ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York State Colleges OF Agriculture and Home Economics AT Cornell University Date Due i|Deel ^ot- srr iApii 6 51 1iOT.l4'?'4X m u 1969 3 19711 tEClX 1975 fl Library Bureau Cat. No. 1137 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 104 468 768 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924104468768 HOME FURNISHING GEORGE LELAND HUNTER BY THE SAME AUTHOR TAPESTRIES THEIR ORIGIN HISTORY AND RENAISSANCE FOUR COLOR PLATES AND 147 HALF-TONE ENGRAVINGS Square 8vo. Cloth, fs.oo Net, Boxed. Large Paper Edition Limited to soo Copies. Vellum, {12.5a Net. X o. a 01 E C3 HOME FURNISHING FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT FURNITURE CARPETS AND RUGS, LAMPS AND LIGHT- ING FIXTURES, WALL PAPERS, WIN- DOW SHADES AND DRAPERIES, TAPESTRIES, Etc. BY GEORGE LELAND HUNTER AUTHOR OF "TAPESTRIES: THEIR ORIGIN, HISTORY AND RENAISSANCE" ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS JOHN LANE COMPANY: NEW YORK BELL & COCKBURN: TORONTO MCMXIII EX- Q lVv(2.n 5 Copyright, 19 13, by JOHN LANE COMPANY PUBLISHERS PRINTING COMPANY 207-217 West Twenty-fifth Street, New York PREFACE I HOPE that this little volume will be judged rather by its virtues of commission than by its sins of omission. It is not a complete handbook and guide to the decoration and furnishing of homes, but it treats adequately for the first time many subjects usually slighted or neglected. Most of the chapters have already appeared in magazine form. For per- mission to reproduce Chapters I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, X, XI, XIII, XVI, XVII, XIX, XX, I am indebted to " Country Life in America"; to " Suburban Life" for Chapters IX, XII and XXI; to "House and Garden" for Chapter XV; to "American Homes and Gardens" for Chapters VIII and XXII. The attention of readers is called particularly to the value of the chapters on Real Tapestries, Oriental Rugs, Domestic Rugs, Hand-Blocked Draperies and Papers, and Lighting Fixtures. G. L. H. CONTENTS I Good and Bad Furniture ... 17 II Chairs 24 III Oriental Rugs 30 IV Doctored Rugs 43 V Domestic Rugs 65 - VI Carpets and Carpeting .... 81 VII Lamps 90 VIII Lighting Fixtures 98 IX Ventilation 117 X Chamber Furniture 124 XI Summer Furniture 133 XII Choosing Window Draperies . . 139 XIII Draperies for Bungalows . . . 147 XIV Lace Curtains 158 XV Window Shades 169 XVI Domestic Prints . . . . • . . 174 XVII Domestic Tapestries 178 XVIII Choosing Wall Papers .... 183 XIX European Hand-blocked Papers . 190 XX European Hand-blocked Draperies 197 XXI Art Pottery 205 XXII Real Tapestries 218 ILLUSTRATIONS Chamber set of the highest quality Frontispiece FACING FACE Austrian bentwood chair i8 Oak chair crudely made 1 8 Good mahogany chair 1 8 Oak chair upholstered in leather i8 "Washington chair" 20 Tapestry-upholstered oak chair 20 Windsor type arm-chair 20 Mission type 20 Mahogany finish arm-chair 22 Mahogany finish arm-chair 22 Chiffonier in green oak 22 Oak dresser 22 Rococo Chippendale chair 24 Hepplewhite arm-chair 24 9 lo ILLUSTRATIONS FAailC PAGE Hogarth amirchair 24 Queen Anne arm-chair 24 Adam arm-chair 24 Colonel Lyon Chippendale 24 Louis XVI arm-chair 24 Chinese Chippendale 24 Ladder-back Chippendale chair 24 Superb Daghestan 30 Samarkand 34 Feraghan 34 Kazak 34 Ghiordes prayer rug 38 Mosul 38 Bokhara 38 Daghestan 38 Serebend 44 Modem Bokhara 44 Rare antique Guenje 44 Mending an Oriental rug 60 Wilton 66 ILLUSTRATIONS ii FACING FAGE Axminster 66 Brussels 66 Eagle Head 82 Henry Clay 82 Martha Washington. 82 Lamp with wooden standard 90 Square Chinese porcelain lamp 90 Lamp with painted silk shade 90 Chinese porcelain with bronze mountings 90 Colonial style lamp 94 Adam style 94 Simple classic standard 94 Bronze standard 94 Prairie grass arm-chair 134 Wickerwork basket 134 White willow 134 Prairie grass desk I34 Rattan fan chair 134 Chinese linen basket 134 Chair with matting seat 136 12 ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE Prairie grass chair 136 Swamp cedar arm-chair 136 Wicker desk 136 Chinese linen chair 136 Rattan tea-wagon 136 Treating two windows as one 148 Group of casement windows 148 Scrim with printed border 154 Curtains with Valance 154 Draped-backed hangings 154 Side curtains in silk 154 Filet italien 159 Cluny lace 159 Filet antique 159 Point de venise 160 Coventry bird pattern on creto;me 174 Tapestry effect on rep cretonne 1 74 Ambitious rep cretonne 174 Successful taffeta 174 Woven-stripe taffeta 176 ILLUSTRATIONS 13 FACING PAGE Chinese pattern cretonne 176 Printed-strie ground 176 Hampton taffeta 176 Tapestry pattern 178 Armure 178 Armure 178 Colonial couch cover 180 Ashley net 1 80 Russian net 180 Morris, the Pimpernel 190 Acanthus Scroll 190 Chrysanthemum 190 Walter Crane, the Golden Age 190 Peacock 192 Macaw 192 Roses 192 Regence pattern 192 Golden Pheasant 194 Modeled on Van Orley tapestry 194 Paper reproducing toile de Jouy 194 14 ILLUSTRATIONS FACING f PAGE Dutch Garden, a modern paper I94 Tulip, a Morris wall-paper 198 Quaint Chinoiserie 198 Rhode Island wall-paper 198 From a Gibbon carving 198 French Renaissance paper 200 Eighteenth century effect 200 Compton 200 Strawberry Thief 200 Most beautiful vase in the world 206 Jacob blessing two children 218 St. Luke painting the Virgin 226 HOME FURNISHING HOME FURNISHING GOOD AND BAD FURNITURE ORTHODOXY," said Professor Sopho- cles of Harvard, "is my doxy. Hetero- doxy is somebody else's doxy." So it is with regard to taste. Good taste is what I like. Bad taste is what the other fellow likes. Taste is the most intimate and definite ex- pression of personality. Even more than by his friends is it possible to judge a man by what appeals to him artistically. If he prefers musical comedy to grand opera, and wall paper to Re- naissance tapestries, we know that his artistic education has been neglected, or that he was born deaf to the beautiful. Good taste is not wholly a natural gift, nor is it wholly the result of knowledge and experience. It is a combination of both. Without great nat- ural gifts, no one can ever become delicately sensitive to the finer and higher forms of art. Without acquaintance with the best that has been 17 i8 HOME FURNISHING done, no one can ever become noted for the quick accuracy of his critical opinions. The shibboleth of the novice is simplicity. The young lady reporter can in half a column of the Woman's Section of the Sunday news- paper easily demolish all the French styles, and particularly Louis XV. But while simplicity is a doctrine easy to preach, it is both hard and dangerous to fol- low. Simple furniture, like simple gowns, may be inexpensive to look at, but expensive to pur- chase and use. Ornament skilfully applied con- ceals uninteresting lines and joints and surfaces, and accentuates beautiful ones. In furniture and architecture, paints and finishes and hard- ware, though often ornamentally applied, are primarily important from the point of view of usefulness. But of moldings and inlays and carvings and piercings the primary purpose is ornamental, and they are valueless except as they add beauty. The line between good ornament and ba;d ornament is the line between beauty and ugli- ness. The only good furniture is that which is both beautiful and useful. All furniture that lacks either beauty or use- fulness is bad furniture. I. Austrian bentwood chair, finislied 2. Oak chair at $2.50, crudely and in oak or mahogany, at $2.75. It roughly made. The proportions and excels in strength and durability. finish are detestable. 3. A good mahogany chair of simple 4. Oak chair upholstered m leather, design, an offshoot of the^Chippendale with heavy carvings that attempt to family. It costs $12. reproduce the Italian Renaissance. HOME FURNISHING 19 Furniture that is well constructed, of good shape and excellent finish, is good furniture no matter how elaborately it may be decorated. Furniture of bad shape or bad finish, is bad furniture no matter how free from meretricious mounts and carvings. A large proportion of the worst furniture ever made belongs to the so-called Mission or Arts- and-Crafts type. The shopkeepers claim that the reason they carry in their showrooms and warerooms so much bad furniture, is that the public demands it. The professional educators of public taste claim that the reason people buy bad furniture is because the shopkeepers force it upon them. The truth probably lies in between. Undoubt- edly the dealers do follow rather than lead, and undoubtedly the cheap trade — particularly that of instalment stores — do demand quantity of ornament and color rather than quality. The abomination of abominations in the form of bad furniture, is the conventional parlor set, copied remotely and ignorantly from some French original and upholstered in fancy ve- lours or satin damask. Nothing more ghastly could be imagined except the illustrations of them that appear in newspaper advertisements with the sign underneath, "Just like the cut." 20 HOME FURNISHING Other abominations are dining-room tables and sideboards and chairs in oak with huge Ital- ian Renaissance machine carvings obtruding where they will do the most harm ; easy chairs and sofas in massive mahogany that has been tortured into incredible shapes ; metal beds with stamped and spun trimmings that part company with the object adorned at the first opportunity; wooden beds and bureaus whose veneered and polished surfaces are mirror-like when new, and patchy after a few months' use; writing desks that, in sinuosity of line and fragility of ap- pearance and fact, surpass the most extreme rococo ever devised even in Germany: curio cabinets with painted or transferred ornament under lacquer, that makes the name vernis- martin ridiculous. Of these abominations, the worst are no longer found in the larger shops and departments. During the past ten years the standard of taste has risen appreciably. In the store from which our illustrations are taken, it is evident that a serious and intelligent effort has been made to avoid bad design, bad construction, and bad finishes. But the mass of inexpensive furniture is still full of serious faults, as our "bad furniture" illustrations show. S- "The Washington chair," repro- duced from the original. In ma- hogany, upholstered with Colonial denim, $iA 6, A tapestry-upholstered oak chair at $10.50, illustrating the effort of American designers to improve on Chippendale. 7. A durable and comfortable arm- chair of the Windsor type at $9. 8. An inferior arm-chair of the Mis- sion type at $7. HOME FURNISHING 21 Even when well built and finished, it is apt to have bad proportions. Legs are too short or too long or too slender or too thick to rhyme with the body. Chair backs are too wide or too narrow or too straight or too curved. Arms are too light or too heavy. Seats are too wide or too deep. The upholstery is out of tune with the color and texture of the wood, or with the style to which the frame belongs. Of expensive furniture that is good — modern reproductions as well as antique pieces — the different historic periods have bequeathed us much. If one has a fat purse there is no excuse for buying bad furniture. But when the purse is lean, the case is differ- ent. The cheap imitations of historic pieces are ridiculous — for instance, the dwarfed and skimpy copies of Chippendale and Louis XV chairs of which there are so many. Inexpensive furniture should be chosen for its intrinsic merits, and not for its more or less shadowy resemblance to museum examples. The designs — ^whether classic or modern — will of necessity be those adapted to production in large quantities and inexpensively; the ornament such- as is natural to the machine and durable in use. Especially interesjting from the modern point 22 HOME FURNISHING of view are the bentwood furniture made in Austria, and the new turned furniture made in Germany. Both are avowedly and pronouncedly machine-made, and designed along the lines best adapted for machine production. They are splendid examples of good furniture at the least possible cost. Of course, No. i suggests the restaurant, but it is vastly more durable and more graceful than No. 2, which is plain "kitchen chair." No. 4 is a pretentious failure. Elaborate carv- ing is acceptable only when executed by a mas- ter. Crude, pasted-on, machine carving is an abomination. This chair costs enough to be good, but any one who can afford to pay $94 for a five-piece set ought to have taste enough to choose No. 3 or No. 5. No. 6 represents the way some American manufacturers murder Chippendale. Note par- ticularly the front legs. Could anything be more hopelessly ugly? It is positively refreshing to turn to No. 7. It not only looks well and wears well, but it is comfortable. It is a model of grace compared with No. 8, and is built well. Not all Mission furniture is cumbersome, but No. 8 is. Obvious construction, moreover, is not necessarily good or honest construction, and 9. An arm-chair in, mahogany finish, part of a three-piece set, at I65. 10. An arm-chair in mahogany finish, one of a five-piece set, atiJisc II. A chiffonier finished in green oak at $12.50, Lines and proportions excellent. 12. An oak dresser at $12.50, crowd- ed with meaningless curves. HOME FURNISHING 23 cheap Mission furniture shows an aptitude for falling apart. Of course, I do not pretend that No. 9 is a beautiful chair; but compare it with No. 10 1 Is it any wonder that boys leave home when the front parlor is equipped with "suits" of this type? II CHAIRS THE great name in chair making is Chip- pendale. For many years before and after the middle of the eighteenth cen- tury, he flourished in London, and his famous book, "The Gentleman and Cabinet-maker's Di- rector," published in 1754 and sold mainly to the trade, brought him posthumous reputation as well as immediate business. Ever since then the strongest and handsomest chairs used in Eng- land and America, and to some extent in Ger- many, have been Chippendale chairs made in the master's own shop or reproduced from them and from Chippendale's book. Thomas Chippendale was a genius in the workroom. Chinese and Rococo, Dutch and Gothic, were all alike to him. From bad de- signs, as well as from good designs, made by architects as well as by professional furniture designers, he produced models that are marvel- ous for beauty of proportion and comfort in use. One may rail at the fragility of cheap American- made Louis XV and Sheraton chairs, but of 24 I. Rococo Chippen- dale chair at $55. 2. Hepplewhite arm-chair at S63. 3. Hogarth arm-chair, with hand - painted splat, at $85. 4. Queen Anne arm-chair at S33. 5. Adam arm-chair at 6. Colonel Lyon rib- bon-back Chippendale arm-chair at $90. 7. Louis XVI tapestry- covered arm-chair at $700. 