in earliest times the _penates_, household or family divinities, -and the family hearth, though these sacred emblems were banished in -the imperial times to distant parts of the house, and statues between -the columns that supported the central roof supplied their place. The -_atrium_ was the general reception-room, like the hall in mediæval -houses, but not the dining-room. To this succeeded an inner open -court, with porticoes or corridors running round, supported on -columns, and with a fountain or basin, shrubs and flowers in the -centre, like the courts of the Alhambra. This court provided four -halls in the four corridors, which could be screened off by tapestries -and curtains. The centre was shaded in summer by canvas or carpet -awnings. In winter a wooden roof could be pushed over the open space. -Between the two halls or courts was a chamber called the _triclinium_, -or dining-room. These rooms were roofed with timber richly painted -and gilt. The roofs either hung on beams projecting from the walls, -or were supported by pillars, or were carried up to a high opening, -sloping back to the walls so as to admit more light to the rooms, -alcoves, or screened portions furthest removed from the opening. -Occasionally they were covered in wholly with a testudo-shaped roof, -and in such cases lighted, perhaps, by dormers, though it is not quite -clear how light was provided for in such constructions. Roman rooms -were not floored with boards but paved with marble in large pieces, or -in mosaic work made of small dies or squares. Coarse specimens of -such work manufactured in our own times are laid down in the museum -at Kensington, and fragments of the old work may be seen there on -the walls. Occasionally these mosaics represent the house watch-dog -chained, or the fable of Ganymede, or hunting scenes, sometimes -finished with the utmost nicety. The _triclinium_ took its name from -the three couches or sofas, on each of which three persons reclined -during meals. Later, and in sumptuous palaces, several dining-rooms -were built out beyond the inner courts. The engraving, a -reconstruction, will give a fair idea of the general character of -a richly furnished Roman house. First, is the _atrium_, into which -smaller chambers open; next, the _triclinium_, to the left of which is -a cabinet; and beyond is the _peristylium_, with its lofty colonnades. -This last apartment was large and open; often planted with shrubs -and trees, or containing statues, flowers in pots and vases, and -surrounded by a corridor. As these courts were of various sizes they -were, no doubt, in Rome on a scale out of all proportion to those -found at Pompeii; were fewer or more in number, and rooms were -added as the proprietor could acquire ground for building, often a -difficulty in the older parts of the city. Something of this ground -plan survives in a few of the very ancient Roman churches, as in -that of S. Pudenziana, formerly the house of the senator Pudens, with -vestibules, open courts, &c. - -[Illustration] - -Around the inner court, in the sumptuous Roman houses and the country -villas of the patricians, were built other rooms, dining-halls, no -longer called _triclinium_ but _triclinia_ in the plural, as admitting -more than the number of nine persons reclining on the conventional -three couches, to dine at once. In the city itself room was probably -wanting in private houses for such expansion, the houses being in -streets already laid out. In the villas there was no such restriction. -These halls were built to face different quarters of the compass and -to be used according to the season. _Verna_ and _autumnalis_ looked to -the east, _hyberna_ to the west, _æstiva_ to the north. _[OE]ci_ were -other rooms still larger; and glass windows were to be found in them. -In a painting now in the Kensington museum, n^{o.} 653, given by -the emperor Napoleon the third, glazed windows can be distinguished, -divided by upright mullions and transoms of wood, such as were -constructed in English houses in the seventeenth century. The -sleeping-rooms, _cubicula_, were small closets rather than rooms, -closed in general by curtains or hangings, and disposed about the -sides of the rooms between the courts, or round the outer courts -themselves. - -Besides the living and sleeping chambers, there were store-rooms -for various kinds of food. Wearing apparel was kept in _vestiaria_, -wardrobe rooms, fitted especially to store them in. It is doubtful -whether the dresses were in chests: more probably in presses, or -hanging on pegs. - -The ornamental woodwork in some of these rooms was rich in the -extreme. The outer vestibule was protected by an overhanging balcony -or by the projecting rafters of the roof of the first portion of the -house, according as rooms were built over that portion or not. It was -in some instances enclosed by carved or trellised woodwork. The doors -were generally in two halves and could be closed with locks, which -in the age of the empire were thoroughly understood, with latchets -secured by a pin or with a wooden bar. The term _obserare_ was used -when the security of a bar was added. The hinge was a pin or peg at -the top and bottom which turned in a socket. Metal hinges strapped -over the wood frame were not unknown: and bronze hinges are in the -collection of the British museum. The decoration of the door, which -was of wood, consisted principally of bronze mounts. The doorposts -were ornamented with carving, sometimes inlaid with tortoiseshell and -other rich materials. The woodwork was painted. Bedrooms were closed -with doors; oftener by curtains. The windows were generally closed -with shutters, hinged and in pairs. They were some six feet six inches -above the level of the street, not beyond reach of the knocks and -signals of friends outside. Wooden benches were usually provided in -the vestibule. - -Besides the inlaid door frames, the ceilings of all the Roman rooms -were very richly decorated. In more simple constructions the wood -joists of the floor above, or the structure of the roof when no -room surmounted it, were shown and painted; but in richer houses the -timbers were covered with boards, and formed into coffers and -panels, painted, gilt, and inlaid with ivory. This splendid system of -decoration dates from the destruction of Carthage. Curved bearers from -the upper part of the walls were added to form one kind of ceiling -(_camara_), for which Vitruvius gives directions; and glass mosaics, -like those used in the pavements, were inlaid on a plaster bed in the -coffers. The cornices were of carved wood, or of plaster carved or -modelled; the wood was always covered with a preparation of gesso, and -gilt and painted like the walls. - -An examination of the remains of Roman glass found at Pompeii and -elsewhere, and of which excellent examples may be studied in the -Kensington museum, seems to point to the use not only of mosaics made -of dies, but of mouldings, borders, and panels moulded in coloured -glass of magnificent hues, and with the finest stamped ornaments. -These were occasionally gilt, or were made in relief, or with a coat -of opaque white glass over the translucent material, which could -be cut and modelled in the manner of cameos, and helped further to -decorate the ceiling, always one of the most splendid features of the -room. - -The walls, when not painted, were sometimes hung with mirrors of glass -blackened, or of silver, or of slabs of obsidian. They were of various -sizes, sometimes large enough to reflect persons at full length. In -the case of portable pictures, frames were added round them. Borders -were certainly painted round frescoes. It is not to be supposed that -paintings which could be exposed for sale, moved about, and hung up, -could be finished round otherwise than by ornamental mouldings, or -framework sufficient to protect and properly set them off. - -[Illustration] - -Among the ornamental pieces of furniture were tripods, three-legged -frames, forming the supports of tables, of altars, of braziers, -sometimes of pieces of sculpture. These were generally of bronze, and -original pieces obtained in various parts of Italy can be seen in -the bronze room of the British museum. Some of these much exceed the -height of high modern tables. They are light, and ornamented on the -upper ends with animal or other heads; some with the beginning of a -hind leg about halfway down. They were, however, frequently movable, -and, like the piece in the cut on the preceding page from an example -in the British museum, were made to contract by folding; the stays -which connect the legs internally slipping up and down them by means -of loops. Such pieces might serve as table legs, or would hold altar -pans or common fire pans or support pots of flowers. - -[Illustration] - -Besides tripods the reception rooms were ornamented with candelabra on -tall stands of most graceful form and proportions. It will suffice to -point to more than a dozen of examples in the British museum; and -the woodcuts are from examples in other collections. The stems are a -fluted staff or a light tree stem, commonly supported on three animal -legs spread at the base, and branching out on the tops into one, two, -or more boughs or hooks, with elegant modelled decorations or ending -in flat stands. One has a slight rim round the dish or stand, on which -a candelabrum or wax candlestick could be placed. In other cases the -lamps were hung by their suspensory chains to the branches described. -Other candelabra stands were of marble, six, eight, ten, or more feet -in height, hybrid compositions of column caps, acanthus leaves and -stems, on altar bases, &c., in great variety of design, of which -engravings may be studied in the work of Piranesi. Casts, n^{os.} 93, -94 (antiques), are in the South Kensington museum. - -We do not know in what kind of repositories or pieces of furniture the -ancient Romans kept their specimens of painting or their vases, some -of which formed their most valued treasures. It is generally supposed -that they were set on shelves fastened to the wall. On such shelves -small images, boxes of alabaster or glass, and ornamental vases of all -kinds were kept. Craters, sculptured vases on a large scale and made -of bronze or marble, were also mounted on pedestals and ranged as -ornaments with the statues. Bronzes and statues, pieces of sculpture -that had fixed places, stood either along the walls of the reception -rooms or under the eaves of the _compluvium_, whence light was -obtained to set them off to advantage, and where turf, flowers, and -fountains were in front of them. A vase or crater, nearly eight feet -high, is in the hall of the British museum, brought from the villa of -Hadrian at Palestrina; and in the entrance-hall of Nero's house there -was a colossus 120 feet high, and long arcades and a tank or basin of -water. But objects on this scale scarcely belong to the descriptions -of what might be found ordinarily in houses of the great patricians. -Sometimes a couch and a table of marble were placed close to the -fountains in these delightful portions of the house. - -Tables were of many varieties in Rome, and enormous expenses were -incurred in the purchase of choice pieces of such furniture. They -were made of marble, gold, silver, bronze; were engraved, damascened, -plated, and otherwise enriched with the precious metals; were of -ivory, and of wood, and wood decorated with ivory; and in many other -methods. Engraved (p. 26) is a very beautiful table found at Pompeii, -and now at Naples. Tripods, terminal and other figures, made of bronze -or marble; winged sphinxes, or leopards' and lions' legs, columns and -other architectonic forms, were the supports on which these tables -were fastened. Some had one central support only, in a few instances -finished with animal heads of ivory. _Abaci_ were small tables with -raised rims to hold valuables. - -Many tables were of cedar and on ivory feet. Horace speaks of maple, -so also does Pliny, as a favourite wood for tables: birds'-eye maple -especially was much prized. The planks and disks that could be cut -from the roots and the boles of trees that had been either pollarded -or otherwise dwarfed in growth in order to obtain wavy grain, knotted -convolutions, &c., were in request. Veneers of well-mottled wood or of -precious wood, small in scantling, were glued on pine, cedar, &c., -as a base. These pollard heads, root pieces, &c., were bought at high -prices, specially those of the _citrus_ or _cedrus Atlantica_. - -[Illustration] - -The point held to be desirable (says Pliny) in the grain of tables was -to have "veins arranged in waving lines or else forming spirals like -so many little whirlpools. In the former arrangement the lines run in -an oblong direction, for which reason they are called _tigrinæ_, tiger -tables. In the latter case they are called _pantherinæ_, or panther -tables. There are some with wavy, undulating marks, and which are more -particularly esteemed if these resemble the eyes of a peacock." - -Next in esteem to these was the veined wood covered or dotted, as -it were, with dense masses of grain, for which reason such tables -received the name of _apiatæ_, parsley wood. But the colour of the -wood is the quality that was held in the highest esteem of all; -that of wine mixed with honey was the most prized, the veins being -peculiarly refulgent. The defect in that kind of table was _lignum_ -(dull log colour), a name given to the wood when common-looking, -indistinct, with stains or flaws. The barbarous tribes, according to -Pliny, buried the citrus wood in the ground while green, giving it -first a coating of wax. When it came into the workman's hands it -was put for a certain number of days beneath a heap of corn. By this -process the wood lost weight. Sea-water was supposed to harden it, -and to act as a preservative. This wood was carefully polished by -hand-rubbing. As much as £9,000 (a million of sesterces) was paid for -one table by Cicero. Of two that had belonged to king Juba, sold by -auction, one fetched over £10,000. These were made of citrus (_Thuya -articulata_ or _cedrus Atlantica_). We hear of two made for king -Ptolemæus of Mauritania, the property of Nomius, a freed man of -Tiberius, formed out of two slices or sections of the _cedrus -Atlantica_ four feet and a half in diameter, the largest known to -Pliny; and of the destruction of a table, the property of the family -of the Cethegi, valued at 1,400,000 sesterces. - -[Illustration] - -The Roman patricians and their ladies sat on chairs and reclined on -couches when not at meals. In the _atrium_ under the broad roofed -corridors, and in the halls not used for eating, were couches, such as -the couch of which we give a woodcut, of bronze or of precious woods; -the bronze damascened with ornaments of the precious metals, or of -metal amalgam; the wood veneered or inlaid with marquetry or tarsia -work of ivory, ebony, box, palm, birds'-eye maple, beech, and other -woods. - -The chairs were of different kinds and were used for various -occasions. The _atrium_ contained double seats, single seats, and -benches to hold more than one sitter; chairs that either folded or -were made in the form of folding chairs, such as could be carried -about and placed in the chariot, _curules_. The woodcut shows the -general fashion of a state or ceremonial chair; from the marble -example in the Louvre. - -[Illustration] - -This woodcut is of the _sella_, a seat or couch, made of wood, with -turned legs; it is intended, probably, for one person only, and has no -need of a footstool. It has been covered with a cushion. - -[Illustration] - -_Scamnum_ was a bench or long seat of wood, used in poorer houses -instead of the luxurious _triclinium_ of the men or arm-chairs of -the women, for sitting at meals or other occasions. Seats were placed -along the walls in the _exedræ_ or saloons; marble benches in most -cases, sometimes wooden seats; particularly also in the alcoves that -were constructed in the porticoes of baths and public buildings, where -lectures of philosophers were listened to. - -The Romans had hearths in certain rooms. Numerous passages in ancient -writers, to which it is needless to refer, concur in showing that the -hearth was a spot sacred to the _lares_ of the family, the altar -of family life. It was occasionally made of bricks or stone, and -immovable, on which logs could be heaped. It seems doubtful whether -chimneys were used in the Roman houses; probably occasionally. Writers -on Roman antiquities speak of such rare constructions used, perhaps, -as ventilators to the kitchen. The usual method of warming was by -means of a brazier, of which an example found at Cære, in Etruria, is -preserved in the British museum. It is a round dish on three animal -legs, with swing handles for removing it. Another, square in form, -is reproduced in a casting in the South Kensington museum collection, -n^{o.} 70, standing on animal legs and damascened round the sides with -gold ornaments. The Romans had also kitchen braziers with contrivances -for heating pans, water, wine, &c., by charcoal. N^{o.} 71 at -South Kensington is a casting of such a piece, having a round metal -receptacle, like a small cask, on its end, and a raised horse-shoe -frame, on which a pan could be placed, with fire space in the middle. -These braziers were filled with charcoal heated thoroughly by the help -of the bellows, to get rid of the noxious gases. - -It has been said that the dresses of the Romans were preserved, as in -mediæval castles, in a separate room or wardrobe, and this room must -have been fitted with apparatus for hanging shelves and lockers. -They had besides for keeping valuables, and usually placed in the -sleeping-room of the master or mistress of the house, cupboards and -chests of beech ornamented with metal, some large enough to contain -a man. In these receptacles they conveyed their property to and from -country houses, and on visits. Enormous numbers of slaves moved to and -fro with the family, and the chests were carried on men's shoulders, -or in waggons of various shape and make. - -The most important action of the luxurious Roman day was the dinner. -Couches were arranged for the guests, and the room was further -provided with stools or low benches, side tables, and the movable -table used for each course. These tables were put down and removed -from the supports on which they stood. The side tables were of -marble or of wood, covered with silver plates, inlaid, veneered, and -ornamented in various ways; some were used for serving the dishes, -others for the display of plate. - -Sculptured objects of plate, partly ornamental, were put on the table -and removed with the courses. Petronius describes an ass of Corinthian -bronze with silver paniers as the centre piece of one course; sauces -dropped from the paniers on luscious morsels placed beneath. A hen of -wood with eggs within and a figure of Vertumnus are also named by the -same author as centre pieces. These were replaced on the sideboard or -removed with the course in trays. - -[Illustration] - -Closely connected with the dining-room was, it need scarcely be -said, the kitchen; and we give woodcuts of kitchen utensils, from the -originals preserved at Naples. - -Mention should be made of tapestries and carpets before leaving the -subject of Roman house furniture. - -Carpets, _tapete_, blankets, or other woollen coverlids for sofas or -beds, were made at Corinth, Miletus, and a number of seats of fine -wool manufacture. It is too large a question to go into in detail, and -woven fabrics belong to a different class of objects fully described -in another hand-book, upon textiles. These tapestries played a great -part in the actual divisions of the Roman rooms. Bedrooms, it has -been said, were often closed with curtains only, and the corridors and -smaller rooms were closed at the ends and made comfortable by the -same means. At the dinner detailed by Petronius the hangings on the -_triclinia_ are changed between pauses in the meal. The feelings -consonant with the day or occasion were symbolized or carried out in -these external decorations. Mention is made by Seneca of ceilings -made so as to be moved, and portions turned by machinery; perhaps the -changed panels showed different colours and decorations according to -the day, and to the hangings which were used. The same author alludes -to wood ceilings that could be raised higher or lower by machinery, -"_pegmata per se surgentia_ et tabulata _tacite in sublime -crescentia_," making no noise in the operation. These contrivances -were reserved for dining-rooms, where the diversions were of the -freest description and the guests prepared for any exciting or -sensational interludes. - -The Romans required some of their furniture for out-door use. Besides -the curule chairs and lofty seats which were carried into theatres or -baths, and other places of public resort, they used litters. The sofas -or couches were sometimes carried on the necks of six or more slaves, -and served as litters. But special contrivances like the Indian -palanquins were made with or hung under poles, with curtains or -shutters. Stations of such conveyances for public use were established -in Rome. - -The subjects of the carving and ornamentation of Roman furniture were -the classic legends mainly derived from the Greek mythology. Roman -house walls were, however, in later years profusely decorated with -conventional representations of architecture, and panels richly -coloured on which were painted figures of dancers, cupids, gods and -heroes; sometimes commonplace landscapes and domestic scenes. Their -solid furniture was decorated with masks, heads of heroes, legs and -feet of animals, and foliage, generally the leaves of the acanthus, of -an architectonic kind. - -The great achievement of the Romans in woodwork of a constructive kind -was the machinery contrived for public shows, such as the cages shot -up out of the sand of the arena of amphitheatres, of which the sides -fell down, leaving at liberty the beasts wanted for fights or for the -execution of criminals. Of such constructions probably nothing in the -middle ages, when timber abounded and the use of it was thoroughly -understood, exceeds the following; a description by Pliny of a device -of C. Curio, in Africa, when celebrating the funeral games in honour -of his father:-- - -"He caused to be erected close together two theatres of very large -dimensions and built of wood, each of them nicely poised, and turning -on a pivot. Before mid-day a spectacle of games was exhibited in each, -the theatres being turned back to back, in order that the noise of -neither of them might interfere with what was going on in the other. -Then, in the latter part of the day, all on a sudden, the two theatres -were swung round and, the corners uniting, brought face to face; the -outer frames too were removed (_i.e._ the backs of each hemicycle) and -thus an amphitheatre was formed, in which combats of gladiators were -presented to the view; men whose safety was almost less compromised -than that of the Roman people in allowing itself to be thus whirled -round from side to side." - -The following woods were in use amongst the Romans:-- - -For carpentry and joiner's work, _cedar_ was the wood most in demand. -_Pine_ of different kinds was used for doors, panels, carriage -building, and all work requiring to be joined up with glue, of which -that wood is particularly retentive. _Elm_ was employed for the -framework of doors, lintels and sills, in which sockets were formed -for the pins or hinges on which the doors turned. The hinge jambs were -occasionally made of _olive_. _Ash_ was employed for many purposes; -that grown in Gaul was used in the construction of carriages on -account of its extreme suppleness and pliancy. Axles and portions -which were much morticed together were made of _Ilex_ (_Holm oak_). -_Beech_ also was in frequent use. _Acer_ (_Maple_) was much prized, as -has been already stated, for tables, on account of the beauty of -the wood and of the finish which it admits. _Osiers_ were in use -for chairs as in our own times. _Veneering_ was universal in wood -furniture of a costly kind. The slices of wood were laid down with -glue as in modern work, and they used tarsia or picture work of -all kinds. _Figwood_, _willow_, _plane_, _elm_, _ash_, _mulberry_, -_cherry_, _cork wood_, were amongst the materials for the bed or -substance on which to lay such work. Wild and cultivated _olive_, -_box_, _ebony_ (Corsican especially), _ilex_, _beech_, were adapted -for veneering boxes, desks, and small work. Besides these, the Romans -used the Syrian _terebinth_, _maple_, _palm_ (cut across), -_holly_, _root of elder_, _poplar_; horn, ivory plain and stained; -tortoiseshell; and wood grained in imitation of various woods for -veneering couches and other large pieces of furniture, as well as door -frames, &c., so that this imitation of grains is not entirely a modern -invention. Woods were soaked in water or buried under heaps of grain -to season them; or steeped in oil of cedar to keep off the worms. The -_cedars_ of Crete, Africa, and Syria were the best of that class of -timber. The best _fir_ timber was obtained from the Jura range, from -Corsica, Bithynia, Pontus, and Macedonia. - -The Romans had admirable glue, and used planes, chisels, &c. Their -saws, set in frames, had the teeth turned in opposite directions to -open the seam in working. - -There are some curious historical records of the endurance of -particular wood structures. The cedar roof of the temple of Diana of -Ephesus was intact at the end of four centuries in Pliny's time. Her -statue was black, supposed to be of ebony, but according to other -authorities of vine, and had outlasted various rebuildings of the -temple. The roof beams of the temple of Apollo at Utica were of cedar -and had been laid 348 years before the foundation of Rome; nearly -1,200 years old in the time of Pliny, and still sound. - -The emperor Philip celebrated the secular games (recurring every 100 -years), with great pomp, for the fifth time in the year 248. We may -consider this event, for our present purpose, as a convenient finish -of the classic period of antique art, and of the reflections of it in -the woodwork and furniture and the surroundings of private life. - -Ten centuries had elapsed since Romulus had fortified the hills on the -banks of the Tiber. "During the first four ages" (says Gibbon) "the -Romans, in the laborious school of poverty, had acquired the virtues -of war and government; by the vigorous exertion of these virtues, and -by the assistance of fortune, they had obtained in the course of the -three succeeding centuries an absolute empire over many countries of -Europe, Asia, and Africa. The last three centuries had been consumed -in apparent prosperity and internal decline." - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -BYZANTINE ART. - - -We may take as the next period for illustration the centuries that -witnessed the break up of the old Roman constitution and the gradual -formation of a new order of society down to the end of the first ten -centuries of our era. Seven hundred and fifty years out of those ten -hundred belong in great part to mediæval history. The misfortunes of -Italy, and the incessant state of war, invasion, and struggle in that -peninsula were too destructive of personal wealth and the means of -showing it in costly furniture to leave us any materials from thence -for our present subject. The history of furniture and woodwork, as -applied to civil and social uses, now belongs to such civilisation -as took its origin and its form from Constantinople. Art of these -centuries is called Byzantine. - -[Illustration] - -The woodcut is from the chair of St. Peter in Rome, the oldest and -most interesting relic of antique furniture in existence; that is, of -furniture made of wood and kept in use from the days of ancient Rome. -But it has had repairs and additions, and a description of it shall be -referred to in another section. - -Byzantine art is a debased form of the classic, but with a large -mixture of Greek; not of the old classic Greek type which had long -been exhausted, but of that Asiatic Greek which derived so much of its -splendour from the rich but unimaginative decorations of Persia. The -objects actually executed at Constantinople or by Byzantine artists -now remaining can scarcely be included in a treatise on furniture. -They are mostly caskets and other small pieces executed in metal or in -ivory. Accounts of many interesting pieces of Byzantine sculpture will -be found in the "Description of the ivories in the South Kensington -museum." Amongst them the diptychs of the consuls are not only the -most important, but the most interesting to a treatise on furniture, -as we see in them consular seats and thrones of many varieties. - -We may select amongst other examples the following, which can be -studied in the museum or referred to in that work. For instance, -n^{o.} 368 (fully described in Mr. Maskell's "Ivories") is one leaf -of a consular diptych of Anastasius Paulus Probus Sabinianus Pompeius. -The consul is represented seated on a chair of very ornate character. -It is like the old folding curule chairs of Rome, but with elements -both of Greek and Egyptian ornamentation, such as belong to the -massive marble seats, supported by lions or leopards, with the heads -sculptured above the upper joint of the hind legs. In the mouths of -these lions' heads are rings for the purpose of carrying the chair, -and the top frame is ornamented with little panels and medallions -containing winged masks and portrait heads of the consul and his -family or of members of the imperial family. On each side of the seat -are small winged figures of Victory standing on globes and holding -circular tablets over their heads. These probably represent the front -of the arms, and are supposed to have a bar stretching from the heads -or the circular tablets to the back of the seat. This feature too is -a continuation of types that are to be found on Greek vases and in the -chairs of both Nineveh and Egypt. A low footstool with an embroidered -cushion on it is under the feet of the consul, and another cushion, -also embroidered, covers the seat. This represents a chair of the -sixth century. - -A seat still more like the curule chair, but with a high back, is -represented in another ivory, n^{o.} 270, in the South Kensington -collection. This piece is a plaque or tablet with a bas-relief of -two apostles seated. The chairs are formed of two curved and -recurved pieces each side, which are jointed together at the point of -intersection. One pair of these pieces is prolonged and connected by -straight cross-bars, and forms a back. Two dolphins, with the heads -touching the low front pieces and the tails sloping up and connected -with the back, form the arms. This belongs to the ninth century. The -lyre back, a form not unknown in old Greek and thence adopted among -Roman fashions, is also to be seen in chairs on ivories and in -manuscripts. Round cushions were hung on the back, others covered the -seat. These are seen also figured in the mosaics of Venice, and later -of Monreale in Sicily which retained much of the Byzantine spirit. The -art of Sicily continued longer subject to Constantinople than that of -most of its Italian provinces, and Venice preserved her old traditions -far into the period of the European revival of art. - -The beds, as represented in manuscript illuminations, belong chiefly -to religious compositions such as the Nativity, or visions appearing -to saints in their sleep. They are couches in the old Roman form, or -are supported on turned legs, from the frames of which valances hang -down to the ground. Sometimes a curtain acts as a screen at the head -or on one side, but testers are wanting. - -Chariots and carriages of all sorts remained more or less Roman in -type. There were a greater number of waggons or carriages for the -conveyance of women and families than had been in use in ancient -times. Christianity had materially altered the social position of -women, and they appeared in public or moved about with their families -without the restraints which in the old Roman society forbad their -appearance in chariots and open carriages, and made the covered couch -or closed litter the usual conveyance for ladies of rank in Rome. -Several forms of chariots or carriages of this larger kind can be seen -in the sculptures of the column of Theodosius in Constantinople. - -The art and the domestic manners and customs that had been in -fashion in Rome maintained themselves with some modifications in -Constantinople. The life there was more showy and pompous, but it was -free from the cruelties and the corruption of the elder society. It -was founded on the profession of Christianity, and the numbers and -magnificence of the religious hierarchy formed an important feature -in the splendid social aspect of the Greek capital. The games of -the circus, without the cruelties of gladiatorial combats, were -maintained. Chariots were in constant use, much wealth was spent on -their construction, and chariot races were kept up. Furniture, such as -chairs, couches, chests, caskets, mirrors and articles of the toilet, -was exceedingly rich. Gold and silver were probably more abundant in -the great houses of Constantinople than they had been in Rome. As the -barbarous races of the east and north encroached on the flourishing -provinces of the Roman empire, constant immigration took place to -Constantinople and the provinces still under its sway. Families -brought with them such property as could be easily moved, gold of -course and jewels; and, naturally, these precious materials were -afterwards used for the decoration of their furniture and dress. - -The ancient custom of reclining at meals had ceased. The guests sat on -benches or chairs. At the same time the "triclinia aurea," or golden -dining room, was still the title of the great hall of audience in -the palace at Constantinople. The term only served to illustrate -the jealous retention of the old forms and names by the emperors and -patricians. The last branch of the ancient empire did little for -the arts of painting and sculpture, though it long preserved the old -traditions of art, gradually becoming more and more debased with every -succeeding generation, whilst outward splendour was increased because -of the greater quantity of the precious metals that had accumulated or -been inherited during so many centuries. - -The decay of art and skill in the old world was, however, -counterbalanced by the rise of new societies, which were gradually -being formed in various parts of the empire. These consisted partly -of the races of Huns, Goths, Saxons, and others, who had invaded -Italy and settled themselves in it, partly of the old municipal -corporations, who defended their property and maintained their -privileges in the great walled towns of Italy. The cities profited to -a great extent by this infusion of new blood; and became the parents -of the future provinces of Italy, so rich in genius and industry, so -wealthy and powerful in peace and war. The most important of them was -Venice, and it is in Venice that, in the later middle ages, we -find the birthplace of most of the art with which the furniture and -utensils of home and warlike use were so profusely decorated. - -We point to Constantinople as the last stronghold of the old arts of -the Roman period, but it is because it was from the Greeks that the -new states borrowed their first notions of art. Nearly all the early -art we meet with throughout the west in manuscripts and ivories bears -a Byzantine character. - -A remarkable piece of monumental furniture has survived from these -early centuries of the Christian era, half Byzantine and half western -in character, the chair of St. Maximian of Ravenna, preserved in -the treasury at Ravenna, and engraved and described in the "Arts -Somptuaires" of M. Du Sommerard. Ravenna was the portion of the empire -that most intimately connected the east with the west. The domed -churches of San Vitale, San Giovanni in Fonte, the tomb of Galla -Placidia, the round church of Santa Maria, built by Theodoric, -together with the great basilica of Saint Apollinare in Chiasse, and -others of the Latin form, unite the characteristics of the eastern -and western architecture. What is true of architecture can also -be pronounced as to painting, sculpture, textile fabrics, and all -decoration applied to objects, sacred or domestic, that were in daily -use. - -But events occurred in the declining state of the empire that went far -to transfer what remained of art to northern Europe. The sect of the -iconoclasts, or image-breakers, rose into power and authority -under the emperor Leo the Isaurian, who published an edict in 726 -condemnatory of the veneration and use of religious images and -paintings. During a century this principle was at work, and it caused -the destruction not only of innumerable antique statues, such as those -defaced in the Parthenon of Athens, but the loss of vast quantities -of ivory and wood sculpture and precious objects of all kinds. Many -artists took refuge in western Europe, and were welcomed in the -Rhenish provinces of the empire by Charlemagne. - -How much ancient and domestic art in the form of bronze or other -metal furniture, such as chairs, thrones, tripods, &c., whole or in -fragments, survived the taking of Constantinople by Mahomet II. we -cannot conjecture. Perhaps the royal palaces, or still more possibly -the mosques which have been the banks and depositories of family -treasures under Mahometan rule, may contain valuable bronzes, ivories, -and carved wood, relics of the luxurious life of the latter days of -the Greek empire, and such evidences may some day come to light. No -doubt, however, much antique art and much that belonged to the first -eight centuries of our era survived the ordinary shocks of time and -war, only to be destroyed by the quiet semi-judicial action of a -furious sect protected by imperial decrees, after the manner in -which mediæval art suffered under the searching powers of fanatical -government commissioners in our own country, in the sixteenth century. - -It is to the impulse which the Lombard and Frankish monarchs gave to -art in western and northern Europe by the protection of Greek refugee -sculptors and artists that we should trace the beginnings of the -northern school called Rhenish-Byzantine. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -THE MIDDLE AGES. - - -We cannot easily determine on a date at which we can assign a -beginning to mediæval art. It differs from the art that succeeded it -in the sixteenth century in many respects, and from the late classic -art that preceded it still more widely. That peculiar character which -we call romantic enters into the art of mediæval times, as it does -into the literature and manners of the same ages. It took a living -form in the half religious institution of chivalry. The northern -nations grew up under the leadership of monks quite as much as under -that of kings. They lived in territories only partially cleared from -forests, pushed their way forward to power pioneered by the great -religious orders, and their world was one surrounded by opportunities -of endless adventures. But this romantic standard, though it took its -rise from the times in which the Christians carried their lives in -their hands, under the persecuting emperors, did not pervade Europe -for many centuries. Classic art, in its decay, still furnished both -forms and symbols, such, _e.g._, as that of Orpheus, to the new -societies, and the names of Jupiter, Mercury, and Saturn, have -survived as the titles of days of the week. The two art traditions -overlapped each other for a while. Mediævalism grew very gradually. - -We have just said that Charlemagne welcomed Byzantine artists to the -Rhine. It must be remembered, however, that the Roman empire had been -firmly planted beyond the Alps, and that Gaul produced good Roman art -in the second and third centuries. Architecture, sculpture, bronze -casting, and the numberless appliances of daily life were completely -Roman in many parts of France and Britain. The theatres and -amphitheatres of Arles and Orange and the collections in various -museums are enough to show how extended this character was. It was -not till the old traditions had been much developed or modified by -oriental influences that a thorough mediæval character of art was -established in Italy, France, Germany, and England. To the last it -remained semi-classic in Rome itself. - -We can give reference to few specimens of household furniture or -to woodwork of any kind before the eleventh century, with a great -exception to be noticed presently. Ivories, in any form, belonging -to these ages are rare. The best objects are Byzantine. Anglo-saxon -ivories, though not unknown, are all but unique examples. Ivory was -probably rarely employed for any objects of secular use, unless on -mirror cases, combs, or the thrones of kings; on horns, caskets, sword -hilts, and the like. - -Metallurgy in the precious metals and in bronze, including the gilding -of bronze, was probably the one art that survived the departure, if -it had not even preceded the invasion, of the Romans in Britain. It is -scarcely probable that tin and copper ores would have been sought for -from Britain if manufactured ornaments of metal had not found their -way in the first instance from this country to the south. Be that, -however, as it may, the art of metallurgy survived the downfall of -such architectural and sculpturesque skill as had been attained in -England under Roman traditions; and that metal thrones, chairs, and -other utensils were made here as in Gaul can hardly be doubted. - -There is an interesting collection, lately bequeathed by Mr. Gibbs, -of Saxon ornaments in gold, bronze, and bronze ornamented with gilding -and enamel, in the South Kensington museum. These objects were dug up -chiefly at Faversham, a village in Kent. Most of these antiquities -are _fibulæ_, brooches, and buckles, or portions of horse trappings, -bosses, &c., and not recognisable as parts of bronze furniture, -such as the chair of Dagobert. But it is difficult to examine these -personal ornaments and not believe that during the Saxon occupation -bronze thrones, tripods, mirrors, and other objects of household use -were also made. - -The earliest example of mediæval furniture in the Kensington museum is -a cast of the chair known as that of Dagobert, in the Louvre. A full -description and history of this chair is to be found in the large -catalogue, n^{o.} 68: and we here give a woodcut of it. This work (it -is said) was executed by a monk. - -[Illustration] - -When we consider the rapacity of the barbarian inroads into Italy and -Rome, and the amount of spoil carried bodily away from Constantinople, -Rome, and the great municipal centres of Italy, it is remarkable that -so little precious furniture should have survived in other parts -of Europe. The Goths under Adolphus in the fifth century carried an -immense plunder into Gaul and Spain. "When the treasuries, after the -conquest of Spain," says Gibbon, "were plundered by the Arabs, they -admired, and they have celebrated, a table of considerable size, of -one single piece of solid emerald [that is, glass], encircled with -three rows of fine pearls, supported by three hundred and sixty-five -feet of gems and massy gold, estimated at the price of five hundred -thousand pieces of gold,"--probably the most expensive table on -record. It is the value of the materials that has prevented the -preservation of many such objects, while the chair of Dagobert is of -gilt bronze only. - -Early mediæval art, included under the general name of Gothic, -continued down to the twelfth century full of Romanesque forms and -details. Figures were clothed in classic draperies, but stiff and -severe with upright lines and childish attempts to indicate the limbs -or joints beneath. Nevertheless, the work of these centuries, rude -and archaic as it is, is full of dignity and force. The subjects were -often sacred, sometimes of war or incidents of the chase. These last -were commonly mixed with animals, lions and dogs, or eagles and hawks, -or leaves of the acanthus and other foliage. Throughout these ages the -foliated sculpture, the paintings of books and carving of ivory, -and no doubt of wood also, was, moreover, composed in endless -convolutions, such as may be seen on sculptured stones in Ireland and -on the Norwegian doors of the twelfth century. Whether the different -convolutions are formed by figures or dragons, or by stalks of foliage -twined and knotted together in bold curved lines, symmetrically -arranged, each portion is generally carefully designed and traceable -through many windings as having a distinct intention and purpose. -Ornamental work was thus apparently conventional, but made up of -individual parts separately carried out, and in some degree, though -not altogether, realistic: a character gradually lost after the early -thirteenth century till the new revival in the sixteenth. - -The tenth century was not favourable to the development of the -requirements or comfort of personal life. Towards the year one -thousand a superstition prevailed over many parts of Europe that the -world would come to an end when the century was completed; and many -fields were left uncultivated in the year 999. The eleventh century -made a great advance in architecture and other arts, but down to the -Norman invasion our own country was far behind the continental nations -in the fine arts; metallurgy only excepted. The Anglo-saxons perhaps -advanced but very slowly, as the century wore on to the period of the -Norman conquest; and manners remained exceedingly simple. - -Early illuminations, though conventional, give us some details of -Anglo-saxon houses. They were of one story, and contained generally -only one room. The addition of a second was rare before the Norman -conquest. The furniture of the room consisted of a heavy table, -sometimes fixed; on which the inhabitants of the house and the guests -slept. A bedstead was occasionally reserved for the mistress of the -house. Bedsteads when used by the women or the lord of the house were -enclosed in a shed under the wall of enclosure and had a separate -roof, as may be seen in many manuscripts. In the Bayeux tapestry a -bed roof is tiled, and the framework shut in with curtains. In many -instances such a design represents only a tester with posts. Otherwise -beds of straw stuffed into a bag or case were spread on the table, -and soldiers laid their arms by their heads ready for use in case of -alarm. Benches, some with lion or other heads at the corners, like -elongated chairs or settles (with backs, for the lord and lady of -the house), were the usual seats. Thrones, something like that of -Dagobert, were the property of kings. King Edward the Confessor is -seated on such a chair (metal, and in the Roman shape) in the Bayeux -tapestry, and folding chairs of various forms, more or less following -classical types, were used by great personages. Benches were also used -as beds; so were the lids or tops of chests, the sack or bag being -sometimes kept in it and filled with straw when required. The tables -were covered with cloths at dinner. Stained cloths and tapestries, -commonly worked with pictorial designs, were used to hang the walls -of the house or hall. They were called wah-hrægel, wall coverings. -Personal clothing was kept in chests of rude construction. Silver -candlesticks were used in churches. Candles were stuck anywhere in -houses, on beams or ledges. - -With regard to carriages during the Saxon and Anglo-norman period, -carts on two wheels were common for agricultural use, and served to -transport the royal property. Four-wheeled cars drawn by hand labour -are used for carrying warlike stores in the Bayeux tapestry. In the -battle of the Standard the standard of the English host was carried -on a wheeled car or platform, and remained as the head-quarters or -rallying point during action. - -The Norman invasion of England caused a new advance in the luxury -and refinement, such as it was, of daily life. The houses began to -grow--upper rooms or rooms at the side of the great hall were added, -called solars (solaria), the sunny or light rooms. These seem to have -been appropriated to the ladies. In due time they added a parloir or -talking room, a name derived from the rooms in which conversation -was allowed in monasteries where silence was the general rule. In -the upper rooms fireplaces were made occasionally, but not always -chimneys. In the halls, when the upper room did not cover the whole -under room or when an upper room was not constructed, fire was made -in the centre of the floor. Stairs were of wood. Glass was all but -unknown in the windows of houses, and wooden shutters kept out the -weather. - -The houses of landowners in England were called manoir or manor. The -furniture was simple and consisted of few objects. The table was on -trestles; the seats were benches. _Armaria_, armoires, cupboards or -presses, either stood in recesses in the wall or were complete wooden -enclosures. These had doors opening horizontally. The frames were not -panelled. The doors were ledge doors of boards, nailed to stout cross -bars behind, and decorated with iron hinges and clamps beaten out into -scrolls and other ornaments. - -[Illustration] - -Bedrooms were furnished with ornamental bed testers, and benches at -the bed foot. Beds were furnished with quilts and pillows, and with -spotted or striped linen sheets; over all was laid a covering of green -say, badgers' furs, the skins of beavers or of martin cats, and a -cushion. A perch for falcons to sit on was fixed in the wall. A chair -at the bed head, and a perch or projecting pole on which clothes could -be hung, completed the furniture of the Anglo-norman bedroom. In the -foregoing woodcut from Willemin there is no tester, but carving on the -posts, and the coverings are of the richest description. - -Woodwork was decorated with painted ornament or with fanciful work -on the hinges; and nails and clamps were applied to hold it together, -rather than with sculpture, down to the fourteenth century; and in -England, France, and Germany, oak was the wood employed for furniture. -Both in England and in the countries which had retained old artistic -traditions on the continent, such as Italy, France, and Spain (which -profited by the skill of the Moors in