8. Chinese CBtppendale arm-chair at $55^ 9. Ladder-back Chip- pendale chair, $35- HOME FURNISHING 25 Chippendale chairs even the faintest transat- lantic echoes seldom lack apparent as well as real solidity. Distinctive of Chippendale chairs is the open- work of the splat in the back. Chairs of the Hogarth and Queen Anne type, that preceded Chippendale, have a solid splat like Nos. 3 and 4. No. 4 is a particularly simple model and can be used in any spacious room with Classic background. Of Queen Anne and Chip- pendale chairs in general, it may be said that the architectural background of the former tends to be French, and of the latter Italian, with heavy architectural ornament in the form of mantels and pediments and tabernacles in bold wood or plaster relief. While the accepted name for the decorative style that prevailed during the reigns of George I and George II is Georgian, the principal style of the period of George III is Adam. The Scotch architects, the four brothers Adam, of whom Robert was chief, dominated not only architecture but also interior furnishings. Rob- ert Adam was a Classic of the Classics, drawing his inspiration direct from ancient Roman orig- inals, particularly the palace of Diocletian at Spalatro, which he described and illustrated in a book of wonderful drawings. It is stupid 26 HOME FURNISHING to talk of a Hepplewhite or a Sheraton style, as is often done. Hepplewhite was a maker and Sheraton a designer of furniture who followed where Robert Adam led. It was theirs to take, not give, orders, and Hepplewhite, as well as other London cabinet-makers, was only too happy to be allowed to execute the designs of the distinguished architect. Architecture and furniture of the Adam pe- riod were characterized by lightness and grace. Straight lines took the place of curves and scrolls. Simple compo-ornamented columns and pilasters formed the framework and Greco- Roman floral wreaths, ribbon-tied husks and drapery festoons were favorite motifs. Delicate paneled ornamentation, sometimes in compo, sometimes painted by artists like Angelica Kauffmann, and like Pergolesi, was freely em- ployed. Noticeable about Adam and Hepplewhite and Sheraton chairs is the light construction as compared with those of Chippendale. They are smaller and lighter and look comparatively less solid than they really are. Moreover, there is no longer any splat running down the middle of the back into the frame of the seat and making for strength. The Classic backs, as illustrated by Nos. 2 and 5, rested on the side posts only. HOME FURNISHING 27 But it is noteworthy that the only chairs Chip- pendale built for Robert Adam came through absolutely Chippendale in construction and feel- ing, though completely Classic in line and after designs by Adam. Characteristic of Hepplewhite are his chair backs shaped like shields or hearts. His favorite legs were square, tapering down almost to fra- gility, but often strengthened by the spade foot. Ornamental forms that he loved, sometimes painted, sometimes in low relief, were ribbons, flowers, husks, urns, and the wheat ear that is as characteristic of him as the lyre is of Sheraton. Sheraton's carved forms were also very sim- ple and very conventional — the cornice dentil, the Greek egg and dart, the laurel, the berry. His inlays were medallions, fans, vases, shells. His chair backs were often composed of four, five or seven uprights, slender and variously shaped. His chair legs were slender and taper- ing, and sometimes round but usually square. The arms of his armchairs started high on the back, thus supporting it and rendering unneces- sary the heavy splat of Chippendale. The French style contemporary with that of Adam was Louis XVI, also a Classic style. No. 7, a superior model in dull gold, with seat and back upholstered in real Aubusson tapestry, and 38 HOME FURNISHING with tapestry cushions on the arms, costs $700. It is well worth the price, but of course is only suited for a very fine interior. There are many Louis XVI chairs in gilt or enamel or walnut of exquisite lines and beautiful construction at comparatively small prices, suitable for either French or English Classic interiors. Of the furniture most commonly regarded as Colonial, much is not only post-Colonial but post-eighteenth century. In these late Colonial pieces the Empire feeling is strong, and there is a marked similarity to the contemporaneous fur- niture of Germany, called Biedermeier by th& Germans. An example of this late Colonial style is the so-called Abraham Lincoln chair used by the Lincolns in their home at Springfield, 111., from 1844 to 1 861. It was finished in ebony with painted decorations in gold. The repro- duction of the side chair sells for $15 ; arm chair to match is $20. All of the chairs illustrated in this chapter were "made in America." This does not mean that we are beating out the English at their own game. Far from it. For many years to come they will continue to send us chairs in the vari- ous English styles. For the making of a good chair, like the weaving of a good tapestry, de- pends more on the workman than on the design, HOME FURNISHING 29 and the best English workmen stay in England, while our American boys become clerks rather than learn a trade. But we have at last reached the point where only the very best English is bet- ter than or as good as our best. Especially interesting to visit are the furniture factories of the English town of High Wycombe, not far from London. They use machinery less and men more than on the American side of the Atlantic, And they have methods and tra- ditions of workmanship that are invaluable. But they certainly do concentrate their attention on chairs. I had not been in the burg ten minutes before I was invited to visit an ancient inn that enshrines the local Palladium — the Beaconsfield chair. It seems that the first time Disraeli ran for Parliament, he ran in this district and was so confident of election that he had a big chair built in which as victor he might be carried around in triumph by his faithful supporters. Alas! He not only lost the election but appa- rently forgot about the chair or no longer liked the idea of it. At any rate he never claimed it. Ill ORIENTAL RUGS MYSTERIOUS and fascinating are the tales that have been woven around Oriental rugs for the benefit — or delu- sion — of Occidental customers. "This royal Fantasieh," chants the itinerant auctioneer, "consumed thirty years in the weav- ing, and was given as a present over two centu- ries ago to Harun-al-Raschid, Shah of Mesopo- tamia, by his faithful subjects of Bagdad. On it he knelt and prayed thrice each day, and like- wise his successors for five generations, until the Sultan of Turkey overran the land. Then the rug went to Constantinople to adorn the pal- ace of the Sultan, whence it was secretly taken by an escaping slave and sold for thrice five thousand francs to a rich rug merchant who saw at once its extraordinary preciousness. "Now what am I offered for this treasure of treasures, this priceless jewel? Five thousand dollars, do I hear? No? But ladies and gentle- men, it is the opportunity of a lifetime. Never again," etc., etc., ad nauseam, until finally some- 30 I. A superb Daghestan, 6 feet by 4 feet 6, at I165. HOME FURNISHING 31 body buys the pearl of pearls for five or six hun- dred dollars, making glad the heart of the itin- erant auctioneer, because he has doubled his money. Not all rug auctions are faked or even faky. This is the regular and legitimate method for disposing in New York City of collections of antiques and special pieces. But it is also the common method by which imperfect rugs and rugs of poor quality are palmed off on the public by dealers who flit from store to store, with occasional changes of name. Whoever buys of such dealers is sure always to pay dear for his purchases and frequently to be fleeced. Few Americans have an expert knowledge of Oriental rugs; and indeed to few would such knowledge be of value. It is required only for the purchase of important antiques. But an acquaintance with the types and prices of rugs to be found in better-class shops through- out the United States will both save the pur- chaser money and enable him to buy rugs ap- propriate in pattern, color and size to the rooms they are to adorn. THE SIZES AND SHAPES OF RUGS The question of size is vital. Some of the best decorative firms in the country advise against 32 HOME FURNISHING the use of large rugs in any private residence. They point to the fact that the smaller sizes are less expensive, more durable and more truly artistic in pattern and weave and feel, being the natural product of the native weaver. Formerly the only large rugs woven were for mosques or the throne room of governor or shah or sultan. The common sizes of other rugs were from 3 x6 to 4x 12. Now, in response to the Western demand, large rugs nearly square — 9 x 12, 10 x 12, 11 X13, 12 X 14, etc. — are produced in quantities at the rug-weaving centers. Their size makes heavier construction imperative and increases the diffi- culty of weaving, as well as the amount of yarn necessary, thus doubling or tripling the price per foot. Furthermore, in the small sizes, rugs whose colors have been mellowed by time — genuine an- tiques — can still be procured at prices that are not prohibitive. Only millionaires can afford antique large rugs. At the Marquand sale in New York City in 1902 a Fifteenth Century Persian rug (6x12 and of wool, not silk) sold for $38,000 — over $500 a square foot. Because many antiques are admirable is no reason for denying the merit of modern rugs. HOME FURNISHING 33 There are more rugs of high quality being woven to-day than ever before, and this is due princi- pally to the fact that there is a better market for them than ever before. The United States alone imports five million dollars' worth a year — about three and a half millions before the duty is paid. No wonder that the Shah of Persia nurses the rug-weaving industry tenderly, be- stowing orders and honorable rewards on suc- cessful rug merchants and inflicting the most severe penalties for the use of aniline dyes or anything calculated to bring Persian rugs into disrepute. Very fine large rugs are woven in northwest- ern Persia and are marketed mostly at Tabriz. Names attached to different types of these rugs are: Tabriz, Gorevan, Serape, Herez, etc. Other large rugs of high quality are those from Kerman in southern Persia and from Khorassan in northeastern Persia. Oriental rugs vary materially in size, shape, design and color effects, and this variety offers a wide field for selection for various uses. There are Oriental rugs appropriate for use in rooms of almost any decorative style and color treat- ment, and rugs particularly appropriate for use in the different rooms of the country house. 34 HOME FURNISHING This phase of the subject is discussed with some care elsewhere. SOME PERSIAN TYPES The finest rugs in the world are woven in Persia. For centuries Persian rugs have been the pride of Shah and provincial governors, and just as in France, at the Gobelins, tapestries of wonderful fineness and surpassing design are woven for the French government, so in the palaces of Persia reproductions of the famous rugs of old, as well as original creations true in every detail to the traditions of a glorious past, are woven without regard for cost as gifts for mosques and for powerful friends, and as treas- ures to bequeath to posterity. Some writers have lamented the fact that at the two principal Persian rug-weaving centers, Tabriz and Sultanabad, the industry is under European control. Their lamentations hardly seem justified, inasmuch as it is in these two cities that more has been done to raise the stand- ard of materials, dyes, and designs than any- where else, and the improvement in qualities has been rewarded by a constantly increasing foreign demand. To the high quality of Kerman wool is due 2. A Samarkand, lo feet by 5 feet 4, at SiS 3- A particularly fine Feraghan, 10 feet by s. at $320. 4. A Kazak, 6 feet by 3 feet 8, at S80. HOME FURNISHING 35 part of the fame of Kerman rugs, that are also distinguished for boldness and originality of de- sign, in which were formerly introduced birds, beasts and even human figures, as well as flowers, trees and landscapes. To-day the patterns are mostly floral, and the birds and flowers are shown in relief — like the French rugs that they inspired over two centuries ago — not flat as in most other Orientals. The warp is usually of cotton, the filling of wool, the pile short, and the weave fine, the colors delicate but at the same time rich and soft. Large Kermans sell for from $4 to $15 a foot, small ones from $2.50 a foot up. Care should be taken not to con- fuse these Persian Kermans with the Turkish Kermans woven at Oushak, which are of a greatly inferior type. It is probably to avoid this that Persian Kermans are frequently called Kermanshahs. Tabriz rugs come in small and large sizes and are sold for from $2.50 to $10 a square foot. They are well worth the price, for they excel in in- tricacy of design and in fineness of weave, the average number of knots to the inch being about 200 — ^but not infrequently 300 or 400. The wool used to form the pile, and the cotton of the web, are of the best quality; the colors are durable, and the workmanship is of the highest 36 HOME FURNISHING type. For durability they are unsurpassed, although many prefer the softer surface and more pliant body that go with coarser and more loosely spun yarns and longer pile. Tabrizes bear the same relation to other Oriental rugs that Gobelin tapestries bear to Flemish, and while executed with fidelity to the best Persian traditions, show a tendency toward that calcu- lated beauty which is characteristic of the Occi- dent rather than of the Orient. The patterns are brilliantly harmonious, and usually have in the center a medallion on an ivory field, with the corners of the field and the wide borders overrun with florals exquisitely fine in detail. These are florals that do not lose by comparison with those of the finest Kerman rugs from which they draw their inspiration. The colors are deli- cate pastel pinks, greens and blues. Sehna is famous for small and medium rugs that excel in fineness of weave. The pile of Sehnas is clipped surprisingly close and the sur- face is like velvet to the eye. The most usual patterns show a white or ivory field covered with small cones, also called pears, or palms, or river loops, or crown jewels, or flames. The border consists of stripes, of which the middle one is the widest and bears the Herati design — two lanceolate leaves framing a rosette. The HOME FURNISHING 37 dominant colors are red and yellow. Small Sehnas are worth from $2 to $6 a foot. Modern Feraghans, named after a Persian province near Sultanabad, sell from $1 to $2 a foot, and are of coarse weave, with pile of medium height, and with cotton warp and filling. The Herati design is characteristic of the field, and the dominant colors are dark green, blue and red. TURKISH AND RUSSIAN TYPES Oushak, with a population of over 100,000, is one of the most important rug-weaving centers in Turkey. As at Tabriz and Sultanabad the industry is principally under European control. The large, thick, coarse rugs woven here, with wool filling and warp, are sold in several quali- ties under various names — Kermans, Ghiordes, Yaprak, Sparta, Gulistan, Enile, etc., some in Persian, some in Turkish, and some in European designs. Prices per foot range according to the fineness of weave and intricacy of pattern from seventy-five cents for Ghiordes rugs to $4 for Sivas rugs. The colors are strong greens, green- blues, reds, maroons. Anatolia is another name for Asia Minor. Under the name Anatolian are sold small odds 38 HOME FURNISHING and ends of every variety of Turkish weave. Im- perfect pieces 2x4 or smaller are sometimes offered as low as fifty cents a foot. Ghiordes, home of the Ghiordes knot that ties the pile of most Oriental rugs — the other rug knot being the Sehna — and said to be Gior- dium, the home of the knot that was cut by Alex- ander the Great, is a Turkish city which has long been famous for prayer rugs. Ghiordes antiques are among the most cherished pieces in European museums. The contrast of the solid- blue — or rich red, or pale yellow — arched field, with the alternating colors of the border stripes, is fascinating. Florals — in form mid-way be- tween the straight lines of Caucasian designs and the curves of Persian — ^break up the border stripes into tiny blocks of color that balance in a wonderful manner. Reproductions of antique Ghiordes, Kulah, Melez, Bergamo, Ladik and other small Turkish rugs that had a high repu- tation in the past are still produced, but are often inferior in quality of wool, fineness of weave, and delicacy of coloring. Ghiordes an- tiques sell for from $10 a foot up ; modern repro- ductions, from $1 to $3. Many Americans — some of them in the trade, at that — seem not to be aware that many of the finest Oriental rugs are woven in Russian Cen- 5. A Ghiordes' prayer rug, 6 feet by 4 feet 2. at Sioo. 6. A Mosul, 6 feet 4. by 4, at S80. 7. A Bokhara. 5 feet by 3, at $30. 