painted decoration), colour was -used not less on walls and wood than on metal and pottery. Tapestry -was an important portion of the furniture of all houses of the richer -classes. - -During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries mediæval art in Europe -reached its greatest perfection. The classic traditions were at last -forgotten everywhere except in Rome itself, where a chain lingered -almost continuous between the old ideas and those which succeeded in -the sixteenth century. Elsewhere the feeling in sculpture, whether of -wood or other materials, was in unison with the pointed architecture -and reigned unchallenged. All sorts of enrichments were used in the -decoration of furniture. A chest of the time of John is preserved in -the castle of Rockingham. It is of oak richly decorated with hammered -iron plates, hinges, &c. The jewel chest of Richard of Cornwall was -long preserved in the state treasury of Aix-la-Chapelle, and is now at -Vienna. It belongs to the first half of the century, and was left at -Aix when Richard was crowned king of the Romans. The body is of oak -decorated with wrought-iron hinges, lock, and clamps, and with bosses -of metal on which are enamelled heraldic shields. - -The construction of woodwork gradually became more careful and -scientific. Panelled framework came into use, though seldom for -doors of rooms. With this method of construction the chests were -put together that formed the chief article of furniture during two -centuries in the mediæval sleeping, sitting, or private room. - -In the middle of the thirteenth century Eleanor of Provence was -escorted on her journey to England by an army of ladies, knights, -nobles and troubadours, from Provence to the shores of the channel. -Kings were continually making progress in this manner through their -dominions, like the Indian governors of our own days, and carried -their furniture and property in chests, called standards, on the backs -of mules or sumpter horses. Portable furniture and hangings were the -principal objects of household use on such occasions. A precept in -the twentieth year of the reign of Henry the third directed that "the -king's great chamber at Westminster be painted a green colour like a -curtain, that in the great gable frontispiece of the said chamber -a French inscription should be painted, and that the king's little -wardrobe should be painted of a green colour to imitate a curtain." -The queen's chamber was decorated with historical paintings. Remains -of similar wall decoration are in tolerable preservation still in one -of the vaulted rooms of Dover castle. - -Till the fourteenth century candles were generally placed on a beam -in the hall, whether in the castle of a king or baron. Frames of wood -with prickets were also suspended for the lighting of rooms, or were -fixed to the sides of the fire-place when that was made in the wall -and had a chimney constructed for it. More generally, as regards -halls, the hearth was in the middle of the room and a lantern -just above it in the roof acted as a chimney. Iron chandeliers, or -branches, were ordered to be fixed to the piers of the king's halls at -Oxford, Winchester, and other places. Though the royal table might be -lighted with valuable candlesticks of metal, they were not in general -use till a century later. Besides the numerous rows of tallow candles -pieces of pine wood were lighted and stuck into iron hasps in the -wall, or round the woodwork at the back of the dais to give more -abundant light. - -The wardrobe was a special room fitted with hanging closets, and in -these clothes, hangings, linen, as well as spices and stores, were -preserved. This arrangement was common in all large castles during the -thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. Great preparations -were made in the bedrooms of queens of England to which they retired -before the birth of children. Henry the third directed that his -queen's bedroom should be freshly wainscoted and lined, and that a -list or border should be made, well painted with images of our -Lord and angels, with incense pots scattered over it; that the four -evangelists should be painted in the chamber, and a crystal vase be -made to keep his collection of relics. - -Room panelling was introduced into England during the same reign. -Henry ordered a chamber at Windsor castle to be panelled with Norway -pines specially imported; the men worked day and night. The boards -were radiated and coloured, and two clear days only were allowed for -the fixing and completion. - -[Illustration] - -Edward the first married a Spanish queen, and household furniture was -further developed under his reign in many particulars. Pottery for the -table was imported from Spain, and oriental carpets were introduced; a -luxury naturally borrowed from the extensive use of them by the Moors -in that country. Italian artists had already been invited to England. -Master William, the Florentine, was master of the works at Guildford -castle. John of St. Omer was another foreign artist employed by Henry -the third. To the former of these we probably owe the introduction -into this country of the method of gilding and tooled gold work, with -which wood was decorated. Specimens of the work are still discernible -on the famous coronation chair (of which we give a woodcut, p. 49) in -Westminster abbey; made about the year 1300. - -The decoration and comfort of furnished houses during Henry's reign -was further promoted by the general use of tapestry. Queen Eleanor is -traditionally and incorrectly said to have first brought this kind -of furniture into houses; it was certainly adopted for churches -at earlier periods, and hangings of various materials, stained or -embroidered, were employed as far back as the Anglo-saxon times. -Tapestries and cypress chests to carry them probably became more -general in Eleanor's reign. - -Amongst the particulars collected in the history of the city companies -and by the record commission are lists of the royal plate, showing -that objects of personal use besides table plate were made in silver -and gold. We find mention of pitchers of gold and silver, plates and -dishes of silver, gold salts, alms bowls, silver hannapers or baskets, -a pair of knives with enamelled silver sheaths, a fork of crystal, -and a silver fork with handle of ebony and ivory, combs and -looking-glasses of silver. Edward had six silver forks and one of -gold. Ozier mats were laid over the benches on which he and his -queen sat at meals. These were also put under the feet, especially in -churches where the pavement was of stone or tiles. - -In the furniture of bedrooms linen chests and settles, cupboards and -the beds themselves were of panelled wood. The next woodcut shows the -interior of a well-furnished bedroom, from a manuscript life of St. -Edmund written about the year 1400. - -[Illustration] - -Chests served as tables, and are often represented with chess-boards -on them in old illuminations, and husband and wife sitting on the -chest and using it for the game, which had become familiar to most -European nations. Chests of later date than the time of Edward, of -Italian make, still show the same use of the lids of coffers. As the -tops of the coffers served for tables, and for seats they began in the -thirteenth century to be furnished with a panelled back and arm-pieces -at either end. This development of the chest was equally common in -France. It does not seem to have been placed on legs or to have grown -into a cabinet till a later period. The raised dorsal or back of the -seats in large rooms was a protection from the cold, and in the rude -form of a _settle_ is still the comfort of old farm and inn kitchens -in this country; it became the general type of seats of state in the -great halls, and was there further enlarged by a canopy projecting -forwards to protect the heads of the sitters, panelled also in oak. -In the fifteenth century in many instances this hood or canopy was -attached to the panelling of the upper end of the hall, and covered -the whole of that side of the dais. The backing and canopy were -sometimes replaced by temporary arrangements of hangings, as in -modern royal throne rooms, the cloth being called cloth of estate and -generally embroidered with heraldic devices. Panelled closets called -_dressoirs_ or cupboards, to lock up food, were general in properly -furnished rooms; a cloth was laid on the top at meals, with lights, -and narrow shelves rose in steps at the back for the display of plate, -the steps varying in number according to the rank of the persons -served. - -Tables used at meals were generally frames of boards, either in one -piece or folding in the middle. These were laid on trestles, as in the -woodcut from an early manuscript in the Bodleian library, and could -be removed as soon as the dinner was over, so that the company might -dance and divert themselves. Somewhat later, about the year 1450, the -tables although still on trestles were made more solidly, even for the -use of people of the middle class. - -[Illustration] - -All houses, however, even of kings could not be completely or even -comfortably furnished in such a manner, far less those of feudal -lords, not princes or sovereigns. The kings moved incessantly to their -various strongholds and manors in time of peace to collect dues and -revenues, much of which was paid in kind and could only be profitably -turned to account by carrying the Court to different estates and -living on their produce as long as it lasted. Orders were continually -sent to sheriffs to provide food, linen and other requisites, while -hangings and furniture were carried by the train in its progress. Much -of the household belongings of persons of wealth was, therefore, of -a movable kind. We engrave (p. 53) a very curious table standing on a -pedestal shaped like a chalice, from a manuscript of the beginning of -the fifteenth century. The ladies are playing at cards. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -A most oppressive privilege was exercised in France, which went beyond -the legal right of the lord or owner to the rents of his estates -whether paid in money, agricultural produce, or manufactures carried -on in his towns or villages. This was the _droit de prisage_, a -privilege of seizing furniture of all kinds by the hands of stewards -and others for the use of the king. Chairs, tables, and beds -particularly were included in these requisitions. The _droit -de prisage_ was modified at various times in consequence of the -remonstrance of the commons at so oppressive an exaction; but as late -as the year 1365 Charles the fifth seized beds. In 1313 Philippe le -Bel entertained the English king and his queen at Pontoise with no -other furniture than such as had been seized in this manner. A fire -broke out in the night during their stay, the furniture was consumed, -and the royal personages escaped in their shirts. It was not till 1407 -that this privilege was finally abandoned. - -Though the usual conveyance during the thirteenth century was a horse -litter for women of rank, and men rode on horseback, yet covered -and open carriages or waggons were not unknown in that and in the -following century. A charette containing a number of maids of honour -in attendance on Anne of Bohemia at her public reception in London in -1392, was upset on London bridge from the rush of the crowd to get -a sight of the queen, and her ladies were not without difficulty -replaced. These charettes, cars, or waggons were covered carts on four -wheels, like country waggons of our days, panelled at the sides, and -the tilt covered with leather, sometimes with lead, and painted. - -[Illustration] - -We must not pass without a very brief notice the large constructions -of roofs of wood begun as early as the twelfth, and continued and -improved through the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the period -during which the finest efforts of mediæval Gothic art were embodied -all over the north and over parts of the south of Europe. The older -part of Westminster hall dates from the reign of Rufus, and the walls -of the present building belong to that period, though faced at a later -time. How the roof of the enormous space, sixty-five feet diameter, -was at first constructed there is no evidence to show. It had, -perhaps, a row of arches down the middle, like the great hall of -the palace of Blois, said to be of the thirteenth century, or huge -kingposts supporting the ties between rafters, which in that case may -have been as long as those of the later roof. The present roof, work -of the fourteenth century, marks the beginning of a change in the -style of architecture that accompanied and caused great changes in -furniture and household woodwork. The ties are supported by curved -braces that descend like arches on the stone corbels made in the wall -to receive them. These braces take two flights, being tied back where -they meet by hammer beams into a lower part of the rafter. The lower -brace upholds another upright or collar post which supports the -junction of these beams with the rafter, at its weakest part. A rich -subdivision of upright mullions with cusped arch heads fills up the -spandrels between these braces and the beams they support, and adds -stiffness as well as decoration to the whole. - -Such constructions were not only more scientific than those of older -date, but they are more pompous and complicated, and have a greater -apparent affinity with the architecture of the day. This architectural -character, from the date of the change to the third period of pointed -architecture, began to show itself in furniture and wood structure of -every kind. Until then a certain originality and inventiveness -were preserved in the decoration both of architective woodwork and -furniture, notwithstanding the strictest observance of the rules and -unities of architectural law in buildings, ecclesiastical and civil. -Small sculpture, such as that on ivories and utensils made of metal, -or that which decorated woodwork as well as stone, and the general -forms of furniture, were designed without immediate imitation of -architectonic detail. Figure sculpture of great dignity remains -in ivories of the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, -illustrative of the general character given to things of daily use -which were not, probably, nearly so numerous as in a later age, and -were each carefully elaborated for the person for whom they were -made. We need go no further than some of the objects in the Kensington -museum, such as the statuettes and caskets of ivory, English and -French work of that time. - -We can point to few large pieces of furniture, except the coronation -chair, illustrating the fashions of this early period. Examples of -wooden movable furniture are extremely rare in this country. There are -large semicircular cope chests in the cathedrals of Wells, York, and -other cities. These are merely chests or boxes in which the copes -are spread out full size, one over the other, and the only -decoration consists in the floriated ironwork attached to the hinges. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -We must not omit to remark that some examples of very beautiful -oriental panelling of this period are to be seen in various -collections. The woodcuts represent the fittings of a series of such -panels from a mosque at Cairo, now at South Kensington, n^{o.} 1,051; -and a single piece to show the detail. The delicacy of the carving -and the apparent intricacy of the geometrical arrangement are very -remarkable. - -[Illustration: A royal dinner table, from a manuscript of the -fourteenth century.] - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. - - -In discussing the great wood structures such as screens, house -fronts, roofs, and other large pieces of mechanism, which developed in -boldness and variety in the fifteenth century, we must not forget that -the abundance of oak timber in the north of Europe both suggested much -of this timber art and admitted of bold features of construction from -the size of the logs and the tenacity of the material. A large portion -of England and perhaps an equal proportion of Ireland were covered -with dense forests of oak. The eastern frontier of France, great -portions of Burgundy, and many other districts in France, Germany, -Flanders, and other northern countries, were still forests, and timber -was to be had at low prices and in any quantity. Spanish chestnut had -been introduced probably by the Romans into England. - -Though churches, castles, and manors were built of stone or brick, -or both, yet whole cities seem to have been mainly constructed out -of timber. The London of the fifteenth century, like a hundred other -cities, though abounding in noble churches and in great fortified -palaces, yet presented the aspect of a timber city. The houses -were framed together, as a few still are in some English towns and -villages, of vast posts sixteen to twenty-four inches square in -section, arching outwards and meeting the projecting floor timbers, -and so with upper stories, till the streets were darkened by the -projections. The surfaces of these posts were covered with delicate -tracery, niches and images. In the streets at Chester an open gallery -or passage is left on the first floor _within_ the timbers of the -house fronts. In the court of St. Mary's guild in Coventry, whole -chambers and galleries are supported on vast arches of timber like -bridges. Oriels jutted out under these overhanging stories, and -the spaces between the framing posts were filled in, sometimes with -bricks, sometimes with laths and mortar, or parts (as the century wore -on) more frequently with glass. - -In London and Rouen, in Blois and in Coventry, these angle posts were -filled with niches and statuettes or fifteenth century window tracery -sunk into the surfaces. The dark wooden houses were externally a mass -of imagery. In the great roofs of these centuries, such as the one -spoken of at Westminster, the hammer beams were generally carved into -figures of angels gracefully sustaining the timber behind them -with outstretched wings; and these figures were painted and gilt. -A magnificent example remains intact in the church of Knapton in -Norfolk. - -[Illustration] - -The number of excellent workmen and the size and architectural -character of so much of the woodwork of the day contributed to give -all panelled work, no matter of what description, an architectural -type; and furniture shared in this change. Coffers and chests, as well -as standards or stall-ends in churches, and bench-ends in large rooms -and halls, were designed after the pattern of window tracery. The -panel in the above woodcut from a French chest of this date, is a very -delicate and beautiful example. Little buttresses and pinnacles were -often placed on the angles or the divisions between the panels. At -South Kensington, the buffet, n^{o.} 8,439 and the chest, n^{o.} -2,789, with other pieces are of this kind; also a grand cabinet of -German make in the same collection. This last, n^{o.} 497, is of the -rudest construction, but a few roughly cut lines of moulding and some -effective ironwork give it richness and dignity that are wanting in -many pieces more scientifically made and more decoratively treated. - -The quantity of tapestry employed in these centuries in fitting up -houses and the tents used either during a campaign or in progresses -from one estate to another was prodigious, and kept increasing. -Lancaster entertained the king of Portugal in his tent between Mouçal -and Malgaço, fitted up with hangings of arras "as if he had been at -Hertford, Leicester, or any of his manors." As early as 1313, when -Isabel of Bavaria made her entry into Paris, the whole street of St. -Denis, Froissart tells us, "was covered with a canopy of rich camlet -and silk cloths, as if they had the cloths for nothing, or were at -Alexandria or Damascus. I (the writer of this account) was present, -and was astonished whence such quantities of rich stuffs and ornaments -could have come, for all the houses on each side of the street of St. -Denis, as far as the Châtelet, or indeed to the great bridge, were -hung with tapestries representing various scenes and histories, to -the delight of all beholders." The expense incurred in timber work on -these occasions may be estimated from the long lists of pageants, and -the scale on which each was prepared on this and like occasions. - -Of the early Italian furniture of the mediæval period there is at -South Kensington one fine specimen, a coffer of cypress, covered with -flat surface imagery filled in with coloured wax composition. It dates -from the fourteenth century. The better known Italian furniture of -the quattrocento or "fourteen hundred period," _i.e._ the fifteenth -century, is gilt and painted. The richness of this old work is owing -to the careful preparation of the ground or bed on which the gold is -laid and the way in which the preparation was modelled with the tool. -The old gold is, besides, both thicker and purer, more malleable, and -less liable to suffer from the action of the atmosphere than the gold -we now use for this purpose. The paintings executed on such pieces -of furniture as offered suitable surfaces to the artist, boxes and -coffers (and, for church uses, reliquaries), are equal to the finest -works of that kind and of the same period. - -Many artists worked in this way. Dello Delli was the best known in -regard to such productions. His work became so entirely the fashion -that, according to Vasari, no house was complete without a specimen -of it. Andrea di Cosimo was another. It need not be said that such men -and their contemporaries had a number of pupils similarly employed. -Every piece of painted furniture attributed to Dello Delli cannot be -warranted. There are, however, specimens which we believe to be from -his hand in the Kensington collection, and numbers of fronts and -panels and fragments of great merit which illustrate his style. - -Besides this kind of decoration, the Venetians had derived from Persia -and India another beautiful system of surface ornament; marquetry, a -fine inlay of ivory, metal, and woods, stained to vary the colour. The -work is in geometric patterns only. It is found on the ivory boxes and -other objects sculptured in that material, and attributed to Italian -as well as to Byzantine sources. In the fifteenth century Florence -also came prominently to the front in the manufacture of these and -other rich materials; as well as of ivory inlaid into solid cypress -wood and walnut, known as Certosina work. The style is Indian in -character, and consists in geometric arrangements of stars made of -diamond-shaped pieces: varied with conventional flowers in pots, &c. -The name Certosina is derived from the great Certosa, charterhouse, -or Carthusian monastery between Milan and Pavia: where this kind of -decoration is employed in the choir fittings of the splendid church of -that monastery. - -We are inclined to the belief (as already said) that the manufacture -of geometrical work of this kind was originally imported from Persia -by the Venetians. There are in the Kensington museum some very -interesting old chairs made for the castle of Urbino, and part of the -furniture of Guidobaldo II., whose court, like that of Réné, king -of Provence, was the resort of troubadours, poets, and philosophers. -These chairs are covered with geometric marquetry of white and stained -ivory, &c., the very counterpart of the Bombay work now brought to -this country. That manufacture, in the opinion of Dr. Birdwood, -was also of Persian origin and thence found its way to Bombay. The -Persians continued long into the last century the inlaying of ivory in -walnut wood, and their geometric marquetry is still made. - -The forms of chairs in use in Italy early in the fifteenth century -were revivals of the old Roman folding chair. The pairs of crosspieces -are sometimes on the sides, sometimes set back and front, and in that -case arm and back pieces are added. Generally we may say that the fine -Italian furniture of that day owed its beauty to inlaying, surface -gilding, tooling and painting. Gilt chests and marriage trays, inlaid -tables, and chairs are also to be seen at South Kensington. - -As in Italy, so in England, France, Germany, and later in Spain, the -splendour hitherto devoted to the glory of ecclesiastical furniture, -utensils, or architectural decoration was gradually adopted in the -royal and other castles and houses. State rooms, halls of justice, -sets of rooms for the use of the king or his barons were furnished and -maintained. The large religious establishments also demanded the skill -of artists and workmen, and to a greater extent north than south of -the Alps. Many monastic houses in the north of Europe were seats of -feudal jurisdiction. These communities executed great works in wood, -stall-work, presses, coffers, &c., as large and continuous societies -alone are able to carry through tasks that want much time for -completion. All this helped to encourage the manufacture of woodwork -of the finest kind. Hence the mediæval semi-ecclesiastical character -maintained sway in every art connected with architecture and furniture -longer in northern countries than in Italy, where both old traditions -and monumental remains recalled rather the glories of antique art, and -where the revival of classic learning had begun. - -As regards English art it is certain that, partly from the influence -of foreign queens, partly from foreign wars, and partly from the -incessant intercourse with the rest of Europe kept up by religious -houses, many of the accomplishments of other countries were known and -practised here by foreign or native artists. - -It is true that the wars of the Roses, more bloody and ruinous than -any experienced in this country, delayed that growth of domestic -luxury which might have been expected from the then wealth of England. -But when Henry the seventh established a settled government, and from -his time downwards, the decorations and the accumulation of furniture -in houses, libraries, and collections of works of art rapidly -increased. Many of the books in the "King's library," and many -pictures and movables still in possession of the crown, may be traced -to that day. - -It is difficult, indeed, to imagine the England which Leland saw in -his travels. It must have been full of splendid objects, and during -the reign of Henry the feudal mansions, as well as the numerous royal -palaces of Windsor, Richmond, Havering, and others, were filled with -magnificent furniture. Mabuse and Torrigiano were employed by the -king, and this example found many imitations; artists, both foreign -and English, made secular furniture, as rich and beautiful as that of -the churches and religious houses which covered the country. - -Taste in furniture, as in architecture, both in continental Europe and -in these islands had nevertheless passed the fine period of mediæval -design. The "Gothic" or pointed forms and details had become -uninventive and commonplace. The whole system awaited a change. The -figure sculpture, however, of the latter years of this century, though -life-sized statues had lost much of the dignity and simplicity of the -thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was approaching the realization -of natural form, which it attained in such excellence in the -succeeding century. The ingenuity and raciness of the smaller figure -carving both in stall-work of churches and on the tops and fronts of -boxes and caskets, in panel-work of cabinets or doors, &c., during the -last half of the fifteenth century are scarcely surpassed by the more -academic and classical figure design of the sixteenth. Carvers on all -kinds of wood furniture and decoration of houses delighted in doubling -their figures up into quaint and ingenious attitudes, and if the -architecture was latterly tame, though showy and costly, imagery -continued to be full of individuality and inventiveness. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY. - - -There are few matters regarding art more worthy of consideration than -the narrowness of the limits that bound human invention: or, to speak -more exactly, we should say the simplicity of the laws and principles -in obedience to which the imaginations of men are exercised. The -return of the painters, sculptors, and architects to the old types of -classical art after the reign of the Gothic seems at first sight as -if in the arts there could be nothing new under the sun: as if the -imagination, so fertile in creation during many centuries since the -establishment of Christianity, had been utterly worked out and come -to an end, and that there was nothing left but to repeat and copy what -had been done ages before. - -There is, however, in reality more connection between classic and -mediæval art than appears on the surface, and although all the great -masters of the revival studied eagerly such remains of antique art as -were discovered in Italy during the early years of the renaissance, -they only came into direct contact with or absolute imitation of those -models occasionally; and the works of that age have a grace that is -peculiarly their own, and an inventiveness in painting and sculpture, -if not in architecture, that seems, when we look at such cities as -Venice and Florence, inexhaustible. The renaissance began in Italy -many years before the year 1500. Most changes, indeed, of manners or -arts which are designated by any century are perhaps more correctly -dated twenty years before or after its beginning, and in the notices -which we are here putting together we are compelled to make divisions -of time occasionally overlap each other. - -The revival of learning in Italy was accompanied by other -circumstances which had a powerful influence on the arts, and -particularly on the sumptuary arts of the century. It has been already -remarked that while the nations of Europe were more or less convulsed -with war it was not easy or possible for the inhabitants, even the -wealthy, to do much in furnishing dwelling-houses with any kind of -comfort. Rich furniture consisted in a few costly objects and in -hangings such as could be carried about on sumpter horses or in -waggons, and, with the addition of rough benches, tables, and -bedsteads, could make bare walls look gay and comfortable, and offer -sufficient accommodation in the empty halls of granges and manors -seldom lived in, for the occasions of a visit or a temporary -occupation. Churches indeed were in those ages respected by both sides -in the furious contests that raged throughout Europe. The violation of -holy places was a crime held in abhorrence by all combatants, and -the treasuries and sacristies, therefore, of churches were full of -examples of every kind of accomplishment possessed by the artists -of the day. They contained objects collected there during many -generations, as was the case of shrines like that of the Virgin del -Pillar in Spain, of which the offerings so long preserved have been -very lately sold and dispersed, and represented the art of many -successive ages. But in private houses it was scarcely possible to -have any corresponding richness, though in the instance of kings and -potentates there was often much splendour. - -As in England the fifteenth century saw the close of a series of great -wars and the establishment of one powerful government, so during its -conclusion and the beginning of the next century a similar disorder -gradually gave place to tranquillity in Italy. - -The practices of painting gilt furniture of all kinds, and of -modelling terra-cotta work on the wood, were not altogether new -accomplishments or confined to the artists of one city. When, -therefore, the French having been driven out of Italy, the popes were -in security in Rome and the accomplished Medici family reigned -in Florence, those states as well as Urbino, Ferrara, and other -independent cities were free from the perpetual attitude of defence -against foreign invasion; they could indulge their enthusiasm for -classic art, and the impulse given to the study of it found a ready -response, as great noblemen while building palaces and digging -gardens came upon statues, frescoes, vases, bronzes, and many glorious -remnants of antiquity. In the various Italian states were artists well -skilled and carefully trained, and there was no difficulty in finding -distinguished names with whole schools of enthusiastic admirers behind -them who, with these precious objects in their view, formed their -style on the old classic models. We are to consider such acquirements -here only so far as they came to be applied to secular woodwork (of -which this cornice from Venice is an example) and the objects of daily -use; to coffers, chests, caskets, mirrors, or cabinets, sideboards -of various kinds, seats, tables, carriages and furniture of every -description. - -[Illustration] - -The best artists of the day did not hesitate to give their minds to -the making of woodwork and furniture in various materials and employed -every kind of accomplishment in beautifying them. Of this fine -renaissance period there are so many examples in the South Kensington -collection, and some of them of such excellence, that the student need -scarcely have occasion to travel beyond the limits of that museum to -illustrate the quattrocento and cinquecento furniture and woodwork. - -Many materials were employed by the renaissance artists. Wood first -and principally in making furniture, but decorated with gilding and -paintings; inlaid with agate, carnelian, lapis lazuli and marbles of -various tints; with ivory, tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl; and with -other woods. They also made many smaller objects, such as mirror cases -in iron, damascened or inlaid with gold and silver. For many years, -however, mirrors continued to be of polished metal, the enrichment -being devoted to the outer case. Glass mirrors were not common till a -somewhat later period. - -As the general material of furniture in the sixteenth century -continued to be wood, its chief decoration was sculpture. The number -of remarkable pieces of carved wood furniture belonging to this period -in the museum is considerable. The most striking are the chests, -cassoni, large coffers for containing clothes or ornamental hangings -and stuffs that were kept in them when not in use. Rooms, however -large, of which the walls, floors, and ceilings are decorated, do not -require many substantial objects in addition; and these chests, with -a table and chairs placed against the wall, nearly complete the -requirements of great Italian halls and corridors. - -[Illustration] - -The general form of the carved chests is that of a sarcophagus. They -are supported on claw feet, and have masks, brackets, or caryatid -figures worked into the construction as in the accompanying woodcut, -leaving panels, borders, or other spaces for historic sculpture. The -subjects are sometimes from Scripture, often from the poems of Ovid. -They are carved in walnut wood, which is free in grain and very -tenacious: and the work, like most of the old furniture carving, is -helped out with gilding. Sometimes the ground, at others the relieved -carvings are touched or completely covered with gilding. Most of these -fine chests are in pairs, and probably formed parts of still larger -sets, fours or sixes, according as they were intended for the wall -spaces of larger or smaller rooms or portions of wall between two -doors. - -Carved chests commonly in use, and given to brides as part of their -dowry or as presents to married couples, or simply provided as the -most convenient objects both for receptacles and occasionally -for seats, were often made at less cost in cypress wood. They are -generally decorated with surface designs etched with a pen on the -absorbent grain of that wood, the ground being slightly cut out and -worked over with punches shaped like nail heads, stars, &c. Cypress -chests were especially used for keeping dresses or tapestries; the -aromatic properties of that timber being considered as a specific -against moth. This kind of chest, when intended to hold a bridal -trousseau, was occasionally made with small drawers and receptacles -inside for fans, lace, combs, or other feminine ornaments. Allusions -to cypress chests in England are numerous in the wardrobe and privy -purse accounts of Edward the fourth and his successors. - -The tables of this period are sometimes solid (as n^{o.} 162, which is -covered with spirited designs of mythological subjects). Dinner tables -were "boards" fastened on trestles, according to the old usage already -alluded to, and could be removed when the meal was over; or several -could be laid together, as in our modern dining-room tables, to meet -the demands of the noble hospitality exercised in those days. - -The Italian chairs of the quattrocento period have been spoken of -above. We have, however, another very rich and effective form of -chairs usual in the sixteenth century, and which were in general use -in Venice. In these the seat is fastened into two planks, one before -and one behind, as in the woodcut. The planks are richly carved, and -a third plank is let in to form a back. The several portions, -particularly the back, were sometimes sufficiently thick to admit of -carving in massive relief. The flanks of the back piece are usually -grotesque monsters, and the arms of the owner carved on a scutcheon -in the centre. They seem to have been generally richly gilt. They -also formed the decoration of a great corridor or hall, and were used -without cushions. - -[Illustration] - -The frames of pictures were bold and rich. Those of the previous -century had been mostly imitative of small Gothic shrines, being -generally for religious subjects and for use in churches or oratories. -In the cinquecento period they were square panels, carved and richly -gilt. There are in the Kensington museum remarkable examples of frames -made for mirrors, either for the sitting-rooms or saloons of the lady -of the house, or for her bedroom. Three of these are type pieces of -such productions. N^{o.} 7695 is a square frame carved in walnut, -standing on a foot, and meant to be carried about. From the daisies in -relief on the foot it may perhaps be ascribed to Marguerite of Valois, -and have been used in the court of Provence. Nothing in the collection -surpasses the elegance and perfection of the ornamental work on the -mouldings. The mirror itself is of polished metal. Another is in a -circular frame, n^{o.} 7694, shaped like a shield, and meant to be -hung up. It was probably made for a duchess of Ferrara. There are -classical details of architectonic kind on the edges of the carving, -which is highly finished. The mirror itself is of metal, and the back -has figures on it in relief and is solidly gilt. The third of these, -n^{o.} 7226, is larger. In design it is like a monumental mural -tablet, with a carved rich finish on the four sides, and the mirror -furnished with a sliding cover in the form of a medallion, containing -a female head of singular nobleness and beauty. In this case the -material is walnut relieved by broad surfaces of inlaid wood. We may -also mention the superb Soltykoff mirror, n^{o.} 7648. This is an -example of metal work throughout, the case, stand, and sliding cover -being of iron damascened with gold and silver in every variety of that -costly process. - -[Illustration] - -Some of the richest pieces of carved walnut furniture belonging -to this period are the bellows. As these are characteristic of the -Italian style of the period in furniture of various kinds, we give -woodcuts of two examples in the South Kensington collection. They -are generally of walnut touched with gilding; and in the form still -familiar to ourselves, which is as old as the classic times. - -[Illustration] - -Besides furniture carved in this way out of solid wood, there were -other materials used and other methods of decorating household -furniture. The tarsia or inlaid work has been alluded to. The -first methods were by geometrical arrangements of small dies; but -magnificent figure designs had been executed in inlaid wood in the -early period of the renaissance, and before it. Work of this kind was -made in two or three woods, and much of it is in pine or cypress. The -large grain is used to express lines of drapery and other movements by -putting whole folds or portions of a dress or figure with the grain -in one direction or another, as may be required. The picture is thus -composed of pieces inclined together; a few bold lines incised and -blackened give such outlines of the form as are not attainable by the -other method, and slight burning with an iron is sometimes added to -produce tone or shadow. - -"'Tarsie' or 'Tarsiatura,'" says Mrs. Merrifield, "was a kind of -mosaic in woods. This consisted in representing houses and perspective -views of buildings, by inlaying pieces of wood of various colours and -shades into panels of walnut wood. Vasari speaks rather slightingly of -this art, and says that it was practised chiefly by those persons who -possessed more patience than skill in design; that although he had -seen some good representations in figures, fruits, and animals, yet -the work soon becomes dark, and was always in danger of perishing -from the worms and by fire. Tarsia work was frequently employed in -decorating the choirs of churches as well as the backs of seats and -the wainscoting. It was also used in the panels of doors." - -Another method of ornamentation dependent on material that came into -use in this century was the Pietra Dura or mosaic panelling of hard -pebbles. The work is laborious and costly. Not only are the materials -(agate, carnelian, amethyst and marbles of all colours) expensive, but -each part must be ground laboriously to an exact shape and the whole -mosaic fitted together, a kind of refinement of the old marble work -called Alexandrinum. Besides being formed into marble panels for table -tops and cabinet fronts, pietra dura was let into wood, and helped -out with gay colours the more sombre walnut or ebony base of the -furniture. - -Vasari, speaking of particular pieces of furniture of his day, -mentions a "splendid library table" made at the expense and by the -order of Francesco de' Medici in Florence. This table was "constructed -of ebony," that is, veneered with ebony, "divided into compartments by -columns of heliotrope, oriental jasper, and lapis lazuli, which have -the bases and capitals of chased silver. The work is furthermore -enriched with jewels, beautiful ornaments of silver, and exquisite -little figures, interspersed with miniatures and terminal figures of -silver and gold, in full relief, united in pairs. There are, besides, -other compartments formed of jasper, agates, heliotropes, sardonyxes, -carnelians, and other precious stones." This piece was the work of -Bernardo Buontalenti. Another piece of such work is described as a -table "wholly formed of oriental alabaster, intermingled with great -pieces of carnelian, jasper, heliotrope, lapis, and agate, with other -stones and jewels, worth twenty thousand crowns." Another artist, -Bernardino di Porfirio of Leccio, executed an "octangular table of -ebony and ivory inlaid with jaspers." This precious manufacture has -been patronised in the grand ducal factories down to recent times, and -is continued in the royal establishments of the king of Italy. - -A feature which was strongly developed in the sixteenth century -furniture is the architectural character of the outlines. It has -already been observed that in the fifteenth century, chests, screens, -stall fronts, doors and panelling followed or fell into the prevailing -arrangements of architectural design in stonework, such as window -tracery, or wall tracery. But in the cinquecento furniture an -architectural character, not proper to woodwork for any constructive -reasons, was imparted to cabinets, chests, &c. They were artificially -provided with parts that imitated the lines, brackets, and all the -details of classic entablatures which have constructive reasons in -architecture, but which, reduced to the proportions of furniture, have -not the same propriety. These subdivisions brought into use the art of -"joinery." The parts obviously necessary for the purpose of framing -up wood, whether a box or chest, a door, a piece of panelling, or a -chair, offer certain opportunities for mouldings or carvings; some -are the thicker portions forming the frames, some the thin flat -boards that fill up the spaces. To add a variety of mouldings, such as -subdivide the roofs of temples or their peristyles, is, of course, -to depart from the carpenter's province and work, and rather to -take furniture out of its obvious forms for the express purpose of -impressing on it the renaissance type. - -[Illustration: Knife case. Dated 1564.] - -The artists of that time did this with the object of designing "in -character," and special models, such as the old triumphal arches, and -sarcophagi, at Rome, were in view in these designs. On both arches -and tombs sculptured bas-reliefs abounded. Figures reclined over the -arches, and were arranged in square compositions in the panels, for -which the upper stories of the arches made provision. The renaissance -cabinets fell into modifications of this ideal. A century later they -grew into house fronts, and showed doors, arches, and balustrades -inside, with imitative paved floors, looking-glasses set at angles -of 45°, so as to make reflections of these various parts; and in this -humorous fashion the inside of a walnut or ebony cabinet was turned -into the model of an Italian villa. - -Again, in place of the running foliated borders and mouldings having -a continuous design, or of compositions of foliage, animals, &c., -forming in each arch moulding or cornice line a homogeneous line or -circle, the renaissance arabesques introduced an entirely new method -of decoration. In arabesque ornament all sorts of natural objects are -grafted on a central stalk, or, as in the best work, on something like -the stem of a candelabrum. The resources of this method are limited -only by the fancy and skill of the artist, who grafts here a mask, -there a leaf on his stem, and so on. The temptation is the license -and discordance that come in when no unity is needed in a piece of -ornament, and no continuous effort of mind required to think out and -execute one definite idea in designing it. The central stem leads -to an exact balance or reversal of one half of each element in -the ornament, so that one half only of a panel or border has to be -_designed_. In the hands of great artists this kind of ornamentation -has been used with consummate grace. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -THE RENAISSANCE IN ENGLAND, FLANDERS, FRANCE, GERMANY, AND SPAIN. - - -In the foregoing sketch of the furniture, designs, and manufactures -of central Italy, we have described the history of contemporaneous -furniture throughout Europe. Pope Leo the tenth gave every -encouragement to the reviving arts in Rome, and left that capital the -great nursery of art down to our day. To Italy the great princes -of Europe sent the most promising artists of their dominions, -or encouraged such resort. Most of these men were architects and -sculptors. - -Classical learning and splendid living were both encouraged by Henry -the eighth. He is, probably, to be credited with the impulse given -to the court and the country in the direction of the arts and -accomplishments of Italy. If Jean de Mabuse had been patronised by -Henry the seventh, his successor offered tempting terms to Primaticcio -to exchange the service of his brother king, Francis, for his own. -Other artists, contemporaries of Raphael and his scholars, found their -way to England; to these we must add the great master of the German or -Swiss school, Holbein. That the artists both of Holbein's and of the -Italian schools designed furniture in this country we have proofs in -the drawing for a panelled chimney-piece now in the British museum, -and the woodwork of King's college chapel in Cambridge. Another piece -of furniture of this date, showing the mixed character of Italian -and Holbeinesque design, is the very fine "Tudor" cabinet at South -Kensington. - -Though the court of Henry and the palaces of his wives were furnished -with splendour, and works of art, especially those of the gold and -silversmith, and jewellery, found their way from foreign parts to such -great houses, the general manners of the country changed less in these -respects than was the case in France and the more wealthy states and -courts of Germany. In the portrait pictures of Henry and his family we -see furniture of a renaissance character, but in the great monuments -of the woodwork of the day the old style prevailed throughout the -reign. The roofs, magnificent specimens of wood construction, were -still subdivided, and supported by king posts, queen posts, hammer -beams, arches connecting these portions and tracery panels in the -spandrels, as in the two previous centuries. All parts were carved and -coloured. The architecture of country houses began to change from -the old form of a castle or a fortress to that of the beautiful and -characteristic style to which we give the name of Tudor. Moats were -retained, but still the principal features of the building were the -depressed arches and perpendicular window mullions that had been -long familiar in England, and were suggested by the wooden houses so -general in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. The -woodwork also and the panelling of halls and chambers retained the -upright lines and mouldings forming the various "linen" patterns. -Leafwork and heads, busts of the reigning princes, or of heroes -such as the Cæsars, filled up the more ornamental sections, giving a -certain classical element which was not fully developed till later: -and most of the renaissance ornamentation of this reign has a Flemish -rather than an Italian character. The woodcuts on the next page show a -series of panels of different countries, many of which are to be found -introduced with slight variations in English work of about the same -period. - -Flanders was in advance of this country in renaissance art. This -remark extends to ornament of all kinds, whether of church woodwork, -glass-painting, or domestic furniture. Still the Flemish work of this -renaissance, or (speaking of England) this early Tudor period retains -a mixture of details of the