5, A Daghestan, 6 feet by 4 tuuL 6, at S165. HOME FURNISHING 39 tral Asia and in the Russian Caucasus. All of these rugs are pronouncedly geometrical in de- sign, with straight-line figures and motifs pre- dominating. This differentiates them definitely from most Persians, and particularly from Ker- mans. Bokhara, capital of the Khanate of Bokhara in Central Asia, north of Afghanistan, was merged into the Russian empire in 1868. Bokhara rugs in medium sizes sell for from $3 to $5 a foot and are well worth the money. The wool is of high quality and the pile is short. The web is entirely of wool and frequently extends three or four inches beyond the pile at the ends, where it is finished with long fringe. The weave is fairly fine and the shapes tend toward square- ness. Samarkand, a city in Russian Central Asia, 234 miles by rail east of Bokhara and only a little over 300 miles west of the present Chinese frontier, attained its greatest magnificence at the close of the fourteenth century, as the capital of Tamerlane the Great, who adorned it with the "grandest monuments of Islam." Henry Nor- man calls it the most interesting city in the world after Athens, Rome, and Constantinople. Samarkand rugs are almost exclusively Chinese in pattern, with fretted field that bears from 40 HOME FURNISHING one to five equilateral or round medallions. In these, Chinese pheasants or dragons or flowers often appear. Yellow, that is as typically Chi- nese as green is typically Turkish, is the dom- inant color, with reds and blues that form superb contrasts and harmonies. The web is usually of cotton and the weave is fairly fine. Samar- kands 5x9 sell for about $2 a foot. Daghestan, Kabistan, Derbend, Chichi, Shir- van, Kazak and other Caucasian rugs are woven in the Caucasus, a Russian isthmus six hundred miles wide, between the Black and the Caspian seas, and connecting Europe with Asia. A large part of the territory represents conquests made during the nineteenth century from Persia and Turkey. Just as nature abhors a vacuum, so Caucasian rugs abhor the curves characteris- tic of Kerman and other Persian rugs. Cauca- sian rugs represent the highest development of the straight line designs with which primitive peoples always start to interpret nature forms. Here we have mosaic-like patterns that are as interesting as they are intricate, and that occa- sionally combine symbolism with interpretation — Noah's ark, animals, and human figures not to be mistaken, set in frames that are now purely geometrical, though once also alive. HOME FURNISHING 41 Both filling and warp of Daghestan rugs are of wool, and the weave is fine. They come only in small sizes — often in prayer-rug patterns — and sell for $2 a square foot. Their usual colors are ivory and grayed reds, blues, yellows and greens, that do not shade into each other but sharply accentuate the preciseness of the tile and trellis effects, stars, squares, hexagons, and other geometrical forms. Kabistan rugs are finer in weave, shorter in pile, and more interesting in design than Da- ghestans. The color contrasts are less violent, and crude bird and animal shapes are frequently introduced. The individuality of Kabistan rugs is remarkable, exact duplication of pattern being rare. Each is the product of the imagination of a weaver who loves his task. The average price per foot is $3. Small Anatolian silk rugs, usually with cotton web, bring from $1.75 a foot up. Persian silk rugs, frequently with silk web, bring from $7 to $60 a foot according to fine- ness, weight and size. I saw a most interesting Tabriz silk rug 10 x 15 feet in the warerooms of a New York importer, which was being held for $10,000, and was well worth the money. It is easy to go wrong in the purchase of silk rugs. 42 HOME FURNISHING as there are numerous mercerized and wood silk imitations, many of them not even hand-knotted. These imitations are seldom beautiful and never durable. IV DOCTORED RUGS AMERICANS seem to be crazy over the word "antique." They clamor for an- tique furniture, antique silver, antique jewelry, antique linen, antique Oriental rugs; and in most cases they expect to pick them up "for a song" from some itinerant auctioneer or from some dealer in antiques who has a nasty little shop on an obscure side street, and whose white hair and evident age give them confidence to believe that his stock consists of heirlooms. The amateur collector of antiques is almost without exception a victim easy to pluck. En- thusiasm and ignorance combine to make him credulous, and by the time his mistakes have educated him, his collecting days are over and his collection goes to the auctioneer for redis- tribution. The difficulties of the American who tries to make a notable collection of antique Oriental rugs are almost insurmountable. The impor- tant pieces were long ago locked up in the mu- seums and palaces of Europe, and the few ex- 43 44 HOME FURNISHING amples in good condition that come occasionally on the market are snapped up at astoundingly high prices. Small antique Caucasian, Mosul and Anato- lian rugs from twenty-five to one hundred years old are still to be procured — if you are willing to pay the price; but most of the so-called an- tiques have had merely the first glare of new- ness rubbed off and less than ten years have passed since the wool left the backs of the sheep. It must be admitted that many dealers through ignorance or cupidity encourage this "accursed thirst for antiquity" and make a practice of ad- vertising antiques at prices that would be low for new rugs. Out of ten advertisements in New York newspapers, one Sunday last winter, by houses of high standing, six announced an- tique rugs; but, as a matter of fact, there was not a single genuine antique in any one of the offerings, and many of the so-called antiques were not even well washed, or else had not been washed at all. Yet it is hardly fair to put all the blame on the dealers. It is the attitude of the purchasers that makes continued deception possible — almost inevitable. People demand antiques and abso- lutely insist on regarding as antique any rug the colors of which are subdued. And when it I. Serebend, 6 feet by 4, with pronounced abrashes, at 585. 2. Modern Bokhara, 4 feet by 2, improved by washing, at S28. 3. Rare antique Guenje at 5550. HOME FURNISHING 45 comes to weaving romantic history into a rug, they are quite the equal of any rug salesman. They buy to-day a Bokhara that not only is fresh from the loom but is sold as such, and in a few months after dust and dirt have dulled it, they call the attention of friends and acquaintances to "this extraordinary royal Bokhara (royal sounds well) that it is now impossible to dupli- cate, since the introduction of aniline dyes and the commercial spirit into the Orient." There are no "faked antiques" that an expert cannot quickly detect, but when I write "expert" I mean expert in the full sense of the word — not some amateur, who, having read Mumford, and listened to the yarns of Orientals as ignorant as himself, imagines that he is an authority — but a man who has lived with rugs for a generation, studying their moods and expressions under varying lights and varying atmospheric condi- tions, stroking their faces until his fingers be- come sensitive to age and quality of wool, buy- ing and selling them until his judgment of values is exact and formed at first glance. People don't expect to learn all about horses in a day. They have read enough horse-trading stories to appreciate the fact that the only good judge of horses is a man who has summered and wintered with them. Why should they imagine 46 HOME FURNISHING that some heaven-born faculty will enable them to outwit the wily itinerant dealer in Oriental rugs? Unfortunately, pseudo-experts are many and most of them seem to thrive. A few weeks ago, one of them, a man of considerable general cul- ture and decorative knowledge, who lectures in- terestingly about rugs and also adds to his in- come by assisting his clients in the purchase of rugs, entered one of the largest rug stores in the country. He wanted an antique about lo x 15 for the dining-room of one of his customers, and his ideas as regards color and design were def- inite. Antiques 10 x 15 are not to be met with every day; but it chanced that the dealer had one that he could guarantee to be at least 200 years old. The pseudo-expert was delighted. He caressed the soft pile with enthusiasm, he pointed with delight to the various evidences of age — and then he asked the price. "$16,000," was the answer. Mr. Pseudo- Expert gasped. "Why, I only expected to pay about $300," he said, when he finally realized that he had heard aright. The dealer can hardly be blamed for seizing the opportunity to give him a much-needed lesson on values, and this pseudo-expert departed a sadder, but a wiser man. Before leaving, however, he selected a HOME FURNISHING 47 modern washed rug. It will be interesting to know whether he was as honest with his client as the dealer had been with him. Another pseudo-expert brought his clients with him and under his chaperonage they looked at a large number of rugs of the desired size. They finally picked out a medium-grade Tabriz not over six months old and in unusually bright colors. "Are you sure that this is a genuine antique?" asked the clients. "Indeed it is," responded the pseudo-expert; "it is one of the most superb Ispahans I ever saw, three hundred years old if it is a day." To acquire an expert knowledge of Oriental rugs from books or magazine articles is impos- sible, and no set of rules can be laid down for the guidance of purchasers that will guarantee them against deception. One point, however, I would emphasize again and again. Rug values are staple and there are no bargains to be had. If you want an antique you must pay an antique price, and if you want a modern rug of high quality you must pay pro- portionately. The only cheap Oriental rugs are imperfect ones. A friend said to me the other day, with horror in his voice: 48 HOME FURNISHING "You don't mean to tell me that you would actually advise people to buy 'washed rugs'?" My answer was promptly, "Yes." First and foremost comes the fact that the colors of unwashed modern rugs are too crude and the contrasts too violent for Occidental taste. Like the ancient Greek, the Persian loves strong tones and staccato effects. But American architects and decorators in- sist on soft tones, elusive harmonies and subtle gradations. These are qualities that many an- tique Oriental rugs possess preeminently. Cared for tenderly through generations and never bruised with nail-studded shoe heels, their faces have grayed variously, losing sharpness of out- line and of contrast, and acquiring the kind of living luster that is seen on the flank of a well- groomed horse. Unfortunately, the price of small antiques is exceedingly high, while that of large antiques is prohibitive. This is the cause of the attempt to finish modern rugs in antique tones. The first washing done in Constantinople was of the roughest kind. The rug was plastered with a mixture of mud, lime, and sulphuric acid and then rolled up until the mordants did their work. The desired effect was quickly gained and for HOME FURNISHING 49 a time some buyers were delighted at the number of large antiques on the market. But before long it was discovered that the process left to the rug only a few months of life, and many dealers had the doubtful pleasure of redeeming spoiled rugs. This put a quietus on rug washing temporarily and would probably have ended it forever if the American demand had not continued insistent. American buyers came to Constantinople with instructions to purchase antiques at any cost, and, if necessary, to go into the interior — ^where most of them are about as helpless as a South Sea Islander on the Bowery — and this not through any fault of their own, but because the Oriental has ways of doing business that are distinctly un-American. What part these American buyers took in put- ting rug washing on a proper basis is difficult to say. Several of those most actively concerned never mention washed rugs except in a whisper, while others say that they have merely followed the example of the pioneers. Be that as it may, to-day rug washing is a flourishing industry in New York as well as in Constantinople and in Persia, and of the vege- table-dyed rugs sold in this city practically all of the larger ones and 50 per cent of the smaller 50 HOME FURNISHING ones have been washed. Aniline-dyed rugs are seldom washed because no method has yet been discovered to "antiquate" them successfully. Aniline dyes do not grow old gracefully and the consistent opinion of experts is that the con- tinued use of aniline — chemical or coal-tar — dyes would have ruined the industry. Aniline- dyed rugs, instead of improving with age, "rust" and grow blotchy. The wool — out of which ani- line dyeing cuts the oil — ^grows constantly stifier and harder and dryer. There is no life in it, and the difference in "feel" is apparent even to the amateur and is conclusive to the expert. The least trustworthy rugs in this respect are those from India and from Turkey, but in the latter country, at least, the condition of things is rap- idly improving. The frequent use of European designs has also injured the reputation of rugs from Turkey and India. Under no circumstances, then, purchase a rug dyed with anilines. Consult reputable dealers who can "make good" if themselves deceived, as will sometimes happen, and make sure that the blues are made from indigo, yellows from Per- sian berries, greens from yellow and blue, reds from madder, etc., etc. If the dealer shows you rugs at the staple prices given in Chapter III, you are right to HOME FURNISHING 51 assume that they are modern. If the tones are soft and agreeable, you may also assume that they have been washed. Why some dealers continue to deceive their customers on the subject of washed rugs I can- not understand. If people only knew that proper washing is a legitimate form of finishing and does not injure the fabric, they would be glad to pay the extra price that washed rugs cost — from five cents to one dollar a foot, a fair average price being twelve and one-half cents a foot. And they would not be tempted to search for "antiques at a song" among the badly washed and second-class stocks of the itinerant auc- tioneer. Washing is a most interesting process that re- quires skill and experience of the highest type, and that has been brought to great perfection in the United States. It not only grays — either white-grays or black-grays according to the con- ditions — the colors, and hatches them; it also removes the surplus color and sets the rest. In other words, after washing, vegetable colors are there to stay. It is, I believe, still a favorite diversion for "cozy-corner editors" gravely to inform their readers that the way to test a rug for aniline dyes is to rub it with a handkerchief that has 52 HOME FURNISHING been wet in the mouth ; if any loose color comes off, the rug must be wrong. The opposite is true. Aniline dyes are com- paratively fast and the test you can easily try for yourself on any American carpet. But many vegetable-dyed rugs run when water is applied, while Bokharas "bleed like a stuck pig." To prevent them from running, they must be care- fully washed. A case in point is that of a rich merchant who bought for his dining-room a fine Gorevan rug that by some strange chance had not been washed. One day somebody spilt a cup of cof- fee on it and made a nasty splotch of colors. The merchant promptly sent the rug back to the dealer and the dealer put it up to the importer as an instance of aniline dyes. This, of course, was promptly denied, the facts were explained, and the rug was sent to the washer who eliminated the surplus dyes, leaving the rest fast, and at the same time mel- lowing the tones. The rug has been back in that dining-room now for five years and is the pride of the owner's heart. Avoid badly washed rugs, or, if you do buy them, do not pay more than they are worth. All washings are not successful. Sometimes two rugs similar in weave and color will be differ- HOME FURNISHING 53 ently affected. One will come out in soft tones with a velvet surface, the other with colors blotched and mixed. The value of the first may- be doubled, of the second cut in two. I saw a Tabriz the other day that was worth $200 before washing. After washing, the dealer offered it to me for $20, and this was not be- cause the fabric had in any way been injured. The wear was still there and the "feel" of the surface was good; but the colors were piebald. Another Tabriz, landed here, that cost about $1,000, was so much improved by washing as to sell quickly for $2,500. Rugs that are particularly dangerous for the average customer are those the fabric of which has been injured in the washing. This is due to cheap washing as well as to washers who do not understand the business. There are im- porters and dealers — not many — ^who crowd down the price they pay for washing below a living scale and then seem surprised because their customers complain a year or two later. Some people say they can tell a washed rug because washing is only skin deep. This is an- other fallacy. Washing is sometimes skin deep, but it often affects the whole depth of the pile. With antique rugs it is exactly the same. Age touches only the surface of some but permeates 54 HOME FURNISHING the whole of others, according to the depth of the pile, the fineness of the weave, the way in which the rug has been used, etc. The first requisite in a fine rug is life. Here the analogy with furs is interesting. Most of us need no education or training to make us un- derstand that if, in curing, the oil and the life have been taken out of a sealskin or sable, irre- parable harm has been done. With rugs it is quite the same. If the wool has not been washed and dyed in the most perfect manner, the weaver may exercise his utmost skill, may express in the most spirited manner his interpretation of a pattern famous for centuries — the result will be disappointing, the surface of the rug will be harsh and unsympathetic to the eye and to the hand. If you stroke the back of a self-respecting cat that with indefatigable care keeps its fur licked into glossiness, the touch of the fur sends electric thrills through the fingers; and if, in cold dry weather, in spite of remonstrances, you rub a fine Oriental rug against the nap, actual elec- tric sparks will be developed. This is one of the most important tests of quality in a rug. The feeling of electric smooth- ness should result from rubbing with the nap, of spirited remonstrance from rubbing against it. HOME FURNISHING 55 This, however, is not a test for age. It is true that as the years pass not only do the colors of a rug that is loved and cared for grow softer, but the nap also develops richer life — a super- silkiness to look and touch. It is also true that years bring to the surface the inner characteristics of a rug, and make it an individuality, entirely unlike any other rug in the world — when once seen, never to be for- gotten. But just as all babies look much alike, so infant rugs resemble each other in spite of differences of wool, weave, color, pattern. It is only when the abrashes appear that the rug can claim to have reached its majority. WHAT IS AN ABRASH? Abrash is a most interesting word. In Persia, if father, son and grandson have Roman noses, then a Roman nose is the abrash of that family. If gluttony is characteristic of generation after generation, then is gluttony the hereditary abrash. If it is a strawberry mark on the left shoulder, then the strawberry mark is an abrash. The abrashes of a rug are the stripes or bands that run partially or entirely across the pile. When seen for the first time by Americans ac- 56 HOME FURNISHING customed to admire and insist on the death-like uniformity that characterizes machine products, abrashes are apt to impress them as defects, par- ticularly if wide. It takes experience and ac- quaintance with the art industries to grasp com- pletely the significance and artistic value of in- dividuality. No two rugs are marked alike. The abrashes in number, in width, in tone, combine themselves in as many different ways as there are rugs. It is possible that in some cases the abrashes are in- tended by the weaver, but in general it may be said that they are due to accidental variations of wool, structure or dye. Between the wool of different provinces great differences exist. Some of the staples have deep serrations, others are comparatively smooth. Between the wool of diflferent sheep in the same province differences undoubtedly exist, though too small to detect except as they manifest themselves in abrashes. Dyeing is also responsible for abrashes. The skein that hangs in the sun a little longer will betray the fact in the form of an abrash. The failure exactly to match the red of one dyeing to the red of another will cause an abrash. The process of washing brings out the abrashes most interestingly. It enables the rug to achieve its character and tell its story early, and it does HOME FURNISHING 57 it without inflicting on the rug the infirmities that age produces. THE PASSION FOR ANTIQUES Ten years ago the passion for antiques in this country was so strong that people seemed to love them for their imperfections rather than for their perfections. The worm-holes in antique furniture thrilled them with sentiment. The dents in old silver and pewter were so many beauty spots. The frayed fringes and worn- down naps and ragged holes in antique rugs were more to be cherished than fine gold. Already the point of view is more sensible. While an antique may be highly valued in spite of its imperfections, the antiques that are really competed for are those whose old age is hale and hearty. At the Heber Bishop sale several years ago I trembled lest enthusiasts might strive to outbid each other for a silk Samarcand, once no- ble, but through neglect and abuse now ragged and threadbare. I was happily disappointed. The rug, which is 12 feet 7 by 6 feet 4, sold for only $225 — and is hardly worth even that. Of the seven Chinese rugs sold that day the one that brought the highest price — $2,800, in size 16 feet 8 by II feet 3 — deserved the preemi- 58 HOME FURNISHING nence in every way. The detached figures of the field were wonderfully delicate and dis- played the Chinese mastery of conventional de- sign in its highest form, while across the rug, near the upper end, ran an abrash two feet wide, whose paleness beautifully accentuated the deeper tones of the rest. Rugs should be so placed in the room as to put the best front forward, or, rather, the one that suits the environment best. Of course, everybody knows that the nap of an Oriental rug slants down, like the fur on an animal, and that when you look against the nap of a rug the colors are darker. Ordinarily, in viewing a rug, one stands back to the light and looks against the nap, the darker side being considered the more beautiful. But as first impressions count most and as the rug in a reception-room is most often seen as one enters from the hall, it is usually desirable to let the best face of the rug be seen from there. However, the color scheme of the room some- times makes the lighter coloring the one to bring forward. There is one man of exquisite taste and fine discrimination who not long ago, being shown an antique Herez silk rug fourteen feet square for $7,000, had it sent to his house and placed in the room where it was to have its HOME FURNISHING 59 home. But it was no sooner placed than he saw that it was too dark for the draperies arid up- holstery. He was about to send it back when the thought occurred to turn the rug around so that the lighter side would be the one most observed. The result was harmony. While people should be praised rather than blamed for exercising their own taste — ^when they have any — they should make the effort to acquire familiarity with objects of art before posing as connoisseurs or investing large sums on their own judgment. It was a young man of considerable decorative experience who rejected positively the rug that the salesman recommend- ed for the reception-room of his own home — and his wife was just as positive in the rejection as he. To suit them was difficult. For twelve months they came in to look whenever a fine Persian about 7x18 arrived. At the end of the year the salesman one day showed them the iden- tical rug that he had first recommended. The experience of the year had done its work. They had seen so many rugs as to be capable of form- ing an intelligent opinion for themselves. The rug was a Kerman that had been carefully washed, and they paid $800 for it. It suited its Louis XV environment perfectly. 6o HOME FURNISHING REPAIRING RUGS When rugs are injured they should be prompt- ly repaired and by the most highly skilled pro- fessional. If the web wears off at the end or at the selvage at the side, so that the adjacent knots of the pile loosen and begin to pull out, the missing knots should be promptly restored and the missing web replaced, and the pile care- fully sewn down all around the outside of the rug to prevent ravelling. Obstinate inkstains are removed only by slipping the pile of the rug down flat to the web and carefully pulling out the knots from the back of the rug and inserting new knots. It often happens that rugs must be cut down to fit rooms or spaces for which they are too large, or badly injured sections must be replaced or cut out. This is work that can be successfully done only by those experienced in the weaving of rugs. They must also have the suitable ma- terials, not only yarns of similar wool, but yarns that match in color, and when the rug is an old one it is often difficult in modern wools to make an exact match. It is perhaps needless to say that the wools employed for mending should be vegetable dyed. In sewing together the parts of a rug B B* 3" a B IK! HOME FURNISHING 6i that have been cut down it is customary to em- ploy black linen thread waxed. In repairing a hole, where web as well as pile is gone, the first step is to insert new warp threads, sewing them far back into the rug above and below. Then new knots are tied and new filling threads inserted, repeating the process that was em- ployed in the first weaving. HOW TO CLEAN THEM The care of a fine rug is everything. Just as thoroughbred racers have luxury and affection lavished upon them, so thoroughbred rugs should be treated gently and tenderly. The broom should be used daily on them and they should be swept with the nap. Every third day, after the sweeping, sawdust that has been slightly moistened should be sprinkled over the rug, which should then be gone over with a carpet- sweeper. Be careful to have the sweeping pre- cede the application of sawdust, as otherwise the moisture will turn some of the dust into mud that, caking itself in the threads, will ravel the fibers. Once a week rugs should be taken out on the lawn, spread out face down and then gently tapped — gently, mind — ^with a flat rattan beater. Fine rugs, like razors — and people, too — re- 62 HOME FURNISHING quire rest. By no means leave rugs in use during the summer. When the warm weather ap- proaches have them taken up, carefully cleaned, and sent to cold storage. The process of clean- ing as practiced by experts is as follows: First of all the dust is removed by the vacuum system ; then the rug is spread on its face, liquid olive oil soap is poured over the back, and it is gently rubbed with a brush until a fine lather forms. Then the same thing is done to the face of the rug. After that, warm water is played over the rug until it revives. After the hot shower, of course a cold shower follows, and for about an hour, on a concrete floor that slants slightly, cold water runs over the surface of the rug from sprinklers. Then, in order to take the water out, the rug is rolled with the nap, a. light wooden roller being the tool employed. After which the rug is spread out on the roof, face up, for three clear days and nights. When the sun- light has removed the last vestige of moisture, the rug is rolled up with the nap and is ready for storage. COTTON WARPS In spite of being accused of invidiousness be- cause of the numerous errors I am obliged to point out in what has been written by others on HOME FURNISHING 63 the subject, I cannot refrain from asking you to laugh with me over the statement frequently made that: "In the good old days Oriental rugs were en- tirely of wool, and it is due to modern commer- cialism that the warp is sometimes of cotton. So look first to see if the warp is of cotton, and if it is reject the rug." Which, of course, is simple "rot." In some rug-weaving districts, and particularly among nomadic tribes where cotton is difficult to pro- cure, webs have always been entirely of wool, but in other districts cotton warps have been employed since cotton was available, and are found in the most precious museum antiques. Cotton warps and webs are not used for cheap- ness. They are used because they make a more satisfactory hide for the furry nap to grow from. Among large modern rugs, Kurdistans have a woolen warp — and almost without exception are crooked. The web, it must be remembered, has to stand all the strains and stresses that come to a rug in being rolled or folded or pulled from one place to another. For shipment across the ocean, large rugs are invariably folded and the folding usually pulls them out of shape, so that it is de- sirable for the dealer to straighten them again 64 HOME FURNISHING before he sends them to the customer's house. This re-shaping to symmetry is possible in most rugs where there is no imperfection of weave, and should be insisted on. DOMESTIC RUGS THE American is proverbially fond of the paradoxical, and credulous before the marvels of the faker. But obvious facts, a knowledge of which is important in everyday life, he is apt to distrust or despise. So that an acquaintance of mine who sells to dealers the product of a manufacturer of domestic rugs dis- played considerable acumen when he said : "There's no use telling the public the secrets of the trade. The less they know about rugs the better. Just give the salesman his samples and prices and start him out on the road. If the prices are right and the goods are right, and he is right, he'll come back with orders. And the less he knows about the goods the better. The manufacturer takes care of that. It's up to the salesman to be a good talker and a good mixer. But if he tries to tell the local dealer his business, he'll make more enemies than friends." All of which has been true, and as regards most salesmen and purchasers still is true. Last 65 66 HOME FURNISHING week on a street-car I heard one woman say to another: "Yes, I'm going to get a real Oriental rug for the parlor, gxiz, for twenty-eight dol- lars and fifty cents at It's a Kazak." Poor woman! Misled by an advertisement that was not intended to mislead, and that was put out by a firm who are scrupulous to state facts exactly, she was about to purchase a domestic Smyrna "made like Orientals in one piece with- out seam," and in pattern copied from a genuine Kazak. The fact that it was double-faced and therefore "would wear twice as long" helped to persuade her to prefer it to the much more ex- pensive Turkish rugs that she had seen in a shop where Orientals only are sold. "It certainly is a temptation," said a salesman in a retail rug house to me recently, "when peo- ple have just about enough money to buy a Smyrna,* to clinch the sale, after you have found a pattern they like, by flopping the thing over and pointing to the pile that backs the rug. You don't need to tell them it will wear twice as long. Just say, 'When it's worn out on the face, turn it over and wear the back out' " As a matter of fact, the back of a rug wears * Much confusion arises from the fact that domestic rugs have been given foreign names. To make the distinction, in this chapter capital letters are used only with the names of rugs actually made in the local- ity designated. Thus: Donegal, Bokhara, brussels, smyma. 3. Brussels. HOME FURNISHING 67 out nearly as fast as the face, and by the time the face pulls loose the back also is gone. The heel that scrapes the face also causes the back to scrape against the floor. But the stain that spoils one side does not necessarily spoil the other, and reversing the rug frequently keeps the colors fresh twice as long. Smyrnas should come into favor once more. A working knowledge of the various weaves in domestic rugs, and their differences in ap- pearance, price and durability, is essential to the purchaser in deciding the question, "What kind of a rug shall I buy?" The principal types of domestic rugs with pile of wool are: axminster, wilton, body brussels, tapestry brussels, velvet, Smyrna. The principal types of domestic flat rugs are: ingrain, terry, rag carpet, fiber, grass. The last three are soon disposed of. They are all alike in weave, having coarse strips of filling (the term commonly used in this country for weft) that interlace with a warp of cotton strings not close together. Rag carpets were the first made in the United States, and the industry con- tinued important until a generation ago. Every village had its weaver to whom the housewives used to bring their big balls of bright-colored rags sewn together in long strips. As late as 68 HOME FURNISHING 1890 there were 854 rag carpet establishments in the United States with an output of $1,714,- 480. Rag carpets are most suitable for cham- bers and for summer cottages and come mostly in light blues, greens, pinks, yellows, etc., with plenty of white intermingled. In 1841, when Erastus Bigelow introduced the first power loom for weaving carpets, there were thirty yarn carpet factories in the United States, mostly weaving ingrains. Ten years later Mr. Bigelow invented a power loom for weaving brussels carpets. The United States is to-day the greatest producer and consumer of rugs and carpets in the world. Ingrains, also called art squares, have no pile, and in England are sometimes called kidder- minsters after the town that had become an im- portant center of the industry by 1735. They are a double cloth with face pattern the reverse of the back. Terry that is used as a filling for rugs and stair carpeting is ingrain in solid color. The origin of the name ingrain is interesting. In the Middle Ages the difficulty of dyeing reds that would be fast brought fame to successful dyers and dye materials. The Gobelins acquired their fame as "dyers in scarlet." They made ex- tensive use of cochineal, an insect whose dried body supplies a red dye. Another name for HOME FURNISHING 69 cochineal is grain, and carpet dyed "in grain" were famous in England for the quality of the color. So that originally ingrain designated car- pets in a fine red ; later, carpets in any fast dye ; to-day, woolen rugs or carpets woven flat with- out pile. Of domestic pile rugs, the body brussels prob- ably return most wear for the money. As the pile consists of uncut loops, they gather little dust and are easy to take care of. The range of patterns is limited by the number of warps used — from two to six colors — and it is impossible to secure the happy individualism that distin- guishes the Oriental hand-knotting. The body brussels rug is avowedly and honestly a machine product. It comes in