pointed style that makes us sometimes -doubtful how to characterise the style of individual pieces. We may -point to sideboards and chests in illustration. Belgium abounds in -examples of this transition period. - -[Illustration: English, 15th century.] - -[Illustration: Flemish, 16th century.] - -[Illustration: French, 16th century.] - -[Illustration: German, 15th century.] - -[Illustration: Italian, 16th century.] - -In France, the most advanced and most luxurious and cultivated of the -transalpine courts, the renaissance art had advanced far beyond that -of England. Not only had Francis the first and the Medici princesses -invited famous artists out of Italy, but they aimed at imitating -Florentine luxuries and refinements as completely as they could. -Admirable schools of ornamental art, such as that of the Limoges -enamellers and carvers in ivory, were and had been long established -in France. Classic sculpture was produced of great merit in all -materials. Primaticcio and Cellini founded new schools of architects, -painters, and sculptors in France. They employed pupils, and the most -promising found their way to Rome and Florence, associated themselves -with the great masters then practising, and brought back all the -instruction they could obtain. - -[Illustration] - -Jean Goujon stands at the head of these French masters. Besides being -a sculptor and architect, there is little doubt of his having designed -and even sculptured wood furniture. Probably the carved woodwork of -the king's bedroom and adjoining rooms in the old Louvre are by his -hand. Bachelier, of Toulouse, did the same, and pieces are attributed -to him now in the Kensington Museum. Philibert de L'Orme was another -artist in a similar field. Both Goujon and Bachelier showed the -influence of the great Italian masters in their work. The table -engraved (p. 81) is a very elegant example of French sixteenth century -furniture. - -[Illustration] [SEMPER FESTINA LENTE 1577 A. REID. DEL.] - -The woodwork in the renaissance houses--the panelling and fittings -of the rooms--was designed by the architect, and was full of quaint, -sometimes extravagant imagery. For example, the architectural and -decorative plates of Jacques Androuet du Cerceau will give some idea -of the dependence of all these details on the architects of the day. -This author published designs for marquetry or wood mosaics, as well -as for all sorts of woodwork. A glance at the heavy cabinets of the -later sixteenth century, of French origin, will show how completely -great pieces of furniture fell into the same character of forms. -Shelves are supported on grotesque figures, while in the mouldings, -instead of simple running lines worked with the plane, as in fifteenth -century woodwork, we see the egg and tongue, acanthus leaves, dentils -and other members of classical architecture, constantly recurring. The -ornaments of French woodworkers show a fondness for conventional bands -or straps interspersed with figures and other ornaments. The panel, -of which we give a woodcut, is French, and dated 1577. It contains -armorial bearings and a monogram, said to be of the Aldine family. In -1577, however, Aldus Manutius the elder was dead, and his son did not -live in France. - -Germany and Spain took up the renaissance art in a still more Italian -spirit than England or France. Parts of Italy as well as Spain were -under the same ruler; they both, as far as regards art, felt the -influence of powerful imperial patronage. We are only concerned with -their art here as it refers to woodwork. German wood carvers were -more quaint, minute, and redundant as to decoration. Something of the -vigour, manliness, and inexhaustible sense of humour of the Germans -characterises their woodwork, as it does other art, of which ornament -forms the main feature. The well-known "Triumph of Maximilian," though -a woodcut only, may be taken as a type of German treatment. The great -cities of the empire are full of carved woodwork, house fronts, and -gables. Timber was abundant. The imagery of the period, in wood as -in stone, is intentionally quaint, contorted, humorous. It would -be essentially ugly but for the inexhaustible fecundity of thought, -allegory, and satire that pervades it. It should be added also that -designers and architects had an immense sense of dignity, which we -recognise immediately when we see their architectural compositions as -a whole. Depths and hollows, points of light, prominences and relative -retirement of parts in their arrangements of carved ornament, were -matters thoroughly understood; and they succeed in imparting that -general agreeableness which we call "effect" to the mind of the -observers. - -As regards Spanish art we cannot do better than adopt the statements -of Señor J. F. Riaño, who says that "the brilliant epoch of sculpture -in wood belongs to the sixteenth century, and was due to the great -impulse it received from the works of Berruguete and Felipe de -Borgoña. He was the chief promoter of the Italian style, and the choir -of the cathedral of Toledo, where he worked so much, is the finest -specimen of the kind in Spain. Toledo, Seville, and Valladolid were at -that time great productive and artistic centres. As a specimen of wood -carving of the Italian renaissance period, applied to an object of -furniture, the magnificent wardrobe by Gregorio Pardo (1549) outside -the chapter house at Toledo may be mentioned as one of the most -beautiful things of its kind. These various styles of ornamentation -were applied to the cabinets 'Bufetes' of such varied form and -materials which were so much the fashion in the sixteenth and -seventeenth centuries. The most characteristic of Spain are such as -are called 'Vargueños.' These cabinets are decorated outside with fine -ironwork, and inside with columns of bone painted and gilt. The -other cabinets or escritoires belonging to that period, which are so -frequently met with in Spain, were to a large extent imported from -Germany and Italy, _while others were made in Spain in imitation of -these_" (the italics are ours), "and as the copies were very similar -it is difficult to classify them. It may be asserted, however, that -cabinets of inlaid wood were made in great perfection in Spain at the -end of the sixteenth century, for in a memorial written by a maker -of tapestry, Pedro Gretierez, who worked for queen Isabella, he says, -'The escritoires and cabinets brought from Germany are worth 500, -600, and 700 reales each, and those of the same kind made in Spain by -Spaniards are to be had for 250 and 300 reales.' Besides these inlaid -cabinets others must have been made in the sixteenth century inlaid -with silver. An edict was issued in 1594 prohibiting, with the utmost -rigour, the making and selling of this kind of merchandise, in order -not to increase the scarcity of silver. The edict says that 'no -cabinets, desks, coffers, brasiers, shoes, tables, or other articles -decorated with stamped, raised, carved, or plain silver, should be -manufactured.'" - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -TUDOR AND STUART STYLES. - - -The list of reigns supplies more convenient dates than the beginning -or the end of a century for marking changes of national tastes in such -matters as furniture. The names of kings or queens are justly given to -denote styles, whether of architecture, dress, or personal ornaments, -and utensils of the household. Society in most countries adopts those -habits that are first taken up by the sovereign. In England, the reign -of Elizabeth was pre-eminently a period during which the tastes, -even the fancies, of the queen were followed enthusiastically by her -people. Elizabethan is the name of the style of architecture gradually -developed during her reign. Italian taste, though not perhaps so -pure as it had been a few years earlier, had become far more general; -classical details, however, were mixed even more in England than in -other countries (Flanders excepted) with relics of older styles, the -love of which was still strong in this country. The fireplaces and the -panelling of our old houses, Crewe hall, Speke in Lancashire, Haddon -hall in Derbyshire, Kenilworth castle, Raglan castle, and many other -old buildings, are thoroughly characteristic of this mixed classical -revival. The fashion is quaint and grotesque, the figure sculpture -being good enough to look well in the form of caryatid monsters, half -men, half terminal posts or acanthus foliations, but not sufficiently -correct or graceful to stand altogether alone. Specimens, however, -of very good work can be pointed out, and we give here some of the -details of a panelled room brought lately from Exeter, and now in the -South Kensington collection. - -We may say that the character of the woodwork throughout this period -consists in actual architectural façades or portions of façades, -showy arrangements wherever they are possible of the "five orders" of -architecture, or of pedimental fronts. Doorways and chimney fronts -are the principal opportunities in interiors for the exercise of this -composing skill. Panelling remained in use in the great halls and most -of the chambers of the house, but the linen pattern, so graceful and -effective, went out of fashion. The angles of the rooms, the cornices, -and spaces above the doors were fitted with groups of architectural -cornice mouldings, consisting of dentil, egg and tongue, and running -moulds, and sometimes room walls were divided into panels by regular -columns. - -[Illustration] - -Heraldry, with rich carved mantlings and quaint forms of scutcheons -(the edges notched and rolled about as if made of the notched edges -of a scroll of parchment), was a frequent ornament. Grotesque terminal -figures, human-headed, supported the front of the dresser--the chief -furniture of the dining-room and of the cabinet. Table supports and -newels of stair rails grew into heavy acorn-shaped balusters. In the -case of stair balusters, these were often ornamented with well-cut -sculpture of fanciful and heraldic figures. Inlaid work also began to -be used in room-panelling as well as furniture; bed heads and testers, -chest fronts, cabinets, &c., were inlaid, but scarcely with delicacy, -during the early Elizabethan period. The art was developed during the -reign of James, when, in point of fact, the larger number of the Tudor -houses were erected. - -When the Tudor period was succeeded by that of the Stuarts the same -general characteristics remained, but all the forms of carving grew -heavier and the execution coarser. The table legs, baluster newels, -and cabinet supports, had enormous acorn-shaped masses in the middle. -The objects themselves, such as the great hall tables, instead of -being moveable on trestles, became of unwieldy size and weight. - -The general character of Flemish work was much of the same kind and -form. It is not easy to distinguish the nationality of pieces of -Flemish and English oak furniture of this period. The Flemings, -however, retained a higher school of figure carvers, and their -church-stall work and some of their best things are of a higher stamp -and better designed; and where figure sculpture was employed this -superiority is always apparent. A good example of Flemish panelling -can be studied in the doorway at South Kensington, n^{o.} 4329. Their -furniture is represented by an excellent specimen, amongst others, of -this mixed period in the cabinet, n^{o.} 156. Though large and heavy, -and divided into massive parts, the treatment of ornament is well -understood on such pieces. The scroll-work is bold but light, and the -general surface of important mouldings or dividing members is not cut -up by the ornamentation. The panels are very generally carved with -graceful figure subjects, commonly biblical. As the years advanced -into the seventeenth century Flemish work became bigger and less -refined. Diamond-shaped panels were superimposed on the square, turned -work was split and laid on, drop ornaments were added below tables and -from the centres of the arches of arched panels; all these unnecessary -ornaments were mere additions and encumbrances to the general -structure. - -[Illustration] - -Our own later Jacobean or Stuart style borrowed this from the Flemish. -The Flemings and the Dutch had long imported woodwork into England, -and it is to that commerce that we may trace the greater likeness -between the late Flemish renaissance carving and corresponding English -woodwork, than between the English and the French. Dutch designs -in furniture, though allied to the Flemish, were swelled out into -enormous proportions. The huge wardrobe cabinets made by the Dutch of -walnut wood with ebony inlaid work and waved ebony mouldings are still -to be met with. The panels of the fronts are broken up into numerous -angles and points. - -In France the fine architectural wood construction of the style of -Philibert de l'Orme and so many great masters maintained itself, and -a number of fine cabinets and sideboards in various collections attest -the excellence of the work. The cabinet on the opposite page (n^{o.} -2573 in the Kensington museum) is of late French sixteenth century -work, and combines the characteristics of the heavy furniture made in -the north of Europe with a propriety of treatment in the ornamentation -of mouldings and cornices peculiar to French architects, who continued -to design such structures for the houses they built and fitted up. The -descendants of Catherine de' Medicis and their generation were trained -by Italian artists and altogether in Italian tastes, and no great -change occurred in France in woodwork or furniture till the sixteenth -century had closed. - -In German and in Italian furniture the principal changes were in the -direction of veneered and marquetry work. The same vigorous quaintness -continued to distinguish German decorative detail as has been already -noticed. - -The Italians carved wood during the later sixteenth and the whole of -the seventeenth centuries with extraordinary grace and vigour. The -next woodcut, a pedestal in oak, shows their power in hard material: -and smaller objects, such as the frames of pictures, were cut out in -great sweeping leaves, perhaps of the acanthus, showing an ease and -certainty in the artist that look as if he were employed upon some -substance more yielding than the softest wood. Chairs were cut in -the same rich style, and this luxurious carving was not unfrequently -applied to the decoration of state carriages. Venice maintained a -pre-eminence in this perhaps in a greater degree than Florence, though -in the valley of the Arno the willow, lime, sycamore, and other soft -white woods were to be had in abundance, and invited great freedom in -carving. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -We may now treat of an important epoch in the history of modern -furniture. Venice was the seat of the manufacture of glass. In the -sixteenth century workmen had received state protection for the -manufacture of mirrors, which till that time had been mere hand -mirrors and made of mixed metals highly polished. Gilt wood frames -were extensively manufactured for these Venetian looking-glasses, -which found their way all over Europe. Besides gilt frames, gilt -chairs, carved consoles, and other highly ornate furniture were -introduced as the century went on, and most of this took its origin -from Venice. The woodcut represents a small frame, n^{o.} 1605, at -South Kensington. - -Another remarkable class of gilt woodwork, for which Florence -and other cities had found trained carvers, was the framework of -carriages. In England, France, Germany, and Italy carriages during the -seventeenth century were stately, and certainly wonderful pieces of -furniture. Examples of these showy carriages exist still. There is a -collection belonging to the royal family of Portugal, now preserved -at Lisbon, one or two in the museum of the hôtel de Cluny at Paris, -dating from the time of Martin and painted by him, and there are a few -carriages of old date at Vienna and probably in some private -houses. The state-coach of the Speaker is an English example of the -seventeenth century. - -Germany differed less from Italy even than France in wood carving, -interior room fittings, and the frequent pedimental compositions -containing grotesques, or heraldic achievements on a scale of -sumptuous display. The German princes were many of them skilful and -intelligent patrons of art, and made collections in their residences. -A well-known piece belonging to the early seventeenth century -is preserved in the royal museum at Berlin. This is known as the -Pomeranian art cabinet. It is 4 ft. 10 in. high, 3 ft. 4 in. wide by 2 -ft. 10 in. deep, made of ebony with drawers of sandal wood lined with -red morocco leather, and is mounted with silver and pietra dura work, -and fitted inside with utensils of various kinds. The chair, of which -we give a woodcut, is German of about the same date. - -[Illustration] - -In the west of Europe, during the seventeenth century, marquetry -was extensively used, and became the leading feature of furniture -decoration. Inlaying had long been in use; but the new marquetry was -a picturesque composition, a more complete attempt at pictorial -representation. It comes before us in old furniture under various -forms, and many examples of it may be studied in different -collections. In this country we may consider it mainly as an imported -art of the reign of William and Mary, when Dutch marquetry furniture -became the fashion in the form of bandy-legged chairs, upright clock -fronts, secrétaires or bureaux, or writing cabinets which were closed -in the upper and middle parts with doors, and other pieces that -offered surfaces available for such decoration. The older designs on -work of this kind represent tulips and other flowers, foliage, birds, -&c., all in gay colours, generally the self colours of the woods -used. Sometimes the eyes and other salient points are in ivory -or mother-of-pearl. In France, in the earlier marquetry designs, -picturesque landscapes, broken architecture, and figures are -represented. Colours are occasionally stained on the wood. Ivory and -ebony were favourite materials; as also in Germany and in Italy. - -It is to be noted that as the vigour of the great sixteenth century -movement died out, the mania for making furniture in the form of -architectural models died out also; nor do we find it becoming a -fashion again till quite modern times, under the Gothic and other -revivals at the end of the last and the beginning of the present -century. The architectural idea was in itself full of grandeur, and -it was productive of very beautiful examples in the sarcophagus-shaped -chests or cassoni, and in cabinet work, though the façades of temples -and the vaults and columns of triumphal arches in Rome do not bear -to be too completely reduced to such small proportions. With the -introduction of marquetry into more general use we recognise not -only a new or renewed method of decoration, but a changed ideal of -construction. Boxes, chests, tables, cabinets, &c., were conceived -as such. They were made more convenient for use, and were no longer -subdivided by architectural mouldings and columns, all so much extra -work added to the sides and fronts. - -About the middle of the seventeenth century a kind of work altogether -new in the manufactory of modern furniture made its appearance under -the reign of Louis the fourteenth of France. That king rose to a -position in Europe that no monarch of modern times had occupied -before, and the great ministers of his reign had the wisdom to -take special measures for the establishment of the various arts and -manufactures in which either the Italians or Flemings excelled the -French as well as other nations. Colbert, his minister of finance, -amongst his commercial reforms of learned societies and schools of -art, founded in 1664 an "Academie royale de peinture d'architecture -et de sculpture." It was into this that the designers of architecture, -woodwork, ornament or furniture, were admitted. He established also -the famous factory of the "Gobelins" for making pictorial tapestry. -The place took its name from the brothers Gobelin, Flemings, who had a -dyeing-house in the Rue Mouffetard. Lebrun, the painter, was the first -head of it. Another important name is that of Jean Lepautre. He has -left numerous designs of ornament behind him for panelling, mirror -frames, carriages, &c. Lepautre was a pupil of Adam Philippon. This -artist, whose chief calling was that of a joiner and cabinet maker, -has also left designs. - -To Colbert is due the credit of pushing forward the renewal or -completion of the royal palaces; especially the château of Versailles. -For the furniture of this palace we find the new material employed, -namely, boule marquetry, which owes its name to the maker. The -orthography of proper names was still often unsettled at that time, -and we find the name variously spelt. The correct way seems to have -been Boulle; but we shall retain the more usual mode, both for the -artist and for his work. André Charles Boule was born in 1642, and -made the peculiar kind of veneered work composed of tortoiseshell and -thin brass, to which are sometimes added ivory and enamelled metal; -brass and shell, however, are the general materials. Boule was made -head of the royal furniture department and was lodged in the Louvre. A -very interesting early specimen of this work is now at Windsor -castle, and other early pieces belong to Sir Richard Wallace. The date -attributed to the first makes it doubtful whether Boule may not have -seen the same sort of work practised in other workshops. This kind of -marquetry has, however, been assigned by general consent to Boule. - -In the earlier work of Boule the inlay was produced at great cost, -owing to the waste of valuable material in cutting; and the shell is -left of its natural colour; in later work the manufacture was more -economical. Two or three thicknesses of the different material were -glued or stuck together and sawn through at one operation. An -equal number of figures and of matrices or hollow pieces exactly -corresponding were thus produced, and by counter-charging two or more -designs were obtained by the same sawing. These are technically known -as "boule and counter," the brass forming the groundwork and the -pattern alternately. In the later or "new boule," the shell is laid on -a gilt ground or on vermilion. The brass is elaborately chased with a -graver. - -Besides these plates of brass for marquetry ornaments, Boule, who -was a sculptor of no mean pretensions, founded and chased up feet, -edgings, bracket supports, &c., to his work in relief, or in the -round, also in brass. The original use of these parts was to protect -the edges and angles, and bind the thin inlaid work together where it -was interrupted by angles in the structure. Afterwards brass mounts, -more or less relieved, were added to enrich the flat designs of -the surfaces. Classical altars, engraved or chased as mere surface -decoration, would receive the addition of claw feet actually relieved. -Figures standing on such altars, pedestals, &c., were made in relief -more or less bold. In this way Boule's later work is not only a -brilliant and rich piece of surface decoration, but its metallic parts -are repoussé or embossed with thicknesses of metal ornament. In boule -work all parts of the marquetry are held down by glue to the bed, -usually of oak. The metal is occasionally fastened down by small brass -pins or nails, which are hammered flat and chased over so as to be -imperceptible. - -[Illustration] - -In England, during the reign of Charles the second and of James, -French furniture was imported; the old Tudor oak lingered in country -houses. Boule hardly found its way till the following century to -England. Splendid silver furniture consisting of plates embossed and -repoussé, heightened with the graver and of admirable design, was -occasionally made for the Court and for great families. Wood carving, -in the manner of the school of Sir Christopher Wren, as in the bracket -here shown, was long continued in connexion with architecture and -furniture. Another style was carried to the highest pitch of technical -execution and finish, as well as of truth of natural forms in the -carving of Grinling Gibbons. This artist was English, but partially of -Dutch descent. He carved foliage, birds, flowers, busts and figures, -pieces of drapery, &c., with astonishing dexterity. We find his -work principally on mirror frames, wall panels, chimney pieces, &c. -Specimens may be seen over the communion table of St. James's church, -Westminster, and in the choir of St. Paul's cathedral. The finest -examples known are probably the carved work at Petworth house in -Sussex, and at Chatsworth. His material is generally lime and other -white woods. The flowers and foliage of his groups or garlands sweep -round in bold and harmonious curves, making an agreeable whole, though -for architectural decorative carving no work was ever so free from -conventional arrangements. His animals or his flowers appear to be so -many separate creations from nature, laid or tied together separately, -though in reality formed out of a block, and remaining still portions -of a group cut in the solid wood. - -[Illustration: A. REID PEARSON, S.C.] - -Gibbons died in 1721. Walpole mentions Watson as having been his pupil -and assistant at Chatsworth. Drevot of Brussels and Laurens of Mechlin -were other pupils: the former did not survive him. His school had -many followers, for we find the acanthus carvings on mouldings, round -doorways and chimney pieces, down to the middle of the eighteenth -century, executed in England with a masterly hand. Specimens of such -work have been recently acquired in the Kensington museum, the fruits -of the demolition of old London, continually in progress. The border -of this page represents one of these admirable pieces; a door and -frame from a house in Lincoln's-inn. Nothing can surpass the perfect -mastery of execution. All the work is cut clean and sharp out of wood -which admits of no tentative cuts, and requires no rubbing down with -sand paper, and in which errors are not to be repaired. Lengths of -these mouldings were worked off by hand, evidently without hesitation -and without mishap. Country houses abound with this fine though -unpretending work, and give ample evidence of the existence of a -school of fine workmen, carvers at the command of the architects of -the day. - -We may here revert to an important addition to room furniture, which -became European during this century. Mirrors had been made from the -earliest times in polished metal, but were first made of glass at -Venice. In 1507 Andrea and Dominico, two glass workers of Murano, -declared before the Council of ten that they had found a method of -making "good and perfect mirrors of crystal glass." A monopoly of -the right of manufacture was granted to the two inventors for twenty -years. In 1564, the mirror makers became a distinct guild of glass -workers. The plates were not large: from four to five feet are the -largest dimensions met with till late in the eighteenth century. They -were commonly bevilled on the edges. The frames in soft wood (as -in the woodcut, p. 100) are specimens of free carving during the -seventeenth century. Both in Venice and in Florence soft woods, such -as willow or lime, were used. The mirror-plates were, at first, square -or oblong. Towards the end of the century we find them shaped at the -top. In the eighteenth century they were generally shaped at the top -and bottom. Figures were sunk in the style of intaglio or gem cutting -on the back of the glass and left with a dead surface, the silver -surface of the mercury showing through as the mirror is seen from the -front. - -The looking-glasses made in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries -by colonies of Venetian workmen in England and France had the plates -finished by an edge gently bevilled of an inch in width, following -the form of the frame, whether square or shaped in curves. This gives -preciousness and prismatic light to the whole glass. It is of great -difficulty in execution, the plate being held by the workman over his -head and the edge cut by grinding. The feats of skill of this kind in -the form of interrupted curves and short lines and angles are rarely -accomplished by modern workmen, and the angle of the bevil itself -is generally too acute, whereby the prismatic light produced by this -portion of the mirror is in violent and too showy contrast to the -remainder. - -[Illustration] - -In England, looking-glasses came into general use soon after the -Restoration. "Sir Samuel Morland built a fine room at Vauxhall in -1667, the inside all of looking-glass, and fountains, very pleasant -to behold. It stands in the middle of the garden covered with Cornish -slate, on the point whereof he placed a Punchinello." At about the -same period the house of Nell Gwynne, "the first good one as we enter -St. James' Square from Pall Mall, had the back room on the ground -floor entirely lined with looking-glass within memory," writes -Pennant, "as was said to have been the ceiling." "La rue St. -André-des-arts," says Savarin, speaking of Paris in the seventeenth -century, "eut le premier café _orne de glaces_ et de tables de marbre -à peu près comme on les voit de nos jours." - -[Illustration] - -During the seventeenth century, tapestry, the material in use for -hanging and decorating the walls of splendid rooms in France, was made -also in this country. Factories were set up at Mortlake, where several -copies were made of the Raphael tapestries, the cartoons of which were -in this country; and in Soho fields. Sometimes tapestry was hung on -bare walls; occasionally it was strained over the older panelled work -of the days of the Tudor and Stuart sovereigns, the fruitful period of -country house architecture in England. - -[Illustration: An English table and chairs of the year 1633, from a -woodcut of that date.] - -With a woodcut (on preceding page) of a bedroom holy-water vessel we -finish the account of this period. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -FURNITURE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. - - -As the eighteenth century draws on, we arrive at furniture of which -examples are more readily to be met with, and we are reminded of -houses and rooms more or less unaltered which have come under general -observation. - -The fashions were led in France. Boule work grew into bigger and more -imposing structures as the manufacture passed into the hands of a -greater number of workmen. Commodes or large presses were made with -edgings and mounts, in the form of "egg and tongue" and other classic -or renaissance mouldings. The tops were formed into one or three -pedestals, to hold clocks and candelabra. Other changes were -introduced to carry out the taste for gilding which then prevailed, -and the broken shell-shaped woodwork, popularly known as Louis quinze -work, began to be adopted for the frames of large glasses and the -mouldings of room panels. The panels grew tall, were arched or shaped -at the top, and occupied the wall space from the dado to the moulded -and painted ceilings, in narrow panels. The fantastic forms of curve, -emblems of the affected manners of the day, called Rococo from the -words _rocaille coquille_, rock and shell curves, were well calculated -to show off the lustre of gilding. The gold was admirably laid on, -thick and very pure, and both in bronze gilding and in the woodwork, -maintains its lustre to the present time. The severe classical -grandeur of the old roll mouldings of fireplace jambs, wall and door -panels, of the former reign gave way everywhere to this lighter work. - -Much early eighteenth century furniture was bombé, or rolled about in -curious curves or undulations of surface, partly to display the skill -of the cabinet-makers, and partly to show off the marquetry, which -formed its only decoration. Another step was the introduction of -mechanical applications and contrivances. The tops of tables lift off, -and the action causes other portions to rise, to open, and so on. -It is to be remembered that bedrooms were often used as boudoirs or -studies, and that furniture which could shut private papers up without -requiring that they should be put away into drawers was convenient -in such rooms. As the century advanced, it became customary to form -a sort of alcove at the end of bedrooms in France. The centre portion -contained the bed, hidden by curtains, the spaces between it and the -two walls were shut in with doors, and formed dressing closets, which -could be used while the rest of the room was shut off. The bedroom -then became a reception room and was thrown open with other receiving -rooms of the house. Bureaux or mechanically shutting tables, writing -desks, and the like, under this arrangement were a necessity for small -rooms. - -A school of painters arose in the reign of Louis the fifteenth who -devoted themselves to the decoration of room woodwork and ceilings; -Charles Delafosse, Antoine Coypel, Jean Restout, and many pupils. We -must associate the names of these artists with those of the Le Pautre -family. Jean died before the end of the seventeenth century, but -Pierre took part in the later works of the Louvre and of Versailles -under Jules Hardouin Mansard, "surintendant des bastiments." Juste -Aurèle Meissonnier did still more to make this showy work popular. He -designed all sorts of room furniture and woodwork. It is amongst the -published works of these artists that we must seek the eighteenth -century designs of French fashion. Painted panels were inserted -into the wood ceilings, over the tops of looking-glasses, and -_dessus-portes_ or the short panels between the tops of doors and the -line of cornice. These are generally in chiaro scuro, or light and -shade only, and represent families of cupids. Nymphs and fauns, -shepherdesses, and the supposed inhabitants of a fanciful Arcadia, -formed the general subjects of room decorations. - -A process belonging to the same reign should be noticed, called after -the inventor, Vernis-Martin, a carriage painter, born about the year -1706. By carriage painter we must understand a painter of heraldic -ornaments, flower borders, &c. His varnish is a fine transparent lac -polish, probably derived from Japan through missionaries, who had -resided there before the occurrence of the great massacres which -closed Japan to all but the Dutch traders. The work which we commonly -associate with his name is generally found on furniture such as tables -or book cases, as well as on needle cases, snuff boxes, fans, and -étuis, on a gold ground. The gold is waved or striated by some of -those ingenious processes still in use amongst the Japanese, by which -the paste or preparation on which their gold is laid is worked -over while still soft. One or two carriages beautifully painted in -vernis-martin are kept in the hotel de Cluny at Paris. Although it is -popularly held that Martin declared his secret should die with him, -and that he kept his word, yet it is certain that he left imitators -and pupils who painted and enamelled in his manner furniture of -various kinds. In Sir R. Wallace's collection there are two pieces, -coloured green and varnished, one a table and the other a cabinet -or bookcase, of vernis-martin work. There is on these no ornament -excepting the varnish and the gold mounts that are added at the edges. -The most beautiful objects that bear his name are the small wares, -such as fans, needle books, or snuff boxes. - -Later in the century we meet with other French names, Riesener, David, -and Gouthière, who gained great reputation, the two first as makers of -marquetry, and the latter as a founder and chaser of metal furniture -mounts, such as edgings and lock scutcheons. - -The history of French furniture is in general the history of that of -other nations. The art of wood carving was still maintained in Italy -and applied, as in the instance of this distaff, to utensils of all -kinds. In England we had, about the middle of the century, a school of -carvers, gilders, and ornamenters following the extravagant style of -the French. The most prominent name is that of Thomas Chippendale, -who worked from the middle till towards the end of the century. He was -descended from a family of carvers, and inherited the skill which -had been general in his craft since the days of Gibbons. We find much -rococo carving on bed testers, round fireplaces, over doors, &c., in -our English houses built during the reign of Anne and the two first -Georges. Other pieces of furniture, such as carved tables, wardrobe -cabinets, chair backs or dinner trays, go by Chippendale's name. They -are in mahogany, and follow the architectural moulding lines often -seen in the works of Sir William Chambers and the brothers Adam. - -[Illustration] - -Among the room decorations of the century we may notice the shelves -for holding Chinese porcelain and imitations of Chinese designs in -delft pottery, a taste imported by William the third and the members -of his court who had lived in Holland. The chimney pieces at -Hampton court and elsewhere are provided with woodwork to hold these -ornaments. Hogarth paints them in his interiors, and the rage for -purchasing such objects at sales became a popular subject of ridicule. - -To the early eighteenth century belongs a class of furniture of which -the decorations consisted of panels of old Chinese and Japanese lac -work; fitted, as the marquetry of the day was, with rich gilt metal -mounts. In England it was the fashion to imitate the Japan work, and -such old furniture is occasionally met with: black, with raised figure -decorations of Chinese character done in gold dust. - -A great change is observable in the French furniture, panel carving -and such decorations from the period of Louis the sixteenth. Several -causes at the time combined to give art of this kind a new as well as -a healthier direction. Amongst these we may mention the discoveries -made at Herculaneum and Pompeii. It is needless to say that the -peculiar cause of the destruction of both those towns had preserved -in them perfect memorials, in many forms, of the social life of -antiquity. Decorations, utensils and furniture of all kinds that were -made of metal, and had resisted the action of damp and time, were -recovered in fair condition. One result, both in France and England, -was a return to a better feeling for classical style. - -Room decorations and furniture soon reached the highest point of -elegance which French renaissance art of a sumptuous kind has touched -since the sixteenth century. The panelling of rooms, usually in -oak and painted white, was designed in severe lines with straight -mouldings and pilasters. The pilasters were decorated with -well-designed carved work, small, close, and splendidly gilt. The -quills that fill the fluted columns still seen round so many interiors -were cut into beads or other subdivisions with much care. Fine -arabesque work in the style of the "loggie" of Raphael was partly -carved in relief, partly drawn and painted, or gilt, with gold of a -yellow or of a green hue; the green being largely alloyed with silver. -An example of the best work of this kind may be referred to in the -beautiful room brought from Paris and now preserved, reconstructed, at -South Kensington. The houses built for members of the brilliant court -of queen Marie Antoinette were filled with admirable work in this -manner, or in the severer but still delicate carved panelling in wood -plainly painted. The royal factories of the Gobelins and of Sèvres -turned out also their most beautiful productions to decorate rooms, -furniture, and table service. In the former of these, tapestries were -made for wall hangings, for chair backs, seats, and sofas. Rich silks -from the looms of Lyons, and from those of Lucca, Genoa, and Venice -were also employed for this kind of furniture both in France and -Flanders, Germany, Italy, and Spain, as well as in our own country. In -all these matters France led the fashions. - -During this brilliant period, from 1774 to 1790, we meet with the -names of several artists employed for painting the panelling of -rooms, the lunettes over chimney fronts, and the panels of ceilings. -Fragonard, Natoire, Boucher (the director of the Academy) are among -the foremost of these. Their history perhaps belongs rather to that of -painters than of our present subject; but they are too much mixed up -with eighteenth century furniture not to find mention even in a sketch -like the present. - -Other artists such as Delafosse, Lalonde, Cauvet and Salembier -designed arabesques, decorative woodwork, and furniture. The designs -of many of them are still extant: and Cauvet dedicated a book of them -to Monsieur, the king's brother. Four tables with silver-gilt mounts -of his design were made for the queen's house of the Trianon, and -afterwards removed to the favourite residence of the emperor Napoleon -at St. Cloud. Robert and Barthélemy were sculptors and bronze workers -who made mounts for furniture, and engravers. Meissonnier, Oppenord, -Queverdo worked in the same way. Hubert Robert, a painter, helped -Micque in all the decorations of the Trianon. - -Two or three cabinet-makers have transmitted a great name, though -little seems to be known of their history. Of these Riesener and David -Roentgen were _ébénistes_, or workers in fine cabinet making. The -designation is taken from the ebony and other exotic woods, which had -come into more general use in Europe from the end of the seventeenth -century subsequently to 1695, when the Dutch settled in Ceylon. The -French obtained ebony from Madagascar, but in very small quantities. -After the settlements at Ceylon we find it introduced into Europe on a -larger scale. There are green and yellow varieties but the black wood -is the most valuable, and Ceylon is the country in which the greatest -quantities are produced. We still find in English houses much old -carved ebony furniture, mainly chairs and cabinets, dating generally -from the early years of the Dutch occupation. - -Riesener used tulip (_Liriodendron tulipifera_), rosewood, holly -(_ilex aquifolium_), maple (_acer campestre_), laburnum (_cytisus -Alpinus_), purple wood (_copaifera pubiflora_), &c. Wreaths and -bunches of flowers, exquisitely worked and boldly designed, form -centres of his marquetry panels which are often plain surfaces of -one wood. On the sides, in borders and compartments, we find diaper -patterns in three or four quiet colours. These conventional sides or -corners of diaper work help to give point to the graceful compositions -that form the principal feature in his marquetry. Chests of drawers -and cabinets are sometimes met with in snake wood and other varieties -of brown wood, of which the grain is waved or curled without -marquetry. The name of Riesener is to be found stamped sometimes -on the panel itself, sometimes on the oak lining of the pieces of -furniture made by him. - -A number of exceptional examples of Riesener's cabinets are described -in the appendix to the detailed catalogue of furniture in the South -Kensington museum. The best pieces are from the collection now -belonging to Sir Richard Wallace. The most imposing of these is the -rounded bureau or secrétaire, made for Stanislaus, king of Poland. -It is beautifully inlaid on the top, ends, and back with designs -emblematic of the sciences, &c., and with bust heads. The letters S. -R. are put upon a broad band of decoration that runs round the lower -portion of the bureau. A similar piece of furniture with gilt bronze -candle branches by Gouthière, on the sides, is now in the Louvre. Both -are signed. - -David Roentgen was born at Niewid near Luneville, in which latter city -he worked as a contemporary of Riesener, but younger by some years -in age. He also made marquetry in lighter woods and of rather a -gayer tone than those of Riesener. Both of them often worked in plain -mahogany, and in such cases trusted for the effectiveness of their -pieces to the excellence of the mounts of chased and gilt metal by -their contemporary, Gouthière. In his light marquetry David used -various white woods. Pear, lime, and light-coloured woods were -occasionally tinted with various shades by burning. This process, -originally effected by hot irons, is better and more delicately -managed by hot sand. Only browns and dark ochrous yellows are obtained -by this means, and the more delicately toned marquetry is without hues -of green or blue. Those tints, however, can be obtained by steeping -the wood in various chemical solutions. - -As a maker of gilt bronze furniture mounts Gouthière had a wide -reputation. He belongs to the period of Louis the sixteenth. With -him Riesener and David worked in concert; all their best pieces are -finished with the mounts of Gouthière. Among examples in this country -is the cabinet in the royal collection at Windsor. No signature has -been discovered on this piece, but the exquisite modelling of -the flower borders, the metal mouldings and mounts, and the crown -supported by figures of cupids that surmounts the whole, leave us in -no hesitation as to its authorship. - -Gouthière modelled and chased up similar work for carriages, and -mounts for marble chimney pieces, such as that in the boudoir just -above referred to. The gilding on these mounts is so good and has -been laid on so massively that the metal has in general suffered no -substantial injury down to our own times, and can be restored to its -original lustre by soap and water. Indeed, the fine old work dating -from the two previous reigns by André Boule and other artists, after -the designs of Berain, has suffered little. The boule clocks, with -arched glass panels in front and spreading supports and figure -compositions on the top, have in most cases come down to us clothed -in their original water gilding, easily to be cleaned though looking -black when they have been long left to neglect. - -Contemporaneous with Riesener in France was the Italian maker of -marquetry, Maggiolino. In Florence, Venice, Milan, and Genoa, cabinets -and commodes of marquetry were produced. German cabinet-makers -manufactured the same work through the earlier part of the century. -Bombé or curved furniture was also made by the Germans with great, we -may almost say with extravagant, skill. To maintain mouldings on the -angles of these curved and waving surfaces is a feat in workmanship -of difficult attainment, and German cabinet-makers seem to have -taken delight in exhibiting such skill. The quaint work of the minute -carvings in box and other hard woods, admirably carried out during the -times of the immediate pupils of Dürer and the school of well-trained -artists who succeeded him, was no longer to be found. The desolating -wars that swept over this part of Europe during the days of Louis the -fourteenth and Frederick the great seem to have exhausted the country, -and worn out the ancient industry of the cities. Guilds died away, the -men who composed them being required for the exigencies of war, and -the wealth of the inhabitants was so reduced that the leisure to enjoy -and even the means to buy fine productions of art existed no longer. - -Few collectors have done greater service to the study of English art -than Horace Walpole; and few have had the opportunities he enjoyed -a century ago, when he was able to fill Strawberry Hill with a -collection of mediæval, renaissance, and later works of art of every -description. A lively passage, alluding to the contract for the roof -and the glazing of King's college chapel, Cambridge, commemorates his -value for these art traditions. "As much," he says, "as we imagine -ourselves arrived at higher perfection in the arts, it would not -be easy for a master of a college to go into St. Margaret's parish, -Southwark, to _bespeak_ such a roof as that of King's college, and a -dozen or two of windows so admirably drawn, and order them to be sent -home by such a day, as if they were bespeaking a chequered pavement." - -A certain sort of revival of Gothic design took place in England -about this period: and later in the century feeble attempts at Gothic -woodwork were made here and there; but there was little national taste -in furniture apart from a close imitation of French fashions. A still -greater change was produced by Sir William Chambers, the architect of -modern Somerset house, who wrote a book on civil architecture and room -decorations. Another name connected with furniture has been already -mentioned, that of Thomas Chippendale. He published his book of -designs in 1764, containing complete sides of rooms, looking-glass -frames, chimney fronts, &c. He and his contemporaries designed tables, -cabinets and moveable furniture of every description, including -carriages, on which, indeed, furniture designers of all periods were -employed. Chippendale and his sons or assistants produced frames and -cornices for gilding so different from his well-made wardrobes, &c., -that there must have been more than one of the family engaged -in superintending these dissimilar kinds of objects. He is a -representative maker. The son has been sometimes credited with -the mahogany woodwork of which delicacy and exactness are the -characteristics. Satin wood came into fashion in England during the -last half of the century. Both Cipriani and Angelica Kauffmann painted -medallions, cameo ornaments and borders on table tops and fronts, -harpsichord cases, &c., made of satin wood or coloured in the manner -of the vernis-martin work. The former decorated Carlton house. - -Mathias Lock, with whom was associated a cabinet maker named Copeland, -also published designs of furniture of every kind. A semi-classic -Pompeian or Roman arabesque feeling runs through the ornamentation of -these pieces of furniture. They are light in make, often elegant, and -more or less follow the taste prevailing in France and Italy. Gillow, -the founder of a respectable existing firm, belongs to this period; -but, as yet, nothing has come to light regarding his early history -or apprenticeship. Another name connected both with furniture and -decorative arts of all kinds was that of Robert Adam; he was of Scotch -extraction and had travelled in Italy; and his brother John built -many private houses; for example, the Adelphi and Portland place. -Furniture, carriages, sedan chairs, and plate were amongst the objects -for which Robert, perhaps both the brothers, gave