every type of pattern — Oriental, French two-tone, and I even saw one that was definitely and unfortunately Art Nouveau. The hide of the brussels (if for purpose of explanation I may so call it) consists of a cotton or jute warp and filling that interlace to hold the loops of the woolen pile. The pile is formed by extra warps. After each pass of the shuttle the colors that are to show are looped over a wire that holds them until the next pass of the shuttle binds them in place. Wiltons are heavy brussels, the loops of which 70 HOME FURNISHING have been cut. In the weaving of wiltons a knife at the end of the wire cuts the loops as it is withdrawn, leaving a much more velvety sur- face than in the brussels, and one in which the tones of color play most interestingly. The fact that all cut-pile surfaces absorb the dust readily makes wiltons hard to clean but agreeable to live with. Wiltons far outsell all other domestic rugs. The tapestry brussels is an imitation of a body brussels invented by Richard Whytock in Eng- land in 1831. The process is ingenious. Instead of from two to six extra warps, but one is used. But this one, in order to form the pattern, has been printed in colors before weaving. The loops are formed over a wire as in body brussels. Velvets bear the same relation to tapestry brussels that wiltons do to body brussels — the loops of velvets and wiltons being cut, while tapestry and body brussels are uncut. Velvets and tapestries lack body and the dyes are usually inferior, as are the patterns. Many of the better- class shops do not carry them in stock. In brussels and wilton rugs, as I have ex- plained, the intricacy of the pattern is limited by the number of warps. Not so in axminsters. The ingenious loom on which they are woven makes it possible to insert a loop of any desired HOME FURNISHING 71 color, at any point. The arlington axminster comes in a wide range of colorings and designs. The leamington axminster, in light colors for bathrooms, comes only in small sizes. The chenille axminster is a totally different fabric. Like chenille curtains and Smyrna rugs, it demands a double weaving. In the second weaving the worsted weft (or filling) consists of chenille braids that are bound into the web in the usual way by the interlacing of cotton warp and weft. Chenille axminsters come in solid colors and two-tone effects. There is no better domestic rug than this except the chenille axminsters that are made only to order and in any desired pattern. Formerly hand-knotted ax- minsters were made in New York, profitably as well as artistically. The suspension of the in- dustry was due principally to labor difficulties. The weaving of chenille axminsters, as I have said, is a double process. First, the chenille braid is woven as follows: A cotton warp in groups of from five to eight threads twists around and binds a worsted filling. As this fabric passes from the loom, the groups are cut apart. The result is caterpillar-like (the French for caterpillar being chenille) cords, fuzzy all around. As these cords come out, each passes into a machine that steams the fuzz soft and 72 HOME FURNISHING forces it all to point up, thus making a thick braid, interlaced cotton threads on one side binding the worsted pile that extends to the other. In the weaving of Smyrna rugs, that are made without seam up to 12 x i8 feet, the steaming and flattening process is omitted and chenille cord is used in its round condition just as it appears in a chenille rope portiere. The result is of course a double-faced fabric, the fur of the che- nille being exposed on both sides of the web. Smyrnas are not easy to keep clean, and beat- ing them makes the fur fly. This, however, is true of any cut pile rug and I should like to impress the fact on the reader. Don't spoil your rugs by harsh treatment. Get them of good quality and sufficient body and then handle them gently. Their construction makes them tough for their peculiar duty, which is to resist the wear and tear of human feet and chair feet. It also renders them soft and agreeable to the tread. The softness and durability are both increased by the use of rug linings. The fact that wilton and body brussels rugs are woven on carpet looms in twenty-seven inch widths, and have to be sewn together to make the rug, detracts from their appearance for some, and is much used as an argument against them HOME FURNISHING 73 by manufacturers of smyrnas and chenille ax- minsters. It is doubtful, however, if the aver- age purchaser ever notices the seams, so exact is the matching of the pattern and so excellent the work done by the special carpet-sewing ma- chine. A strong argument in favor of domestic rugs generally is the variety of sizes and shapes in which most of them can be procured. Common sizes are: single door, 18x36 inch; bureau, 21x45; 30-inch rug, 30x60 inch; 4-4 (four- quarter) ,3x6 feet ; sofa, 4x7 feet ; 30-inch rack, 30x33 inch; 4-4 rack, 36x40 inch; 5-4 rack, 48 X 54 inch; hall, 2.3 x 9 feet, 2.3 x 12, 2.3 x 15, 3x9, 3x12, 3 X' 15. The most common carpet sizes are 6x9 feet, 8.3 x 10.6, 9X 12, 10.6 x 12, 1 1.3 X 15. Of these, the 9X 12 is the one most used. The term "quarter" used above is a trade sur- vival and is still used to describe lace curtains as well as rugs and carpets and other fabrics. The quarter meant is a quarter of a yard, or 9 inches. A 12-4 (twelve-quarter) lace curtain is one three yards long, a 14-4 is three and one-half yards long, etc. To match domestic rugs is easy because the same pattern runs through the various sizes. If you want to use a 9 x 1 2 and two small rugs to- 74 HOME FURNISHING gether, you can buy them all with the same design. A large majority of the patterns and colorings found in body brussels and wilton rugs are Oriental. A few only are French, or French Americanized. Smyrnas are notable for their imitation of the general effect of the coarser grades of Oriental weave. A noticeable style-tendency to-day is toward two-tone effects — solid-colored fields with bor- der just a little lighter or just a little darker and extremely simple — a straight band, a fret, etc. It is all in line with the general movement in the direction of good taste that started by sub- stituting rugs for carpeting. The most luxurious domestic rugs are the che- nille, axminster whole carpets, some of them seven-eighths of an inch thick, with five-eighths as the regular and three-eighths the least expen- sive grade. They come without seam, and al- though the weave is not limited as to colors, they are sold mostly with plain 'fields, and in two- and three-tone effects. The very cheapest grade of this make is called agra axminster and is sold for $8 a square yard; the first regular grade, for $10.75 ^ square yard. They can be made with curved edges and in all kinds of irregular shapes to fit unusual conditions, and can easily HOME FURNISHING 75 be matched to any desired tone of color. This influences in their favor decorators who wish to reproduce historic interiors exactly or to execute schemes of their own with perfect harmony be- tween all parts of the environment. The descent toward less expensive rugs is marked by the increased use of colored patterns. People who want pattern in high-priced rugs purchase Orientals. The cheaper grade of chenille axminster, that is sold for stock in the usual sizes, a 9 x 12 cost- ing $55, is also made to order in two-tone effects up to nine feet wide for $6 a yard. Special colors cost $7.50, and when in unusual widths, $8.50. The 9x12 axminster (not chenille) previ- ously mentioned, that sells for $37.50, is made in 3-4 widths and seamed like the brussels, wilton, tapestry brussels and velvet. It resembles the wilton, although the weave permits an unlimited range of colors, and a standard grade like the arlington axminster runs a little thicker and a little coarser than a wilton of the same price. For general use the wilton is the rug. Most of them are only one-fourth of an inch thick and do not sink under the foot like rugs of higher pile. But they are made in an immense range of patterns and qualities to please every taste. The 76 HOME FURNISHING saxony wilton is three-eighths of an inch thick, imitates Orientals closely, and has a soft, flexible back that adds to the similarity. The price of a 9x12 is $50, and where one cannot afford an Oriental, but wants a durable rug that resembles an Oriental, this is the rug to buy. I recom- mend it for libraries, dining-rooms, halls and dens. The so-called french wiltons, at $52.50 for a 9x 12, are not thick, but the weave is exceed- ingly fine and the color tones delicate. The best reproductions of Louis XV and Louis XVI pat- terns, as well as good Oriental patterns, are found here. For the reception-room and the boudoir they are to be recommended. The cheaper grades of wiltons are to be recom- mended in proportion as they approach the standard of these two. Many of them as low as $30 for the 9x12 are well made, of a fair grade of materials, and in patterns and colorings that are not ugly. I would recommend the increased use of wiltons in two-tone effects. If people will crowd walls with pattern and the room with furniture, at least allow the floor to remain neu- tral in the Battle of the Styles. If your purse is very limited and the rug must stand hard wear, then buy a brussels, which in the 9x12 size costs $27. Avoid most of the pat- HOME FURNISHING 77 terns and colorings and choose the simplest that you can find. Nobody will mistake a brussels for an Oriental, but on the other hand it won't look shabby at the end of six months like a cheap rug with cut pile. Smyrnas come in simplified dark and medium Oriental patterns and colorings chiefly, and the standard price for a 9x12 is $28.50. There are also superior grades in two-tone and mottled effects that are well worth their price, $42. Do not buy a cheap Smyrna. It will prove to be partly coarse jute and the colors will fade. The lower you go the more complex and awful the patterns and the fiercer the color discords that serve to hide the imperfections of weave and material. Tapestry brussels for $19.50, vel- vets for $22.50 (the better grades of which are called wilton velvets to encourage the buyer), and art squares are the last resort of the patterns of a generation ago. You can buy a 9x12 art square in wool for $9 and in cotton for — but no, I refuse to name the price of cotton or printed cotton imitations of art squares. A bare floor is at least honest and respectable. Not that I would bar cotton from the floor. Far from it. The cotton pile rugs, 3 x 6 at $4, for the bathroom are attractive and fairly dura- ble. The numerous brands of rag carpet at $18 78 HOME FURNISHING for a 9x 12 are worthy of all respect and can be most decoratively employed in the furnishing of chambers. In fact, to me the rug par ex- cellence for a simple Colonial chamber is one of these rag carpets of the type inherited from our ancestors. The fiber rugs at $10.50 for a 9 x 12 and the grass rugs at $7.50 for a 9X 12 are convenient for use in bungalows and summer cottages and in smaller sizes on porches ; and for temporary furnishing, or where the rugs are to be exposed to treatment that will ruin the better qualities quickly. Decoratively they are not long satis- factory even when pleasing at first. They are woven like a rag carpet with slender cotton warp tying together the coarse filling. The elaborate patterns sometimes produced on the grass rugs by painting are as offensive to the nose as to the eye. If you are obliged to buy something cheap and nasty, do it with your eyes open. Don't imagine that you are cleverer at the game than the people who are selling the goods. And don't chase too wildly after bargains. It is true that discontinued patterns are frequently sold at a considerable reduction — but the discontinued patterns are not apt to be the best ones. Whether you need a fine rug or an inexpensive one, do HOME FURNISHING 79 not go to dealers who advertise wildly that they are sacrificing themselves for your benefit. Dis- trust them. Buy of dealers who have a high reputation for regularly selling goods at a fair price. . A SUMMARY Body Brussels J uncut pile, limited to six colors, woven twenty-seven inches wide, seamed, very durable, easy to take care of, and inexpensive. Wilton, cut pile, limited to six colors, seamed, softer, handsomer and heavier than the brussels, but harder to clean. Tapestry, uncut pile, warp printed before weaving; an imitation of body brussels cheaply made for cheap trade. Velvet, cut pile, warp printed before weaving; an imi- tation of the wilton ; the better grades are called wilton velvets ; the poorer grades do not deserve house room. Ingrain, flat cloth without pile and seamless ; much pattern and little art, with a few exceptions. The better grades of ingrain carpet- ing called filling or terry are excellent, where thickness is not important; used as a foundation for rugs where the floor is bad. Axminster, cut pile, unlimited as to the number of colors, seamed. Chenille axminster, thick, unlimited colors, cut pile formed by weft of chenille braid ; in one piece without seam; the most luxurious 8o HOME FURNISHING domestic rug, used mostly in solid and two-tone colors. Smyrna, double-faced, cut pile formed by weft of chenille cords ; thick, but inexpensive, without seam. Rag carpet, no pile, body formed by thick weft, without seam. Grass and fiber, rag carpet weave. Piece-printed tapestries and velvets are woven plain and printed after weav- ing. VI CARPETS AND CARPETING DURING the past few years, carpets and carpeting that cover the whole of the floor have been treated with open abuse or silent contempt by nearly all writers on in- terior decoration and furnishing. Oriental rugs have been honored with numerous magazine articles and many books containing sumptuous illustrations in color. Even domestic rugs, espe- cially those produced by the arts-and-crafters, have received their quota of kind words. But for carpets and carpeting there was nothing but knocks. Many are the sins committed in the name of sanitation and fireproofing. Lace curtains and other draperies are banished, carpets and carpet- ing give way to rugs or even tiles and linoleum, wall papers are eliminated, and we are urged by some architects to make our houses resemble hospitals as closely as possible. Mr. Edison looks hopefully forward to the time when con- 81 82 HOME FURNISHING Crete dwellings equipped with concrete furni- ture can be flushed clean every morning with the hose that will no longer be needed for protec- tion against fire. Nevertheless, carpets and carpeting continue to be used in immense quantity and the industry continues to be one of enormous importance; this despite the fact that, owing to the long cam- paign of vilification, many persons undoubtedly use rugs where carpeting would be much more attractive decoratively as well as much more comfortable. Forty years ago carpets were the most im- portant part of the furnishings of an American home. It was considered hardly respectable to leave any part of the floor bare. Even if it was sometimes necessary to go without draperies and economize on mirrors and chairs and tables, carpeting was imperative, and the selection of it made large and important demands upon the artistic taste of the whole family. Illustrated on another page are patterns of ingrain carpet that date from before the Civil War, and that for more than half a century have delighted the eyes and comforted the feet of patriotic Americans. The patterns are still popular in the rural districts and with those who like what their grandmothers loved. The 1. Eagle Head. 2. Henry Clay. 3. Martha Washington. HOME FURNISHING 83 names of the patterns are Henry Clay, Eagle Head, and Martha Washington. Henry Clay shows a huge floral conventional- ized to the limit, and evidently draws its original distantly from some ancient Roman floor of marble tiles with metal inlay. Eagle Head not only shows the two-headed bird that crowns the arms of Russia, of Austria, and of the old Holy Roman Empire which Napoleon superseded in 1806, but also two lyres of Classic shape and suggestion. Martha Washington is more mod- est and appeals to a simpler and less learned taste. Red and green are the two colors that form these patterns, and the price is 75 cents a yard, all wool (except the cotton warp) and a yard wide. The principal types of carpeting on sale in the shops of the United States are ingrain at from 75 to 85 cents a yard, spool axminster at from $1.50 to $3, Scotch chenille axminster at $4.50, brussels at from $1.25 to $1.75, wilton at from $2.75 to $3.50, warp-printed tapestry at 90 cents, warp-printed velvet at from $1 to $1.75, piece- printed tapestry at from 60 to 80 cents, and piece-printed velvet at from 85 cents to $1.10. There is also a half-wool plain ingrain or filling at 50 cents a yard. 84 HOME FURNISHING Ingrain is in flat weave without pile, with slender warp threads, and body formed by two or three sets of heavy weft threads in pairs. When there are two wefts the red one appears on the face at the points where the green appears on the back. When there are three, one of them is always buried. Plain ingrain or filling is particularly useful in refurnishing old houses that have rough and leaky floors. Laid upon a fairly heavy carpet lining, it is soft and comfortable to the foot and absolutely shuts off those drafts of wind through the floor that make many homes cold and dangerous to the health in winter. Plain in- grain also furnishes a good color background for any kind of decorative scheme, and if supple- mented with two or three small Oriental rugs in the reception-rooms, seems even luxurious. It is vastly to be preferred to many of the tapestries and velvets that cost twice as much. The most serviceable color is tan. Brussels and tapestry carpets have a pile formed in the loom by looping over a wire, but left uncut and suggesting the rep surface of the ancient and famous Brussels tapestries, but of course much more open and less solid in struc- ture. Wilton, velvet and (spool) axminster carpets have a pile also formed by looping over HOME FURNISHING 85 a wire but cut when the wire is withdrawn so that the surface is like that of fur or of an Orien- tal hand-knotted rug. All of these five types of carpet are built on the same principle — with face of wool or worsted and back of jute and cotton. Thus weight and body are secured at minimum expense. Of these types, wilton is by far the best. Not only the design but also the materials average better, although much (spool) axminster comes in excellent patterns and has a looser pile and softer texture that is very agreeable. Tapestries and velvets are in their origin merely cheap imitations of brussels and wilton. They are of two types — warp-printed and piece- printed. (The corresponding trade terms are drum-printed and machine-printed.) The piece- printed goods are a comparatively recent devel- opment and are, as the name implies, woven plain or "in the natural" and then printed in the piece after weaving. The warp prints have the pattern printed on the warp before it is woven, the change of shape in the designs due to looping up over wires having been calculated before- hand. The unfortunate fact about tapestry and velvet is not that they are by origin imitations, or that they are made out of less expensive materials 86 HOME FURNISHING in designs that are not so good. Indeed, some of the finer grades of velvet are decidedly to be preferred to cheap wiltons. Also, for the thin purse that is limited to tapestry-velvet prices, but wants the brussels-wilton effect, tapestry and velvet are the goods to buy. In both warp- printed and piece-printed tapestry and velvet, there are many excellent patterns, and the defi- niteness of impression in the piece prints is note- worthy. The unfortunate and damning fact about them is that they are very widely advertised and sold as brussels and wilton. The cheaper stores that have tapestry-velvet customers with brussels-wilton longings very generally deceive them. The evil has become so pronounced that I advise my readers to cut from their lists any dealer who advertises as brussels and wilton, goods that on examination turn out to be tapestry or velvet. If in doubt, get a sample and send it to me with the advertisement. I would also suggest to dealers that they discontinue the use of the misleading terms, tapestry brussels, velvet brussels, and wilton velvet, the first two of which have even found their way into the dictionary. To call tapestry a tapestry brussels, or a velvet a wilton velvet, doesn't improve the quality any, HOME FURNISHING 87 but it does deceive the public, especially the very poor, who can least afford to be deceived. Even the term body brussels, that was in- vented to distinguish the real from the tapestry brussels, is sometimes used by unscrupulous dealers to advertise tapestry. The instalment houses are particularly given to frauds of this character. Scotch chenille axminster at $4.50 a yard is a floor covering of the finest. The regular width, like that of all other carpeting except ingrain, is three-quarters of a yard (three-quarter goods they call them in the trade) , but special width in special designs and colorings cost not much more per square yard. "Old axminsters," a beautiful loose weave with deep pile texture like that of Chinese rugs, comes in fascinating Chi- nese patterns, one in blue and gold, and one in blue and salmon. There are borders and fillings to match and the price is $4.50 a yard. The more I think about carpets and carpeting, the less defense they seem to need. The vacuum cleaner removed any objection that could be made against them as dust collectors. And the fact they do collect and hold the dust instead of leaving it to float loose in the air every time a door or a window is opened, is a strong argument in their favor as well as in favor of textiles gener- 88 HOME FURNISHING ally. Against fire they are not proof, but they are slow burning — ^unlike paint — and not par- ticularly inflammable. I know of no instance where they have been an element of added dan- ger in case of fire. Certainly, in halls and on stairways and espe- cially in dining-rooms, they not only are more comfortable but they are often more decorative. Rugs break a room up and make it look smaller, carpets pull it together and give the maximum appearance of size. A long, narrow hall looks much better proportioned with full carpeting than with a runner. Carpets are not only comfortable; they are also safe. This is more than can be said of polished floors which not only look slippery but which are slippery and a source of actual bodily peril, especially to the aged. I could never find it in my heart to blame the old Chicago merchant whose wife persuaded him to install parquet floors in all the main rooms of his new residence. The first week after they moved in he slipped and fell in a most undignified manner and in the presence of guests. That was enough for him. Immediately he ordered carpeting to cover every foot of the parquet. The principal argument against carpeting is that we Americans are too nomadic ; we change HOME FURNISHING 89 our abodes so of ten that all our goods and chat- tels must be easily removable and adaptable. Carpets are a luxury for persons who have per- manent homes. VII LAMPS NO matter how complete the installation of gas or electric lighting fixtures, beauty and efficiency can both be in- creased by the addition of lamps. For the height at which fixtures must be placed — at least six and a half feet for ceiling pieces and five and a half for wall brackets — not only removes the light sources too far from the eye for comfort- able work with needle and book; it also raises the plane of decorative interest to too great an elevation — provided the fixtures be decorative. At a dance or a reception, table lamps are in the way; but in a family living-room or in a bed- room they can be extremely useful and economi- cal as well as ornamental. The lamp on the somno stand concentrates the illumination where it is wanted, and a small lamp there — oil or gas or electric — is more effi- cient for reading or sewing in bed than a light ten times as powerful and expensive in the ceil- ing or inconveniently placed on the wall. So, too, in the library. A lamp on the center 90 ' f Jf i*^* I. Wood standard, finished in an- 2. Square Chinese porcelain base tique gold; French silk shade; at with square silk shade painted to $15' match, *3S. 3. Silk shade painted to match the 4. Shade, painted silk; base, porcelain base, $48. Chinese porcelain, with bronze mountings, 585. HOME FURNISHING 91 table means convenience and comfort for several members of the family, and if the room and family be large, can be supplemented to advan- tage by lamps on small tables. The problem is not to prove that lamps in a home are a necessity; it is to procure lamps that are efficient and beautiful and not too expensive. With candles and lamps of the primitive kind employed by the Greeks and the Romans, it was easy to light a room beautifully, but practically impossible to light it sufficiently. Indeed, the very dimness and inefficiency of the ancient lamps was to some extent a safeguard against ugly and vulgar installations. Only since the comparatively recent introduction of the incan- descent electric bulb and the gas mantle burner, has overlighting become a danger that one must be constantly on the watch to avoid. Very seri- ous are the eye troubles resulting from exposure to unshaded light sources of high power. They have wrecked many lives and seriously impaired the usefulness of others. Good eyesight is a blessing that cannot be too jealously guarded. This means that the light must be shaded and toned in such a manner as to eliminate glare and shadow streaks, and remove injurious violet and ultra-violet rays. The most useful light and the easiest for the 92 HOME FURNISHING eye to work with is that in the middle of the spec- trum — the gold and golden-brown light with which leaded glass shades in amber and yellow glow so beautifully. Blue light and red light — that is to say, the light which comes through blue and red shades — is of little value for purposes of illumination. Orange light and green light occupy an intermediate position, and when han- dled with care and employed only in the more luminous tones, are useful for seeing by as well as decoratively pleasing. I have dwelt on the efficiency value of the different colors, because in selecting lamps the color and translucency of the shades is of pri- mary importance. No shade in any material — paper, cretonne, silk, iridescent glass, leaded glass — can possibly be a useful shade if it con- tains much blue or red, or much opaque green or orange. The useful shade is the one in which golds and ambers predominate, with oranges or greens to introduce contrast and variety, and with only small spots of gray-blue or pink to give jeweled effects. Moreover, gold light and amber light are safe to use in rooms of any color. For red rooms, green light is inadvisable; for green rooms, red. Green light will not illuminate a red room, nor red light a green room. HOME FURNISHING 93 Among the most attractive and least expensive shades on the market are the Japanese ones in oiled paper, often hand painted, mounted on light but substantial black wooden frames. They are rather too opaque for kerosene lamps, but for the more powerful gas mantle lamps are splendid, particularly with Japanese porcelain bases, or with simple metal bases in pompeian green. The most obvious fault of pretentious pottery and metal bases for kerosene lamps is massive- ness. They look as if the manufacturer mistook size for quality, and was trying to make his par- ticular product the most prominent object in the room. To the so-called art lamps produced by amateur potters and imitated by those who make them for merchandise stocks, I infinitely prefer the very inexpensive and exceedingly ef- ficient kerosene lamp, with yellow porcelain shade, offered to the public by the corporation that makes the profit on the oil. First among shades, as far as making the light beautiful is concerned, are those in leaded glass. And by leaded glass I mean leaded glass — not mere sheets of colored glass more or less covered with a filigree of thin metal. Leaded glass shades of the kind worth having are mosaics formed of copper-bound pieces of colored glass 94 HOME FURNISHING held securely and permanently together by the leading. Leaded glass shades properly made will last after more perishable materials are worn, soiled, or broken. They range in price from $io to $60, with others more expensive for those who prefer bases of bronze to bases of brass. On this question of bronze, and of cast brass vs. spun brass — no matter whether the finish be gold or silver or verde antique or statuary bronze — there is a great deal of poppycock handed out to those who visit shops. Bronze ^s indisputably the best metal to receive and retain intricate shapes and delicate ornament. Its su- perior hardness and malleability give perma- nency of form combined with possibility of working. But a beautiful shape in spun brass is infinitely preferable to a commonplace one in bronze, or to any of the numerous monstrosi- ties pushed by salesmen upon customers in the name of "all cast brass." Of course, a large proportion of the over-ornamented bases are in spelter and soft metal alloys that receive im- pressions easily but retain them briefly, and are secondhand as soon as the shellac finish is bruised. These are the lamps that enable shops to spend much money — and get it back — adver- tising "tremendous bargains in lamps." S. Yellow bronze base. Colonial style; leaded glass shade in tones of crystal, light green and gold. $so. 6. Gold-finished bronze standard^ Adam style; shade, alabaster and gold with ruby accents. $75. 7. Simple classic standard of gold- finished brass, with shade in alabas- ter, gold, and red. $75- 8. Bronze standard and yellow chrys- anthemum shade. 570. HOME FURNISHING 95 Shades of silk and cretonne are not especially durable, or efficient for the transmission of light; but many of them are exceedingly beautiful — particularly the hand-painted ones and the plain silk ones that fit beneath frames in carved wood or compo. These frames, as well as the bases and standards to match, are finished in antique wood finishes, and in the Italian Renaissance or the Old English style, often in polychrome with exquisite Gothic reds and blues and yellows and gold and silver. Most of them are too massive for small rooms and too elaborate for very sim- ple rooms. Particularly suitable for country houses and for informal rooms generally are the bases and shades in willow, bamboo, and reed basket work. Many of the shades are of distinguished excel- lence, and they are equally adaptable for oil, gas, or electricity. These, of course, must be lined with silk made on a wire frame so as to be easily removable and changeable, for silk shades fade quickly and soil easily. The shades in Japanese grass cloth painted or stenciled, with skirts of fringe or brocaded gal- loon, look well when new, but are hard to keep in good condition, and are too opaque to be recommended from the illumination point of view. The cut-out paper shades wi'th fancy 96 HOME FURNISHING insertions and linings are also apt to be too "fussy" for constant everyday use. So also the exquisite imported French shades in the style of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, that utilize rich and unusual and especially dainty woven materials in combination with fringes that have a distinct individuality. Some of these shades are sold with bases to match in Dresden china with quaint shepherdesses and rustic lords and ladies, or dull gilt metal work of classic form. The foreign metal work is uniformly far su- perior to the American in design and jSnish, even when made of much cheaper materials. The chief objection to foreign lamps is the light- ing attachments, which are seldom suitable for American use with oil or gas or electricity. This objection is removed by some importers and dealers who supply American attachments and wiring. Many of the lace shades, particularly those with quaint-figured filet panels, are most at- tractive. Iridescent shades are beautiful rather than useful. Those in dark blues and violets spoil any interior that they are required to illuminate, and have won for one prominent Western hotel the doubtful distinction of having the worst- lighted lobby and cafe in the country. Even the HOME FURNISHING 97 iridescent shades in cream and pearl are de- vourers of light, and advisable only where the appearance of illumination, rather than the act- uality, is desired. The very best inexpensive standards for elec- tricity are in plain turned wood. They can be had in maple or mahogany-finished birch, and with a variety of simple shades in tissue or other colored paper, or hand-painted, Japanese fash- ion. Some of them can be adapted for gas, but they are too slender to have room for the tank of oil lamps, that requires either to be concealed in a bulbous base, or made an obvious part of the construction, as in student lamps. VIII LIGHTING FIXTURES RESIDENCE illumination is compara- tively a new art. Before the invention of the incandescent electric lamp and of the gas mantle, it was difficult to get enough light; now the problem is to distribute the light properly and shade and tone it so as to eliminate glare. To residence illumination comparatively little attention has been devoted by illuminating engineers. Their efforts are concentrated on commercial and public buildings, where con- tracts are larger and more lucrative. And