designs. Classical -capitals, mouldings and niches, circles and lunettes, with shell -flutings and light garlands, were favourite features in their façade -ornaments. The sideboards, bust terms (or pedestals), urn-shaped knife -boxes; the chairs, commodes, &c., were all designed to accord with the -architectural decorations. Polished-steel fire-grates belong to this -period, and we believe to the authorship of the brothers Adam. - -A cabinet maker named A. Heppelwhite published in 1789 a large set of -designs for every sort of reception room and bedroom furniture. We see -in these the mahogany chairs with pierced strapwork backs, library -and pedestal tables, mechanical desks and bureaux, which continued in -fashion during the early years of this century. Fanciful sashed glass -doors closed in the bookcases; interrupted pediments and pedestals -provided space for busts round the tops of these cases. Fluted legs, -and occasionally lion-headed supports, uphold the tables and chairs. -Knife cases to set on the sideboard, and urn stools for the breakfast -table, are among these designs. Tea chests and tea caddies indicate -that tea was then coming into general use. Thomas Sheraton, another -cabinet-maker, published towards the end of the century an extensive -"Dictionary" of his trade. His designs, like those just mentioned, -embrace beds, sofas, &c. Mechanical dressing and washing tables, very -ingeniously contrived, were among his productions. We meet with these -still; of Spanish mahogany, and admirable workmanship. The structure -of all these pieces was light and strong. Time has had little effect -on wood so well seasoned and on pieces put together in so workmanlike -a manner. - -The French revolution put a complete stop to the old arts of domestic -life in France. As in the sixteenth century, so in the eighteenth -the new ideas rushed extravagantly in the direction of republican -antiquity and Roman taste and sentiment. It was under the empire, -after the Italian wars and the Egyptian expedition, that the means and -taste for expenditure upon civil furniture and decorations revived, -with an assumption of classicalism. The art of the time however, -inspired by the hard paintings of David, is but a dry and affected -attempt at a fresh renaissance. In furniture mounts, chairs, &c., of -supposed classical designs, it is known as the art of the "empire." -This country copied the fashion as soon as the return of peace opened -the continent to English travellers. Furniture and room decorations -were designed after classical ideals, and we see chairs and tables -imitating bas-reliefs and the drawings on antique vases. It is -probable that collectors, such as Sir William Hamilton and the members -of the Dilettanti society, sensibly influenced the prevailing style. - -James Wyatt the architect, about the end of the last century, rebuilt -or cleared out many of our mediæval churches and houses, and took to -designing what he called Gothic for room decoration and furniture. -Sir Jeffrey Wyatt or Sir Jeffrey Wyattville (as he became) made great -changes at Windsor castle, under George the fourth. Pugin designed -some flimsy Gothic furniture for the same palace. At a later period of -his life, however, he did much, both as a designer and a writer upon -art, to turn attention to the principles on which mediæval designs of -all kinds were based. - -We are now, perhaps, returning to renaissance art in furniture, and -it is certain that collections such as those lately exhibited by Sir -Richard Wallace; the Exposition Retrospective in Paris in 1865; the -loan exhibitions of 1862 in London, and that of Gore house at an -earlier period; and above all the great permanent collection at South -Kensington, must contribute to form the public taste. - -In the review which we have made of what may be called the household -art of so many ages, it would be difficult to assign an absolute -superiority to the artists of any one generation, considering what -countless beautiful objects have been made for the personal use and -enjoyment of men. The sculptured thrones of ivory and gold, the seats -and couches of bronze overlaid with gold and damascened with the -precious metals, the inlaid chariots, tables, chests, and jewelled -caskets of antiquity; the imagery, the shrines, the stalls, and -roofs of the middle ages; the wood sculpture, tarsia, pietra dura, -damascening and the endless variety of objects produced during the -days of Leonardo, Michel Angelo, and Raphael, down to the carving of -Gibbons, and the splendid work of Boule, Riesener and Gouthière, are -all in various ways excellent. - -We must not venture to call one class of productions finer than -another where the differences are so great and such high perfection -has been attained in each. Every style and fashion when at its best -has resulted from the utmost application of mind and time on the part -of trained artists; and the highest art can never be cheap, neither -can any machinery or any help from mechanical assistance become -substitutes for art. Beauty which is created by the hand of man is -not the clever application of mechanical forces or of scientific -inventions, but is brought to light, whether it be a cabinet front or -the Venus of Milo, often with pain, always by the entire devotion of -the labour, the intellect, the experience, the imagination and the -affection, of the artist and the workman. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -CHANGES OF TASTE AND STYLE. - - -It is interesting to trace the changes that the more common and -necessary pieces of furniture have undergone during successive -historic ages. The social life of ancient times, even of the middle -ages which come so much nearer to us in point of years, differs from -that of our own in its whole aspect. Yet though personal habits have -so greatly altered the general wants of men remain much the same. -Hence such objects as beds, chairs, tables, chests, dressers, -wardrobes or cabinets, carriages or litters, have been always used and -maintained a certain identity. With a summary of the changes of -form and methods of decoration of a few of the principal objects of -personal use we shall conclude. - - -_Bedsteads and Couches._ - -Beds served often in antiquity and in the middle ages, and have served -at all times, almost as much for sitting or reclining by day as for -sleeping on at night. - -To what has been already said on the subject of antique beds little -need be added. The Egyptian bed and the pillow or crutch, of wood or -more valuable materials, have been described. Examples of the crutch -are numerous in the British museum and in the Louvre. "The Egyptians -had couches," says Sir G. Wilkinson, "but they do not appear to have -reclined upon them more frequently than modern Europeans, in whose -houses they are equally common. The ottomans were simple square sofas -without backs, raised from the ground nearly to the same level as -the chair. The upper part was of leather, or of cotton stuff, richly -coloured, like the cushions of the fauteuils, and the box was of -wood painted with various devices and ornamented with the figures of -captives, who were supposed to be degraded by holding so humiliating -a position. And the same idea gave them a place on the footstools of a -royal throne." - -The bed, [Greek: lexos], of the Greeks was covered with skins, over -the skins with woollen blankets; sometimes a linen cloth or sheet was -added. The finest coverlids were from Miletus, Carthage, and Corinth. -These varied in the softness of their woollen texture and the delicate -disposition of the colours. Later Greek beds had girths of leather or -string; a mattress; and a pillow. - -The Roman bed had the side by which it was entered open, the other was -protected by a shelf. The mattresses were stuffed with herbs, in later -times with wool or feathers. Precious counterpanes embroidered with -gold were occasionally used. Canopies or frames for curtains, in one -form or another, have always been necessary adjuncts to beds. Testers -were placed on cradles, with gauze curtains to keep off flies. Beds -on wheels were in use for the sick in classical and mediæval times: as -also a low and portable bed, _grabatum_, with mats for bedding. This -is the word used in St. John's gospel, translated "take up thy bed and -walk." - -[Illustration] - -Besides beds, couches, and stools, used in antiquity, as in our own -times, we find amongst the ancients the habit, unknown since, -of reclining on the left elbow at meals. The Romans called the -conventional arrangement the _triclinium_. The accompanying woodcut -represents the plan of a _triclinium_, the guest reclining on the left -elbow and the faces of each directed from 1 to 3, 4 to 6, and so on. -These numbers and positions indicated a sort of superiority, or a -highest, middle, and lowest to every table. A passage from Horace, -often quoted, enumerates the guests in this order. Fundanius, who was -at the top, giving an account of a dinner to his friends, says: "I sat -at the top, Viscus Thurinus next to me; Varius, if my memory serves -me, below him; Vibidius along with Servilius Balatro, whom Mæcenas -brought as humble companions. Nomentanus was above, and Porcius below -the host himself." - -The beds of the early middle ages in England had testers with -curtains, often of valuable material. These slid on rings on an iron -rod. Sometimes the rod, with a frame to sustain it, was on one or on -three sides of the bed, and the tester wanting. Sometimes the beds -were slung on uprights, as cots are at sea. No great expense was -incurred in the framework till the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. -The splendour of state beds, or those of great people, consisted -in the curtains, which were occasionally taken down, and hung up in -churches on festivals. In the illuminations of manuscripts and in -pictures representing scenes in which there is a bed, we find the -tester strained by cords to the sides of the room or to the ceiling, -as in the accompanying woodcut. The curtains ran round this frame, -as in our modern four-posters; but we see them hoisted out of the way -during the daytime, not round a post, only raised beyond reach. - -[Illustration] - -The finest examples of bedsteads that can be called mediæval are -French, and only met with in fragments, or more or less complete. This -is unfortunately the case also as regards early English bedsteads. We -may refer the reader to the "Mobilier Français" of Viollet le Duc, for -an idea of the sumptuous carved oak bedstead of the great palaces and -hotels of France. It was a frame panelled down to the ground, often -containing chests, drawers, presses, or other safe places under the -sleeper. The back resembled more or less the reredos of an altar, or -the great panelled presses that filled the sides of sacristies. Four -posts supported the canopy. A bedstead of the fifteenth century was -long preserved at Leicester, and said to have been slept on by Richard -the third. The under part of it formed his military chest, and the -discovery of the treasure a century afterwards occasioned a barbarous -murder. None of the coin found was of a later mint than his reign. It -is also said by Pennant that a stump bedstead still in Berkeley castle -is the same on which the murder of Edward the second was committed. -Fine examples of Tudor bedsteads are preserved there. In the town of -Ware in Hertfordshire is, and has long been, an inn under the sign of -the Saracen's head, "In this," says Clutterbuck, "there is a bed of -enormous proportions, twelve feet square. The head is panelled in the -Elizabethan style of arched panels, and a date is painted on it--1460. -[This, however, is not authentic.] It is of carved oak. The top is -covered by a panelled tester, supported on baluster columns at the -feet. The bases of these rest on a cluster of four arches or supports -to each column." Nothing is known of the original history of the -bedstead. Shakespeare alludes to it in Twelfth Night. - -[Illustration] - -To the Tudor and Jacobean period of heavy oak furniture succeeded the -custom of supplying the place of oak-panelled testers and headboards -with rich hangings either of tapestry, cut Genoa, or Venice velvets -and other costly materials, with ostrich feathers or other ornaments -on the angles. The royal beds at Hampton court admirably illustrate -this stately fashion, as in the accompanying woodcut. More modern -changes it is unnecessary to trace. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -Couches for reclining or sitting upon were, in the middle ages, rather -benches with cushions on them. The king conversing with a lady in her -chamber is from a manuscript of about 1390 (the "Romance of Meliadus") -in the British museum. In the seventeenth century we find the same -ornaments that were used in chair backs extended to large frames so -as to form them into couches, and the same plaited cane panels. In the -last century, sofas were sometimes made in the form of several chair -backs, with arms at each end, the backs being pierced work or framing -made of bars in fancy shapes. This work was in mahogany or satin wood, -or was painted after the fashion of vernis-martin work. In all cases -such pieces were made to accord with suites of chairs, tables, &c. - -Cradles have been made in many shapes. The most approved in antiquity -was that of a boat, [Greek: skaphos], or a shield; in either case they -could be rocked. In the fourteenth century the men of Ghent destroyed -the house of the earl of Flanders, according to Froissart, and all his -furniture including the cradle in which he was nursed, which was of -silver. The cradle of Henry the fifth is still preserved. It is in the -form of a chest, much like the cradle in the Kensington museum, n^{o.} -1769; and swings on posts, one at each end, standing on cross-bars to -keep them steady: but there is no higher portion, as in the example in -the museum, to support a tester. A hundred years later the shape seems -to have become heavier. - -[Illustration] - - -_Chairs._ - -In the ancient Egyptian paintings at Thebes, and elsewhere, chairs are -minutely represented like the throne or arm chair of the Greeks, each -containing one person. Occasionally they used stools and low seats -raised a little above the ground. Some sat cross-legged on the ground, -though this is more rare, or kneeling on one knee. The men and women -generally were apart, but in the same room, while conversing they sat, -and did not recline. Wilkinson gives a full description of the old -Egyptian chairs and stools. - -The classical curule chairs were made of ivory; sometimes of solid and -entire elephants' teeth, which seems to have been the typical idea of -the ivory chair; sometimes the ivory was veneered on a wooden base. -The foot or point of the tusk was carved into a head or beak. It is -from this curved chair of state that the later chairs were derived, -of which the form remained popular in Italy through the fifteenth and -sixteenth centuries. The mediæval name was _faldistorium_, rendered -"faldstool," a stool or seat to support the arms when kneeling, or to -act as a chair when sitting. - -[Illustration] - -The earliest type of the architectural thrones or chairs of the middle -ages is the ancient chair of St. Peter, at Rome, of which a woodcut -has been given in p. 35. A full description and plates of it will be -found in the "Vetusta monumenta" of the Society of antiquaries for -1870. Another famous chair, that of St. Mark, is preserved at Venice, -in the treasury of St. Mark's. Anciently this chair, like that of -St. Peter in Rome, was covered with plates of ivory, carved panels -probably fitted into frame pieces of wood as a covering to the stone. -As it is now seen, however, the work is of oriental marble. It is a -rudely shaped arm chair, with high back sloping upwards in the form of -a pediment, truncated and surmounted by a stone, cut into an imperfect -circle or oval, and having an arm or volute like the reversed -angle-volute of a column projecting from the lower part of each side. -The chair of St. Maximian at Ravenna dates from the sixth century; -this is described in Mr. Maskell's "Ivories." A magnificent fourteenth -century architectural chair of silver is preserved at Barcelona. The -supports represent window tracery. One large arch supplies the front -support, being cusped, and these cusps are again subdivided. The two -sides form each a pair of windows of two lights or divisions, with a -circle above, the whole cusped and having trefoil leaves on the cusps. -The back is open tracery work, representing three narrow windows, -with two lights or openings each. They finish in three lofty gables, -crocketed outside and divided into tracery within. - -[Illustration] - -Chairs in England during the mediæval period were sometimes made of -turned wood. Sometimes they were cleverly arranged to fold up, as in -our own days: the engraving (p. 122) is from a beautiful manuscript -of the fifteenth century. The chair known as that of Glastonbury is a -square board on two pairs of cross-trestles, with a square board for -a back, held to the seat by sloping arm pieces, shaped out to receive -the arms of a sitter. On the edges of the seat and back tenons -protrude, long enough to pass through mortices in the leg and arm -pieces, which are pegged to keep them firm. Like the sixteenth century -curule chairs these can easily be taken to pieces for travelling. -During the reigns of Elizabeth and James, high-backed chairs, richly -cut and pierced, with wooden, afterwards with cane, seats were used -and remained in use simplified and lightened during more than a -century. The woodcut (p. 123) represents the fashion of chair common -in Italy about the year 1620: and from thence introduced into England. - -The use of marquetry was not confined to tables and cabinets. Rich -chairs were made in this material (rarely in boule) during the -eighteenth century in France, Italy, and Holland, from whence they -came to this country. Light and very elegant yellow satin-wood -marquetry chairs were also then in fashion. The use of mahogany for -chairs, often delicately carved and admirably constructed, was general -during the last century in England. The French carved chairs of the -time of Louis the sixteenth covered with silk all but the legs and -framework, and painted white or gilt, were made to accord with the -sofas and carved woodwork of the rooms. This example was followed in -England, with certain national differences. - - -_Tables._ - -The ancient Egyptian tables were round, square, or oblong; the former -were generally used during their repasts, and consisted of a circular -flat summit, supported, like the _monopodium_ of the Romans, on a -single shaft or leg in the centre or by the figure of a man intended -to represent a captive. Large tables had usually three or four legs, -but some were made with solid sides; and though generally of wood -many were of metal or stone; and they varied in size according to -the different purposes for which they were intended. Often they were -three-legged, the legs in a concave shape. - -An antique marble table of Græco-Roman work is preserved at Naples, -supported by a centaur in full relief at one end, and a sea monster, -Scylla it is supposed, involving a shipwrecked mariner in the folds of -her tail, with indications of waves, &c., round her body. Other Roman -tables of larger dimensions had three, four, or five supports of -sphinxes, lions, and the like. We give representations of three kinds -of tables from paintings on vases; and another, on three marble legs, -found at Pompeii. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -In the middle ages, as has been before said, tables were generally -folding boards laid on trestles and moveable. The general disposition -of the dining table was taken from those of abbeys and convents, and -may be seen continued in some of our own colleges to this day. The -principal table was on a raised platform or floor at the upper end of -the hall, and thence called the "High" table. The guests sat on one -side only, as in the traditional representations of the Last Supper, -and the place of honour was the centre, the opposite side being left -for the service. The principal person sat under a canopy or cloth -of estate, either made for the occasion, or under a panelled canopy -curving outward and permanent. Occasionally mediæval tables in England -were of stone or marble. Of the former material a table is preserved -belonging to the strangers' hall at Winchester; and a wooden one in -the chapter-house at Salisbury. The tops of some old English tables -are made with two thicknesses, the lower pulling out on either side -to rest on supports drawn from the bed. A table of this description is -kept at Hill hall, Essex; and the woodcut represents a folding table -of the time of Elizabeth, long preserved at Flaxton Hall, in Suffolk. -During the last century mahogany tables with delicate pierced -galleries round the edge, and similar work to ornament the bed or -frame, were made by Chippendale and his contemporaries. Many of them -are light and graceful pieces of construction. Others were massively -made with goat-footed legs that bulge well beyond the lines of -the table top, which in these cases is often a slab of marble. The -workmanship is admirable. Mahogany had then supplanted the use of oak -for large tables. - -[Illustration] - - -_Chests, Cabinets, and Sideboards._ - -The wardrobe, both in the Roman house and the mediæval castle, was a -small room suitably fitted up and provided with receptacles. Chests, -coffers, and caskets were also in use, and implied moveability. In -later days the renaissance chests were either mounted on stands or -gave place to mixed structures; and cabinets of various forms that -could be kept permanently in the hall or chamber became the fashion. -They were large, important objects, were never moved or carried -abroad, descended from father to son, and were the monumental objects, -as the panelled superstructure of the fireplace was, of halls and -reception rooms. These pieces have various forms. In dining halls or -rooms occasionally so used, they were cupboards, dressers, or places -with a small receptacle to hold food, and a flat top with perhaps a -step or shelf above it to carry plate, candlesticks, &c. When placed -in receiving rooms or to hold dresses they were cabinets or wardrobes; -for the conveniences of writing they are bureaux, sécrétaires, or -escritoires. - -[Illustration] - -We have early notices of the use of cypress chests, perhaps cabinets -as some of them are fitted with drawers, in this country. John of -Gaunt in his will, 1397, specifies "a little box of cypress wood;" -probably something like the chest engraved from a manuscript of that -date: out of which the servant is taking a robe evidently richly -embroidered with armorial bearings. In the memoirs of the antiquities -of Great Britain, relating to the reformation, we find an account of -church plate, money, gold and silver images, &c., delivered to Henry -the eighth: "Paid William Grene, the king's _coffer-maker_, for making -of a coffer covered with fustyan of Naples, and being full of drawers -and boxes lined with red and grene sarcynet to put in stones of -divers sorts, vi. _li._ xviij. _s._ ij. _d._," by which we may gather -something of its costly construction, "and to Cornelys the locke -smythe for making all the iron worke, that is to say, the locke, -gymours, handels, ryngs to every drawer box, the price xxxvi. _s._ iv. -_d._" - -The marquetry invented or brought to perfection by Boule was displayed -in greater magnificence on cabinets of various shapes than on any -other pieces of furniture. The same may be said of the marquetry -cabinets in wood executed during the eighteenth century in France by -Riesener and David, with the help of the metal mounts of Gouthière -and his contemporaries. In these fine pieces the interior is generally -simple and the conceits of the previous century are omitted. Japan -cabinets obtained through the Dutch were frequently imported into -England. The hinges and mounts were of silver or gilt metal, richly -chased. The bureau, escritoire, or office desk, called in Germany -Kaunitz after a princely inventor, was a knee-hole table. These tall -bureaux were of general, almost universal, use in England during the -last century. - - -_Sideboards._ - -There are several old sideboards in the Kensington museum, described -under the names of _dressoir_ or _dressoir de salle à manger_ in the -large catalogue. They are small cupboards and would be called cabinets -but for the drawers half-way down, and the rows of the shelves on the -top; and are of the sixteenth century date. According to Willemin, the -old etiquette of France, certainly that of Burgundy, prescribed five -steps or shelves to these dressers for use during meals for queens; -four for duchesses or princesses; three for their children and for -countesses and _grandes dames_; two for other noble ladies. In the -middle ages cupboards or dressers were mere covered boards or shelves -against a wall on which plate was set out, and were made of three or -four or more stages according to the splendour of the occasion. The -cupboard dresser of more modest pretensions was considered as a piece -of dining-room furniture. It was ordinarily covered with a piece of -embroidery. - -Robert Frevyll bequeaths, 1521, to his "son John a stone cobard in the -hall." A manuscript inventory of Henry the eighth names, "Item, one -large cuppbord carpet of grene cloth of gold with workes lyned with -bockeram, conteyning in length three yards, iii. q'ters, and three -bredthes." In the herald's account of the feast at Westminster, on the -occasion of the marriage of prince Arthur, we find "There was also a -stage of dyvers greas and hannes (degrees and enhancings of height) -for the cuppbord that the plate shulde stande inn, the which plate for -the moost part was clene (pure) goold, and the residue all gilte and -non silver, and was in length from the closet doore to the chimney." -And when in the next reign Henry entertained Francis at Calais, a -cupboard of seven stages was provided and furnished with gold and -silver gilt plate. - -Before concluding these remarks on dining-room furniture something may -be said on painted roundels or wooden platters. Though they have -long ceased to be used for their original purpose, several sets still -complete remain in country houses and collections of different kinds; -and three sets are in the Kensington museum. They are usually twelve -in number: and all seem to be of the date of the late Tudor princes. -They were kept in boxes turned out of a block, and decorated with -painting and gilding. Their size does not differ materially, all the -sets varying from 5-3/8 to 5-5/8 inches. There are, however, smaller -sets to be seen which range from 2-3/4 to 5 inches in diameter. The -top surface is in all instances plain and the under surface painted -with a border of flowers, generally alternating with knots more or -less artistically drawn in vermilion: "posyes" or a couple of verses -are generally added. These platters were used in the sixteenth century -as dessert plates, the plain side being at the top. Leland speaks -of the "confettes" at the end of a dinner, "sugar plate fertes, with -other subtilties with ippocrass" (a sweet wine). Earthenware plates -though not unknown were still very uncommon in England before the -reign of Elizabeth. The dinner was served on plate in royal or very -great houses, on pewter and wooden trenchers in more humble and -unpretending households. Specimens of the latter may still be seen in -our old collegiate establishments. Probably the earliest instance of -the use of earthenware may be found in the time of Edward the first, -when some dishes and plates of that material were bought from a -Spanish ship. Pitchers, jugs and the like had been for centuries -commonly made. "Porselyn" is mentioned in 1587: where we read of -"five dishes of earth painted, such as are brought from Venice" being -presented to the queen on one of her progresses. - - -_Carriages._ - -[Illustration] - -The shape and decoration of carriages have changed continually, but -these changes have not always been in the direction of convenience and -handiness for rapid motion. Our space will not allow us to enter here -upon a history of the chariots of ancient nations; Egyptians, -Greeks, or Romans. A detailed account of them will be found in the -introduction to the large catalogue of furniture at South Kensington. -The woodcut represents the Roman "biga," the original of which (in -marble) is in the Vatican; and the "pilentum," or covered carriage, -from the column of Theodosius. - -[Illustration] - -We know but little of the period succeeding the destruction of Rome -and the extinction of classic customs. In the middle ages we find -carts, like those now in use for agricultural purposes in France; -a long frame with spreading rails balanced on one pair of wheels of -large dimensions, drawn by a string of horses. The woodcut of a family -carriage is from the well-known Luttrell psalter, an illuminated -manuscript of the early fourteenth century. Such vehicles seem to have -been clumsy enough and had no springs: nevertheless they were much -ornamented with various decorations. They had roofs as a protection -from the weather, with silk or leather curtains; and the interior was -fitted with cushions. In the "Squire of low degree" the father of the -princess of Hungary promises, - - To-morrow ye shall on hunting fare, - And ride my daughter in a _chare_, - It shall be covered with velvet red, - And cloths of fine gold all about your head, - With damask white and azure blue, - Well diapered with lilies new - Your pomelles (knobs) shall be ended with gold, - Your chains enamelled many a fold. - -The oldest kind of wheel-carriages known in England were called -_whirlecotes_, and one of these belonged to the mother of Richard the -second. Whirlecotes were used also at the marriage of Katherine of -Arragon. Coaches were probably first introduced from Hungary. They -seem to have been square, not differing greatly in outline from the -state coaches of which numerous engraved plates can be seen; and -were considered as too effeminate a conveyance for men in the days of -Elizabeth. The coach of Henry the fourth of France may be studied in -the plate by Van Luyken that represents his murder by Ravaillac, 1610. -It is four-wheeled, square, with a flat awning on four corner pillars -or supports, and curtains. The centre descends into a kind of boot -with leather sides. The accompanying woodcut represents the carriage -of the English ambassador at Rome in 1688: and we add also an -engraving of a state carriage of about fifty years later, still in the -possession of Lord Darnley. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - - - -APPENDIX. - -NAMES OF DESIGNERS OF WOODWORK AND MAKERS OF FURNITURE. - - -Only very meagre notices are to be found of the artists to whom we owe -the designs of modern furniture. For a hundred and fifty years after -the renaissance, furniture partook so generally, and the woodwork of -rooms so entirely, of the character and followed so continually the -details of architecture that the history of furniture-designers is -that of the architects of the day. These found in the members of -guilds of carvers, carpenters, or image sculptors admirable hands to -carry out the ornamental details of their woodwork, such as -chimney-pieces, &c., and who made sideboards, cabinets, chairs, and -tables to suit the woodwork. We have space here only for the names; in -the large catalogue a brief notice of almost every one of them is also -given. - - ------------------------------+-----------------+---------------- - |Country in which | - Names of Artists. | they worked. | Date. - ------------------------------+-----------------+----------------- - A | | - | | - Adam, J. (and R.) |England |1728-1792. - | | - Agnolo, B. da |Italy |1460-1563. - | | - Agnolo, D. da | " |16th century. - | | - Agnola, J. da | " | " " - | | - Ambrogio, G. | " |17th " - | | - Ards, W. |Flanders |15th " - | | - Asinelis, A. |Italy |16th " - | | - B | | - | | - Bachelier, -- |France |16th century. - | | - Baerze, J. de |Flanders |14th " - | | - Baker, -- |England |18th " - | | - Barili, A. |Italy |16th " - | | - Barili, G. | " | " " - | | - Barili, S. | " | " " - | | - Baumgartner, U. |Germany |17th century. - | | - Beaugreant, G. de |Flanders |16th " - | | - Beck, S. |Germany | " " - | | - Belli, A. A. |Italy | " " - | | - Belli, G. | " | " " - | | - Berain, J. |France |1636-1711. - | | - Bergamo, D. da |Italy |1490-1550. - | | - Bergamo, S. da | " |16th century. - | | - Bernardo, -- | " | " " - | | - Berruguete, -- |Spain |1480-1561. - | | - Bertolina, B. J. |Italy |16th century. - | | - Beydert, J. |Flanders |15th " - | | - Blondeel, L. | " |1495-1560. - | | - Bolgié, G |Italy |18th century. - | | - Bonzanigo, G. M. | " | " " - | | - Borello, F. | " |16th " - | | - Borgona, F. de |Spain | " " - | | - Botto, B. |Italy | " " - | | - Botto, G. B. | " | " " - | | - Botto, P. | " | " " - | | - Botto, S. A. | " | " " - | | - Boulle, A. C. |France |1642-1732. - | | - Boulle, P. | " |17th century. - | | - Brescia, R. da |Italy |16th " - | | - Bross, -- de |France |17th " - | | - Bruggemann, H. |Germany |15th " - | | - Bruhl, A. |Flanders |16th and 17th - | | centuries. - | | - Brunelleschi, F. |Italy |1377-1446. - | | - Brustolone, A. | " |1670-1732. - | | - Buontalenti, B. T. | " |16th century. - | | - C | | - | | - Caffieri, Ph. |France |17th and 18th - | | centuries. - | | - Cano, A. |Spain |17th century. - | | - Canova, J. de |Italy |16th " - | | - Canozii, C. | " | " " - | | - Canozii, G. M. | " | " " - | | - Canozii, L. | " | " " - | | - Capitsoldi, -- |England |18th " - | | - Capo di Ferro, Brothers |Italy |16th " - | | - Carlone, J. | " |18th " - | | - Carnicero, A. |Spain |1693-1756. - | | - Castelli, Q. |Italy |16th century - | | - Cauner, -- |France |18th " - | | - Cauvet, G. P. |France |1731-1788 - | | - Ceracci, G. |England |18th century. - | | - Cervelliera, B. del |Italy | " " - | | - Chambers, Sir W. |England |1726-1796. - | | - Chippendale, T. | " |18th century. - | | - Cipriani, G. B. | " | " " - | | - Coit, -- | " | " " - | | - Collet, A. | " | " " - | | - Copeland, -- | " | " " - | | - Cotte, J. de |France | " " - | | - Cotte, R. de | " |1656-1735. - | | - Cotton, C. |England |18th century. - | | - Cressent, -- |France | " " - | | - D | | - | | - Davy, R. |England |1750-1794. - | | - Dello Delli |Italy |14th and 15th - | | centuries - | | - Dolen, -- van |Flanders |18th century. - | | - Donatello, -- |Italy |1380-1466. - | | - Dorsient, A C.; C. Oc. |Flanders |16th century - | | - Ducerceau, A. |France |1515-1585. - | | - Dugar, E. |Italy |16th century. - | | - Du Quesnoy, F. H. and J. |Flanders |17th " - | | - F | | - | | - Faydherbe, L. |Flanders |1627-1694. - | | - Filippo, D. di |Italy |16th century. - | | - Flörein, J. |Flanders |15th " - | | - Flötner, P. |Germany |16th " - | | - G | | - | | - Gabler, M. |Germany |17th century. - | | - Galletti, G. |Italy |18th " - | | - Garnier, P. |France | " " - | | - Genser, M. |Germany |17th " - | | - Gervasius |England | - | | - Gettich, P. |Germany |17th " - | | - Geuser, M. | " | " " - | | - Gheel, F. van |Flanders |18th " - | | - Gibbons, G. |England |17th " - | | - Giovanni, Fra |Italy |16th " - | | - Glosencamp, H. |Flanders | " " - | | - Goujon, J. |France | " " - | | - H | | - | | - Habermann, -- |France |18th century. - | | - Haeghen,-- van der |Flanders | " " - | | - Hekinger, J. |Germany |17th " - | | - Heinhofer, Ph. | " |16th and 17th - | | centuries. - | | - Helmont, -- van |Flanders |18th century. - | | - Heppelwhite, A |England | " " - | | - Hernandez, G. |Spain |1586-1646. - | | - Hool, J. B. van |Flanders |18th century. - | | - Huet, -- |France | " " - | | - Hyman, F. |England | " " - | | - J | | - | | - John of St. Omer |England |13th century. - Johnson, T. | " |18th " - | | - Juni, J. D. |Spain |16th and 17th - | | centuries. - | | - K | | - | | - Kauffmann, A. |England |18th century. - | | - Kiskner, U. |Germany |17th " - | | - Kuenlin, J. | " | " " - | | - L | | - | | - Ladetto, F. |Italy |18th century. - | | - Lalonde, -- |France | " " - | | - Lawreans, -- |England |17th " - | | - Lecreux, N. A. J. |Flanders |1757-1836. - | | - Le Moyne, J. |France |1645-1718. - | | - Leopardi, A. |Italy |1450-1525. - | | - Le Pautre, J. |France |1617-1682. - | | - Le Roux, J. B. | " |18th century. - | | - Linnell, J. |England | " " - | | - Lock, M. | " | " " - | | - Loir, A. |France |1630-1713. - | | - L'Orme, Ph. de. | " |16th century. - | | - Lunigia, A. da |Italy | " " - | | - M | | - | | - Macé, J. |France |18th century. - | | - Maifeis, P. di |Italy |15th " - | | - Maggiolino, -- | " |18th " - | | - Magister, O. | " |16th " - | | - Majano, B. da | " |15th " - | | - Majano, G. da |Italy |1432-1490. - | | - Margaritone, -- | " |1236-1313. - | | - Marot, D. |France |1650-1700? - | | - Marot, G. | " |17th century. - | | - Marot, J. | " |1625-1679. - | | - Martin, R. | " |1706-1765. - | | - Martincourt, -- | " |18th century. - | | - Meissonnier, J. A. | " |1693-1750. - | | - Mendeler, G. |Germany |17th century. - | | - Meulen, R. van der |Flanders |1645-1717. - | | - Minore, G. |Italy |15th century. - | | - Modena, P. da | " | " " - | | - Moenart, M. |Flanders |17th " - | | - Montepulciano, G. da |Italy |16th " - | | - Moser, L. |Germany |15th " - | | - Müller, D. | " |17th " - | | - Müller, J. | " | " " - | | - N | | - | | - Newrone, G. C. |Italy |16th century. - | | - Nilson, -- |France |18th " - | | - Nys, L. de |Flanders | " " - | | - Nys, P. de | " | " " - | | - O | | - | | - Oost, P. van |Flanders |14th century. - | | - Oppenord, -- |France |18th " - | | - P | | - | | - Pacher, M. |Germany |15th century. - | | - Padova, Z. da |Italy |16th " - | | - Panturmo, J. di | " |1492-1556. - | | - Pardo, G. |Spain |16th century. - | | - Pareta, G. di |Italy | " " - | | - Passe, C. de |France |17th " - | | - Passe, C. de, the younger | " | " " - | | - Pergolese, -- |England |18th " - | | - Perreal, J. |France |15th " - | | - Philippon, A. | " |16th " - | | - Picau, -- | " |18th " - | | - Picq, J. |Flanders |17th " - | | - Pigalle, -- |England |18th " - | | - Piffetti, A. P. |Italy |1700-1777. - | | - Plumier, P. D. |Flanders |1688-1721. - | | - Porfirio, B. di |Italy |16th century - | | - Q | | - | | - Quellin, A. |Flanders |1609-1668. - | | - Quellin, A., the younger | " |1625-1700. - | | - Quellin, E. | " |17th century. - | | - R | | - | | - Raephorst, B. van |Flanders |15th century, - | | - Ramello, F. |Italy |16th " - | | - Ranson, -- |France |18th " - | | - Rasch, A. |Flanders |15th " - | | - Riesener, -- |France |18th " - | | - Roentgen, D. | " | " " - | | - Rohan, J. de | " |16th " - | | - Rohan, J. de | " | " " - | | - Rosch, J. |Germany |15th " - | | - Rossi, P. de |Italy |15th and 16th - | | centuries. - | | - Rovezzano, B. da |England |16th century. - | | - S | | - | | - Salembier, -- |France |18th and 19th - | | centuries. - | | - Sangher, J. de |Flanders |17th century. - | | - Schelden, P. van der | " |16th " - | | - Schwanhard, H. |Germany |17th " - | | - Serlius, S. |France |16th " - | | - Servellino, G. del |Italy |15th " - | | - Sheraton, Th. |England |18th " - | | - Smet, R. de |Flanders |16th " - | | - Stoss, V. |Germany |1438-1533. - | | - Syrlin, J. | " |15th century. - | | - Syrlin, J., the younger | " |15th and 16th - | | centuries. - | | - T | | - | | - Taillebert, U. |Flanders |16th century. - | | - Tasso, D. |Italy |15th and 16th - | | centuries. - | | - Tasso, G. | " | " " - | | - Tasso, G. B. | " | " " - | | - Tasso, M. D. | " |15th century. - | | - Tatham, C. H. |England |18th " - | | - Taurini, R. |Italy |16th " - | | - Thomire, P. Ph. |France |1751-1843. - | | - Tolfo, G. |Italy |16th century. - | | - Toro, -- |France |18th century. - | | - Torrigiano, -- |England |1472-1522. - | | - Toto, -- | " |1331-1351. - | | - Trevigi, G. da | " |1304-1344. - | | - U | | - | | - Uccello, P. |Italy |1396-1479. - | | - Ugliengo, C. | " |18th century. - | | - V | | - | | - Venasca, G. P. |Italy |18th century. - | | - Verbruggen, P. |Flanders |17th " - | | - Verbruggen, P., the younger | " |1660-1724. - | | - Verhaegen, Th. | " |18th century. - | | - Voyers, -- |England | " " - | | - Vriesse, V. de |France |17th " - | | - W | | - | | - Walker, H. |England |16th century. - | | - Weinkopf, W. |Germany | " " - | | - Willemsens, L. |Flanders |1635-1702. - | | - William the Florentine |England |13th century. - | | - Wilton, J. | " |18th " - | | - Z | | - | | - Zabello, F. |Italy |16th century. - | | - Zorn, G. |Germany |17th " - - - - -INDEX. - - - Adam, Robert and John, 112 - - Alexandria, ancient centre of civilisation, 17 - - Anglo-saxon houses, 44 - - Antioch, ancient centre of civilisation, 17 - - Architectural style in furniture, 94 - - Art, classic, ends in third century, 34 - - " Byzantine, 35 - - " mediæval, its growth, 41 - - " " its perfection, 47 - - " Romanesque, long continuance, 42 - - " renaissance, 66 - - " classic, revived in eighteenth century, 107 - - " " early nineteenth century, 114 - - Atrium, 18 - - Attalus introduces tapestry, 17 - - - Bedrooms, English, fourteenth century, 50 - - " French, eighteenth century, 104 - - Beds, Byzantine period, 37 - - " Norman, 46 - - " Egyptian, Greek, &c., 116 - - " Mediæval, 118, 119 - - " at Hampton court, 120 - - Bellows, renaissance, 72 - - Bombé furniture, 104, 111 - - Boucher, 108 - - Boule, 95 - - Bureaux in marquetry, 93, 104 - - " or knee-hole, 128 - - Byzantine period, 35 - - " wealth, 38 - - " artists welcomed by Charlemagne, 41 - - - Cabinet, French, sixteenth century, 89 - - " Japan, 128 - - Cafass, Egyptian wood, 4 - - Candelabra, 23, 24 - - Candles, Anglo-saxon, &c., 45, 48 - - Carriage, Anglo-saxon, 45 - - " fourteenth century, 54, 131 - - " seventeenth century, 92 - - " the Speaker's, 132 - - " Lord Darnley's, 132 - - Caskets, Byzantine, 37 - - Ceilings in Roman houses, 21, 31 - - Chair, Egyptian, 4, 121 - - " Nineveh, 7 - - " Greek, 10, 11, 14 - - " Roman, 28, 122 - - " of St. Peter, 35 - - " Byzantine, 37 - - " at Ravenna, 39, 122 - - " in Bayeux tapestry, 45 - - " coronation, 49 - - " of Guidobaldo, 63 - - " Italian, fifteenth century, 63 - - " folding mediæval, 122 - - " of silver, at Barcelona, 123 - - " the Glastonbury, 123 - - " Italian, seventeenth century, 124 - - " marquetry, 124 - - Chambers, Sir William, 106 - - Chariots, Hebrew, 9 - - " Greek, 15 - - " Roman, 130 - - " Byzantine, 37 - - Chest, Greek, 11 - - " Roman, 29 - - " of king John, 47 - - " fourteenth century, 51 - - " for copes, 56 - - " fifteenth century, 60 - - Chest, Italian, 61 - - " renaissance, 69, 71 - - Chimneypieces, eighteenth century, 106 - - Chippendale, 106 - - Cipriani, 112 - - Cluny hôtel, carriages there, 2 - - Colbert, his patronage of art, 94 - - Couches, Egyptian, 5 - - " Roman, 13 - - " mediæval, 120 - - Coypel, Antoine, 104 - - Cradle, mediæval, 121 - - Cubicula, 20 - - Cypress chests, 70, 127 - - - Dagobert's chair, 43 - - David, 105 - - Delafosse, 104, 108 - - Dilettanti society, influence, 115 - - Dining-room, Byzantine, 38 - - Diptych of Anastasius, 36 - - Distaff, 106 - - Doorway, English, seventeenth century, 98 - - "Droit de prisage," 54 - - - Ébénistes, fine cabinet makers, 108 - - Ebony used seventeenth century, 108 - - Egyptian furniture, 5 - - Elizabethan style, 85 - - - Flemish furniture, seventeenth century, 87 - - Fragonard, 108 - - French style prevalent in eighteenth century, 103, 105 - - Furniture, use of a collection, 1 - - " Byzantine, still perhaps in mosques and treasuries, 40 - - " sixteenth century, architectural, 75 - - " eighteenth century, 103 - - " bombé, explained, 104 - - - German artists in England, sixteenth century, 78 - - " work, eighteenth century, 111 - - Gillow, 113 - - Glass windows in Roman houses, 20 - - " mosaics, &c., 22 - - " Venetian, 99 - - Glue used by the Romans, 33 - - Gouthière, 105, 110 - - Greek manners, simple, 12 - - " houses, 14 - - Grinling Gibbons, 97 - - " best examples of his work, 97 - - - Halls in Roman villas, 20 - - Hebrew furniture, 8 - - Heppelwhite, 113 - - Hogarth, paintings of chimneypieces, 106 - - Holbein, his influence, 78 - - Holy-water stoup, 102 - - House, Roman, 18 - - " Greek, 14 - - " how warmed in Rome, 29 - - " Anglo-saxon and Norman, 44, 46 - - " of timber, fifteenth century, 58 - - - Iconoclasts, destruction by, 40 - - Italian coffer at South Kensington, 61 - - " artists, sixteenth century, 68 - - " " in France and England, 78, 89 - - " carved woodwork, sixteenth century, 89 - - " distaff, 106 - - - Japanese lac-work, 106 - - - Kauffmann (Angelica), 112 - - Kaunitz, a kind of bureau, 128 - - Kitchen utensils, Roman, 30 - - Knife case, sixteenth century, 76 - - - Lac-work, Chinese and Japanese, 106 - - Lalonde, 108 - - Lares, 28 - - Lebrun, first head of the "Gobelins," 95 - - Le Pautre family, 104 - - Litters, Roman, 31 - - Lock (Matthias), 112 - - Locks in Roman houses, 21 - - Louvre, Egyptian boxes, 6 - - - Maggiolino, 111 - - Mansard, 104 - - Marquetry, Venetian, 62 - - " seventeenth century, 92, 93 - - " Boule, 95 - - Meissonnier, 104, 108 - - Metallurgy, British, 42 - - Micque, 108 - - Mirror, Greek, 13 - - " renaissance, 69 - - Mirror frames, sixteenth century, 71 - - " " Venetian, 91, 99 - - " made in England, seventeenth century, 99, 100 - - Mosaic, Roman, pavements and on walls, 19 - - " or pietra dura, 74 - - - Natoire, 108 - - Nero, colossus in his house, 25 - - Nineveh furniture, 6 - - Nuptiale, 18 - - - [OE]ci, 20 - - Oppenord, 108 - - Ostium, 18 - - - Paintings and pictures in Roman houses, 22 - - " in thirteenth century, of rooms, 48, 49 - - Panelling for rooms, 49 - - " oriental, 57 - - " of a chest, 60 - - " English, sixteenth century, 79, 80 - - " French, sixteenth century, 84 - - " English, 86 - - Pedestal, 90 - - Penates, 18 - - Peristylium, 20 - - Persian furniture, 8 - - " marquetry, 63 - - Picture-frames, renaissance, 71 - - Pomeranian cabinet at Berlin, 92 - - Pompeii, value of discoveries, 16 - - Porcelain given to Queen Elizabeth, 130 - - Pottery, time of Edward I., 49 - - Pudens, ancient house of, 20 - - Pugin, 114 - - - Queverdo, 108 - - - Religious houses, their woodwork, 63 - - " " safe generally from spoliation, 67 - - Renaissance in Italy, 66 - - " materials employed, 69 - - " in England, France, &c., 78 - - Restout, Jean, 104 - - Riesener, 105, 108, 109 - - Robert, 108 - - Rococo furniture, 103 - - Roentgen, 108, 109 - - Roman habits, at first simple, 16 - - " house, 18 - - " couches in dining-rooms, 19, 27 - - " locks and hinges, 21 - - " tables, 25 - - " chairs, 28 - - " kitchen utensils, 30 - - Roof of Westminster Hall, 55 - - Room decorations, French, eighteenth century, 107 - - Room of Marie Antoinette's time at South Kensington, 107 - - Roundels, 129 - - - Salembier, 108 - - Scamnum, 28 - - Sculpture, architectural, &c., fourteenth century, 56 - - " renaissance, 69 - - Settle or seat, fourteenth century, 51 - - Sheraton, Thomas, 113 - - Sideboards, 128 - - Silks for furniture, eighteenth century, 107 - - Stuart style of woodwork and furniture, 85, 96 - - - Table, Egyptian, 124 - - " Nineveh, 8 - - " Roman, 25, 125 - - " " veneered, 27 - - " " great value, 27 - - " Norman, 46 - - " furniture of, fourteenth century, 50 - - " fourteenth and fifteenth century, 53, 58, 125 - - " sixteenth century, 71 - - " of Francesco de' Medici, 75 - - " French, sixteenth century, 80, 81 - - " English, seventeenth century, 102 - - " long kept at Flaxton Hall, 126 - - Tapestry first brought to Rome, 17 - - " in Roman houses, 30 - - " in England, fourteenth century, &c., 50, 61 - - " Gobelin, 95 - - Tarsia, 62, 73, 74 - - Temple of Diana, 33 - - Theatre of C. Curio, 32 - - Tigrinæ tables, 26 - - Triclinium, 18, 117 - - Tripods, 22 - - Tudor cabinet at South Kensington, 78 - - " style, 85 - - - Vase from Hadrian's villa, 25 - - Venetian mirror-frame, 91 - - Vernis-Martin, 105 - - Vestiaria, 20 - - - Walpole (Horace), opinion on mediæval art, 111 - - Wardrobe, old English, 49 - - " Roman, 126 - - Wars of the Roses, evil consequences, 64 - - Wood used in Nineveh, 8 - - " " Greece, 15 - - " " Rome, for tables, &c., 26, 32 - - " " by Riesener, 109 - - Woodwork, English, in thirteenth century, 48 - - " " sixteenth century, 79 - - " Germany, in sixteenth century, 83 - - " Spanish, in sixteenth century, 84 - - " Tudor and Stuart, 86 - - Wren, Sir Christopher, 97 - - Wyattville, 114 - - - - -THE END. - - -DALZIEL BROTHERS, CAMDEN PRESS, N.W. - - - * * * * * - - - - - Transcriber's Note - - _ _ represents italic print. - - ^ represents a superscript. - - - The Table of Contents was erected by the transcriber, and placed - in the Public Domain. - - Sundry missing or damaged punctuation has been repaired. - - This book, published in England, dates from 1875. Some older, but - still correct, spellings may be present. There is also some 16th - century spelling. Both hyphenated and un-hyphenated versions of - some words appear in the text. - - 'Borgoña' and 'Borgona' both appear in the text, as do 'hôtel' and - 'hotel'. - - English spelling 'rules' have only existed since the second half of - the nineteenth century. - - Illustrations which interrupted paragraphs have generally been moved - to more convenient positions between paragraphs. An exception is the - illustration of St. Edmund's 'well-furnished bedroom' on Page 51, - referred to in the first part of the long paragraph beginning on - Page 50. It made sense to insert the illustration after 'the year - 1400', as the following text began a new topic. - - Page 21: 'valves' corected to 'halves'. 'v' would seem to be a - misprint for 'h'. - - "The doors were generally in two halves and could be closed with - locks,..." - - Page 48: 'candesticks' corrected to 'candlesticks'. - - "Though the royal table might be lighted with valuable candlesticks - of metal,..." - - Page 82: [Illustration: SEMPER FESTINA LENTE = Hurry Slowly!] - - Page 121: 'musuem' corrected to 'museum'. - - "... as in the example in the museum,..." - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ancient and Modern Furniture and -Woodwork, by John Hungerford Pollen - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT AND MODERN FURNITURE *** - -***** This file should be named 54602-8.txt or 54602-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/6/0/54602/ - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Lesley Halamek and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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