when they attempt to apply to the lighting of houses the experience gained in the lighting of hotels and stores, they discover that conditions are di- ametrically dissimilar. Even in commercial lighting, engineers are apt to rely too much on the photometer and on algebraic formulae, trust- ing them rather than the less complicated and more direct conclusions of the human eye and common sense. In other words, they do not appear to realize that while the photometer is useful in figuring cost and quantity, the final 98 HOME FURNISHING 99 test of illumination, public or private, under scientific direction, is its effect on the vision. It is absolutely necessary to approach the lighting of houses from the decorative point of view. The location of the outlets and the num- ber of lights per outlet depend not only on the size and shape of the room, but also on the color and pattern and texture of walls and furniture. Important also is the question of style. If an in- terior is Colonial, or Georgian, or French, or Mission, the lighting fixtures should conform, in finish as well as in shape and ornament. Dif- ferent periods also have their preferences as re- gards material — ^wood and compo fixtures as- sociating themselves with Gothic and Renais- sance, crystal glass beads and balls and prisms with the Louises, the Queen Anne and the Geor- gian periods, dull brass with the Colonial, ham- mered old brass and hammered old iron with Mission, etc. The best lighted houses are those whose illu- mination has been planned and whose lighting fixtures have been selected by the architect or decorator, working in close understanding with the manufacturer. Here the architect has a dis- tinct initial advantage — not always appreciated — the fact that the owner's confidence is his from the very beginning — from the time of the adop- loo HOME FURNISHING tion of the plans — and that he is in a position, where the use of electricity is concerned, to im- press upon the owner the desirability of select- ing the lighting fixtures before the wiring is done. The wiring is of fundamental importance. Unless the outlets are properly placed, with suf- ficient current for each, the skill of the wisest decorator and of the most competent engineer will fail to accomplish good lighting. Re-wir- ing is so expensive and often so difficult — in- volving the mutilation of finished walls and floors — that owners cannot often be persuaded to authorize it. The wiring of many houses is too often left to the electrician, who seldom knows anything about the art of eflFective and economical illumination and whose interest it is, usually, to complete his contract with as little cost to himself as possible. Either he under- wires the house and makes it impossible ever to light it well, or he overwires the house in such a way as to secure the minimum of illumination from the maximum of current. Important in wiring for electric lighting is the question of control. Fixtures that are out of reach, and fixtures and brackets with candle lights and miniature bulbs, should have switch control. The sarko switches, with key often used in the backplate of candle brackets and HOME FURNISHING loi others too small for regular sockets, are not par- ticularly trustworthy or durable, especially when overloaded, as they often are. Despite the in- itial cost, it will pay in the long run to have all ceiling fixtures of the average house con- trolled by switches. In the more expensive houses the brackets also will all be on switch, and there will be such useful refinements as burglar lights and master switches, and switches to light the hall above or the hall below, etc. In preparing a general scheme of illumina- tion for a house, the problem should be ap- proached room by room and floor by floor, the main rooms of the first floor taken into consid- eration first. Starting, for instance, with the dining-room, 14 x 17 feet, with ceiling ten feet from the floor, this means 238 square feet of floor space, which divided by fifty, equals a trifle under five as the number of 15-candle- power lights necessary, where ceiling and walls are not too dark. At this point I should explain that I have found fifty to be a convenient divisor for use in determining the proper number of lights to a room of given size, with ceiling 9 feet 6 inches, which is the average height for ceil- ings through the United States, and for which many manufacturers plan their ceiling fixtures, giving them an overall drop of three feet unless I02 HOME FURNISHING otherwise ordered. This brings the bottom of the fixture 6 feet 6 inches from the floor, which is right for most drop fixtures with lights up. But in very large, higher rooms fixtures should hang higher than this, and in some low rooms perhaps three inches lower. Of course, the higher a room is the more light it takes to illu- minate it — something like lo per cent, for every additional foot over 9 feet 6 inches — ^while rooms as low as 8 feet 6 inches, with light ceil- ing and walls, need considerably less. To return to our dining-rooms that require five lights. For a ceiling fixture we can choose between a hanging dome, that should drop to a height of 4 feet 6 inches above the floor, a shower, a stem fixture, or a ceiling plate, all with lights pointing down. Once leaded domes were the fashion. The dining-room without a dome was as much out of it as the living-room without a dado was twenty years before this time. To-day, in many parts of the country, the shower is the sine qua non of the multitude. In these locali- ties, the dining-room without a shower is con- sidered as barren as the Desert of Sahara. It makes not much difference what kind of a shower, or whether it gives the right kind of light in the right place; the great thing is to have a shower, like other people. The reason HOME FURNISHING 103 for having the dining-room fixture bulbs and shades point down is to light the table much while lighting the walls and ceiling little. Only when the room is used also as a living-room, or for general entertainment, is much general illu- mination necessary. On the whole, it seems to me that a leaded dome of good design, in luminous colors, lights a small dining-room more suitably and more agreeably than any other fixture. But every- thing depends on the colors and the quality of the glass. The cheap opaque dome that reflects all the light down, leaving the upper part of the room in black shadow, is hard on the eyes and decoratively ugly. But the dome that glows with golden radiance, distributing enough to ceiling and upper walls to avoid blackness there, is easy on the eyes and right decoratively. The fault with ceiling plates and showers and stem fixtures is that they give too much general illu- mination and not enough at the table. But when the lights hang low, shades carefully selected will cure the fault. A special reason for leaded, or iridescent, or color-enameled shades in a dining-room is that of all the rooms in a house it is usually and rightly the richest in color. But be sure that the colors of the shades are close to the colors of the room — ^with a tendency away I04 HOME FURNISHING from reds and blues and greens toward golden yellows and oranges. Here a few words on color in lighting may not be out of place. As everybody knows, many persons are color-blind to reds and blues — the red rays at one end of the spectrum being too long for their eyes, and the blue rays at the other end too short. But with the golden yellow rays in the middle of the spectrum every one can see well, and in them is contained the effective lu- minosity of light. Once it was the fashion to cry for white light, and every new electric lamp put on the market was advertised by its pro- moters as giving whiter light than any other and light more like that of the sun. Now, white light may be all right when matching ribbons and dress goods and millinery — although one would imagine that in matching fabrics to be seen by night the kind of artificial light com- monly found would be better. However, white light at its best is not at all suitable for decora- tive illumination. No one who has had ex- perience in decorating would use tungstens in residence lighting, except in the kitchen or in domes and in lanterns and shades that partially eliminate the reds and blues, turning the white light in the direction of golden yellow. Good light in a kitchen prevents waste and promotes HOME FURNISHING 105 quickness and accuracy of domestic service. The best way to secure it is with a single 60 to 100- watt tungsten, close to the ceiling, with frosted top and with wide shade of alba glass. At mini- mum cost, on account of the superior efficiency of the tungsten, the room will be flooded with illumination that is brilliant but not disagree- able, though not satisfactory for the master rooms. It is the master rooms — main halls, library, reception-room or parlor, sitting-room or living-room — that call for the principal part of the fixture appropriation. The fixtures must be in harmony with the furniture and draperies that in these rooms are more expensive and elab- orate than elsewhere. And in these rooms the illumination must be brilliant; not only the gen- eral illumination when guests are present, but also the local illumination, when one wishes to read, or write, or sew, or embroider. General illumination, of course, means light evenly distributed through the whole of a room, while local illumination is light concentrated at one particular spot. This general illumination is most economically and agreeably obtained by wall and ceiling reflection. When walls and ceilings are light in color — especially in ivory or cream — and the ceiling is not high, light is re- flected and re-reflected and efficiency is mul- io6 HOME FURNISHING tiplied. Twenty-five watts here produces more illumination than one hundred watts in a room with dark walls and ceiling. It is important to remember that the amount of light generated in a room by no means determines the amount of illumination. Complicated pattern and intricate texture in dark tones on furniture and draperies and walls swallow up the light. Under such cir- cumstances lights must be many and widely dis- tributed, for the only luminous surfaces are those of the lights themselves and their shades. A room looks high only in proportion as luminous surfaces meet the eye. And what the eye says about the brightness of a room is the only real measure of illumination that we have. In other words, the room that looks dark is dark, and no photometer test counts in rebuttal. Also, the most useful light for general illu- mination of a residence is that which is reflected back and forth between the heights of three and seven feet. It is in this space that are located the persons and objects and surfaces whose visibility give character and individuality, even existence, to a room. The floor of a room need not — in- deed, should not — be brilliantly lighted. So that the custom of covering all or part with rugs whose pile devours the light is an excellent one from the point of illumination. Whether the HOME FURNISHING 107 ceiling shall be brightly lighted depends upon the height of the room as compared with its lateral dimension. Lighting the ceiling bril- liantly increases its apparent height, while throwing it in shadow brings it down. So that keeping the light away from the ceiling of small bathrooms and narrow halls and concentrating it on side walls tends to make the proportions of these rooms more agreeable. Fixtures with lights at about the height of six feet six, and pointing down, with lights and shades adjusted to give the desired distribution, will accomplish this. The lighting of large square halls presents the same problems as the other master rooms. If the ceiling is of average height and light in color, we can utilize ceiling reflections from fixtures and brackets with lights up. But if the walls and ceiling are dark and nonreflective, we must have many outlets with both fixtures and brackets so placed as to give the maximum distribution laterally. This means that a dark, nonreflect- ing room twelve feet square must have at least four wall brackets in order to look illuminated, and in larger rooms there must also be one or more fixtures to light the middle of the room. The shades on the lights should be large in order to present a large area of bright surfaces. io8 HOME FURNISHING The old-fashioned way of lighting such a room was from fixtures only, with transparent glass bulbs pointing down. The fixtures were usually combination gas and electricity, and the loca- tion an inheritance from the gas-only period. This style of installation is not only wasteful but dangerous. The glowing electric filaments burn the eyes terribly by contrast with the prevailing dark surfaces, and have ruined the vision of thousands. In this respect the old-fashioned open-flame gas-burner was far better. It does flicker, and it does vitiate and heat the air, but the broad, yellowish flame is almost as agreeable to the eye as that of the kerosene lamp. Frosted bulbs are one of the most blessed in- ventions of the age. They absorb lo or 15 per cent of the light, but increase the amount of eflFective illumination. With 85 per cent of the light, the eye can see better than it could with 100 per cent. For the burning of the eye by the filament closes the pupil and makes it inefficient. Frosting also tones the light slightly toward the cream. Frosted bulbs, especially round ones, large for their power, are among the most efficient distributors of agreeable illu- mination. By them the quality of tungstens and tantalums is much improved and the ultra- whiteness softened. Many architects now rec- HOME FURNISHING 109 ommend brackets only for the main living-rooms and chambers. Some of them seem to be in- spired by animosity toward the word "chande- lier," while others object to any kind of ceiling light except cove lighting or other forms of the so-called indirect lighting, which are wasteful as well as "bad" art. Light is the most beautiful thing in the world. It is not only beautiful in itself, but upon it depends the beauty of all beau- tiful objects. Without light, they might as well be nonexistent. Carefully to conceal light sources is deliberately to abandon the greatest decorative possibilities. The work of the illu- minating artist is to place and so shade the lights correctly that they glow with gentle, grateful radiance. A room 20 x 22 and 9 feet 6 inches high can be lighted perfectly well with brackets only (one two-light and four one-light ones), provided the color scheme of the room is light and surfaces and textures plain and simple. But if there are rich and heavy upholsteries and dra- peries, and dark woodwork and furniture, and brocade-paneled walls with compartment ceil- ing, the number of bracket lights should be doubled, and four or five lights at the ceiling will also be advisable. Reverting to the matter of underwiring, there recently came to the writer's notice an instance no HOME FURNISHING wherein a lighting-fixture salesman, in default of blue-prints or wiring plans, had distributed brackets and fixtures and lights among the out- lets according to his best judgment, the result being a house by no means overlighted. Unfor- tunately, the electrician had been given the wir- ing contract for a lump sum and without definite specifications — ^just a general understanding to do a satisfactory job. Only after the fixtures were up was it discovered that the circuits were over- loaded, i.e., had to carry more i6-candle-power bulbs (or their equivalent) than is allowed by the regulations of the National Board of Fire Underwriters. Consequently, several two-light brackets had to be replaced by one-light brackets, a sixty-watt tungsten substituted for three regular pear lamps on the dining-room dome, and one ceiling fixture omitted altogether. The only alternative was rewiring, at a cost three times that of the original wiring. Of course, the fixture salesman should have insisted on plans showing the arrangement of outlets on circuit, and the man who did the hanging should have reported the situation before making the installation. But they didn't, and the electrician, not being financially responsible, the final out- come was a poorly lighted house and a consider- able loss to the firm who sold the fixtures. If the HOME FURNISHING in lighting had been planned first, and the blue- prints marked with outlets, and lights to outlet given to the electrician as part of his specifica- tions, this would not have happened. I cannot sufficiently emphasize the difference that exists between the simple rooms in light col- ors and the elaborate rooms in dark colors. The latter take from two to five times as much light, without being satisfactorily illuminated. With gas there is much more reason for avoiding fix- tures than with electricity. The electric bulbs can turn up or down or at any angle, making it easy to control the field of distribution, but gas open-flames point up only, and must be kept far from the ceiling lest they burn or smoke it. For a long time electric fixtures copied the awk- wardness necessary to open-flame gas installa- tion, and, of course, combination gas and electric fixtures are still obliged to do so. Only recently did there seem to come understanding of the completeness of the release from cramping con- ditions. Now we point our electric fixture lights up or down or at any angle, and locate the lights in the ceiling or close to it, or eighteen inches below it, or wherever else the best and most agreeable distribution can be obtained. The open-flame gas fixture is an ugly thing that casts ugly shadows below, and the mantle 112 HOME FURNISHING flames, pointed either up or down are not much better. But a single mantle flame, high in a small light room, with abundant ceiling and wall reflection, is the extreme of economy and ef- fectiveness. Groups of mantle flames on a sin- gle fixture destroy the attractiveness of a room, and bum the eye quite as badly, though diflfer- ently, as the clear glass electric bulb. Mantle flames are best and most effective, as well as least ugly, in a large room when installed on brackets extending far enough from the wall to give good wall reflection. Two of them are sufficient to light a room 12x22. This is the cheapest illu- mination known in cities where the price of gas is reasonable and the gas is of fair quality. Of fixtures and brackets the shades are a most important part. While frosted, round, and pear, and cone bulbs can be used uncovered, the desire, founded on reason, to increase the area while decreasing the intensity of the luminous surface makes the use of crystal, iridescent, or opalescent glass shades common. The crystal shades of better quality are ground and ribbed, ground and cut, or plain ground (roughed or frosted or sandblasted) . They come in the most various shapes and sizes, from narrow to wide, making it possible to secure any desired dis- tribution, and the majority of them are planned HOME FURNISHING 113 to cover the regular i6-candle-power incan- descent bulb. The light of this being slightly orange, is very agreeable when sifted through the frosted shade. The incandescent shades are extremely interesting, with their mysterious tones and rainbow tints, but only the light ones are satisfactory from the illumination point of view. The dark ones absorb too much light. Particu- larly interesting and fairly economical of light are the pearl and crystal iridescents. Leaded shades are satisfactory on fixtures and brackets in the luminous tones only — the golden yellows and soft browns and pale greens. Silk shades are comparatively opaque, but very beautiful, espe- cially to direct the light down from upward- pointing candle lights. Of course, they are lined with white cambric to increase the reflection. Beautiful beyond description are the carved ala- baster bowls imported from Italy. They glow with a milky light that brings out the beauty of the carving sufficiently, but not too much. The designs are classic, and they demand a classic environment. The glass imitations of ala- baster are surprisingly good and far less expen- sive. Alabaster bowls and lanterns of various styles and materials are especially suitable for entrance halls, where brilliant illumination is not desired. The material of which most fix- 114 HOME FURNISHING tures are made is brass, which is very obedient in the foundry, or on the lathe, or under the hammer, or in the press. It also takes numerous finishes easily, and holds them well when they are well applied. But the finish of very cheap fixtures is fleeting and looks more stained and spotted after six months than it should after six years. The metal work of very cheap fixtures also lacks durability, being so thin and weak that slight knocks and injuries injure it beyond repair. The finest fixtures are made of bronze, that might be described as a "sublimated kind of brass." It costs much more and is more diffi- cult to cast and work, but is vastly harder and more durable, interpreting the most delicate outlines definitely, and deserves the reputation in the arts it acquired thousands of years ago. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the bronze statuettes and other objects from Ro- man and pre-Roman days are a permanent testi- mony to its durability. Once polished brass and bright gilt appealed to the multitude; now even they accept dull brass and dull gilt. But there are other finishes, like antique brass and yellow bronze and Pom- peian, that should be more generally ordered. The antique brass finish is particularly good on the hand-hammered brass fixtures and brackets HOME FURNISHING 115 for Mission and rustic rooms. Pompeian (vert antique) is above all a finish for porches and out-of-door pieces, and for pieces in the classic styles (being reproduced from the ancient bronzes that during the ages turned a white and flecked green of delightful texture). Yel- low bronze is much warmer than dull brass, and better for living-rooms and rooms fairly rich in color. Gold and silver, which increases the cost by 20 per cent, are suitable only for more expensive fixtures. Fixtures that deserve to be put in a class by themselves on account of their great beauty are those in carved wood or compo, principally in the Gothic and Italian Renaissance styles and styles derived from them. The finishes are an- tique gold, antique silver, and antique oak, often with polychrome, and the effects are large and noble without the ponderosity of metal. Compo fixtures are at least a third cheaper than carved wood, and do not split like wood when subjected to moisture. But they do check and chip, slightly, which, with reasonable care, does not injure them — rather accentuating the antique character with which they are born. Fixtures in similar models that will not check or chip are those in the so-called armor bronze, which is copper-plated compo. ii6 HOME FURNISHING Among attractive novelty fixtures are those with ground and slightly tinted glass shades, enameled in color. These are suitable for din- ing-rooms and Mission rooms and unconven- tional rooms generally. They give a very soft and agreeable light, and have a distinct decora- tive character of their ov^^n. Another feature is, they are not at all expensive. IX VENTILATION IF architects and builders did their duty, owners of homes would not have to worry over ventilation problems. Every room in the house would have at least two outlets for foul air, one near the ceiling and one near the floor, and at least one inlet for fresh air, not over four feet from the floor. The outlets would lead into a chimney or flue with sufficient draft to pull breathed air out, lessening the air pres- sure in the room so that fresh air would rush in through the inlet to take its place. Unfortunately not all architects and builders appreciate the importance of the ventilator, or give much thought to it, except in the construc- tion of schools and public buildings, where they install elaborate and so-called scientific systems of air-pumping which seldom accomplish satis- factorily, or continuously, the purpose for which they are intended. Indeed, some builders will tell you that in the average residence the leakage of air through the windows and doors is all the 117 ii8 HOME FURNISHING ventilation desirable, will deplore the amount of heat that is wasted by opening windows in cold weather, and will insist upon weather strips. Not that I would say a word against the judi- cious use of efficient types of these strips. On the contrary, I would positively recommend them for all windows, against which prevailing cold winds blow in winter. They lessen appre- ciably the amount of fuel required to heat the building, rendering heating systems adequate that previously left the windward rooms chilly. Many of us are familiar with north chambers that are never warm as long as the north wind blows. The trouble with most houses is that in cold, windy weather, there is too much ventilation, and in warm weather too little. When the tem- perature of the outside air is 25" F. and the in- side air as high as 70° F., the drafts are tre- mendous. The chimneys are crowded with col- umns of heated air seeking to rise, lessening the pressure in the rooms so that ice-cold air is pumped in violently through the windows. No wonder that people complain of drafts and catch cold under such circumstances. They would be better .off with no heating system at all. When the wind blows hard, the movement of the air is accelerated. It forces air in on the HOME FURNISHING 119 windward side of the house, and pumps it out on the leeward side. It directs the course of and vastly increases the drafts due to difference of temperature. That is why furnace and hot-air systems of heating are apt to be inefficient when most needed. The heated air never gets near the windward side of the house. As fast as it comes out of the register it is blown and pumped the way the wind is blowing, and too often the drafts are so strong that it cannot even reach the mouths of the register in the room on the windward side of the house. For this reason furnaces should be put on the side from which the wind most frequently blows in cold weather. Steam heat without chimneys or flues to assist the hot air out is the most objectionable. In weather that is both frigid and windy, the win- dow leakage may be sufficient ventilation. But in moderately cold weather without wind, the circulation is too little, even for one person in a room, not to speak of five or six. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of breathing air that is fresh — air that has not been turned into poison by being breathed. This is a question of life and death, of tuberculosis and pneumonia versus health. As long as the blood is healthy we are strong against disease of any kind. But unless all of the body is brought in I20 HOME FURNISHING contact with pure air, once a minute, the blood cannot remain pure. The human body is a living stove, surrounded by self-created drafts that carry off the used air and bring in air that is fresh. When the tem- perature of the surrounding air is above 8i° F., the breathed air sinks, so that in hot weather the lower stratum of air in a room quickly becomes polluted, which suggests the desirability of a high outlet for foul air in cold weather and of a low outlet in warm weather. Happily, nature has provided for the removal of the refuse matter. Unbreathed air from 76° to 81° F. has the same density as breathed air; below 76° it is heavier; about 81° it is lighter. This means that when the temperature is below 76° the foul air expelled from the lungs rises, creating a draft of its own. The air that comes in contact with the human body is also warmed and rises, creating its drafts. Consumption and pneumonia are house dis- eases. We shut ourselves up in boxes and poison ourselves with our own breath, and when the disease is far advanced we go to live out-of-doors. An ounce of bad-air-prevention is worth a pound of fresh-air-cure, and yet, how to ventilate our homes at all seasons, keeping them warm in winter and cool in summer, is a problem that has HOME FURNISHING 121 not yet been solved; but the general principles have been established with sufficient exactness to be of greatest practical help to owners of subur- ban houses. And there are a number of ven- tilators on the market that help to admit pure and exhaust foul air without exposing the oc- cupants of the room to chilly drafts. The simplest are those that attach to the win- dows. Of these there are a number of styles, each possessing points of superiority. None of them add to the beauty of the window. The principle of all is similar — an opening above the window to let the warm air out and an opening to let the cold air in. These openings are in the glass, in the sash rail, or in special panels at the top and bottom of the window. One popular type of the ventilator utilizes the opening be- tween upper and lower sashes as outlet. All pre- vent drafts and some claim to eliminate dust and smoke from the air that they admit. Several utilize the force of the wind to accelerate or regulate the inward current. One claims supe- riority because the extra panel carrying the ven- tilator takes only two inches of window space and is easy to remove for window washing or when summer comes. Another that can be ad- justed to admit varying amounts of air is spe- cially recommended for the windy days of sum- 122 HOME FURNISHING mer and spring, when the breeze from an open window is likely to disarrange papers or send a cloud of dust over the desks. Still another instals an electric fan at the top of the window, costing "from one-half cent, to one cent per day to run," that draws fresh air from the outside. I recommend this for use in the hot days of summer, in connection with fireplaces or other low outlets for the used air. It should take the place of the ordinary electric fan. The ventilation of furnace-heated houses should be satisfactory, but seldom is so. The furnace is constantly drawing fresh air from outside, which it heats and moistens and sends up through long pipes to the different registers. Provided there are outlets in each room — through the chimney or special ventilatory flue or transom — the upward movement of air will be constant. While local treatment will do much for the different rooms of a house it cannot take the place of a comprehensive scheme. The build- ing should breathe as a whole, drawing air from below and exhaling it above. This breathing is natural, if flues or transoms and openings in the roof give it a chance. Especially is the air in the attic, superheated by the summer sun, anx- ious to rise. Rising, it draws up air from below HOME FURNISHING 123 which leaves behind it room for fresh air from outside. There are several excellent ventilators that assist and regulate the upward draft by means of chimneys, and there is a "ventilated ridging" that is most effective in inducing a house to breathe. Even with steam or hot-water heating, it is desirable to lessen the leakage of the windward windows, thereby lessening the heating cost, per- haps as much as one-third, but there should be inlets and outlets in each room, under local con- trol and part of the comprehensive scheme for the house. Furthermore, don't be afraid to open the win- dows in all kinds of weather and to keep them open in warm weather. There is no substitute for the open window. Where ventilators are necessary, don't hesitate to install them. They may prolong your life twenty years, or for that matter fifty. CHAMBER FURNITURE I DO not know of a more perfect American example of fine workmanship in cham- ber furniture than the set shown in the frontispiece. At every stage of its construction, money and labor were spent without stint to execute every detail in the most superior manner known to the best makers. The result is cabinet- work that will defy time, and a hundred years from now be evidence of the high accomplish- ment of the United States during the first quar- ter of the twentieth century, in at least one of the art industries. The materials are worthy of the workman- ship. All the wood is curly maple, except the drawers that are in oak. The maple comes from selected logs, none of which has been seasoned for less than eight years. There was no kiln drying to force out the sap quickly, and warp and twist the fibers and cells in a mad rush to trans- form the tree into merchandise. The curly ma- ple in this furniture is alive and will be alive for generations. 124 HOME FURNISHING 125 This curly maple has a far deeper and more interesting texture than the satinwood commonly used in suites of the Adam type. Also, while the satinwood is usually applied as a thin veneer, the surface layer of the curly maple in this suite is from 54 to J^ of an inch thick, with two ther layers of maple crossgrained behind it. The set is finished in camegon, and the decora- tions are painted in tones of rose, white, green, and yellow. Each wooden knob bears a rose. Daisies also appear in the painted decoration that was done by a master. The joints are mortised, so that changes of temperature and moisture do not pull them apart. They are also flush, without the project- ing edges of ordinary and less expensive cabi- network. The backs of all the pieces in the set are as perfectly finished as the fronts. The bed or the bureau or the chiflfonier can be backed away from the wall without exposing rough, un- finished surfaces and open seams and joints. The drawers move silently and easily, but are dust- proof and completely finished. The price of the bureau in this set is $385, and it is not a dollar too much. The value is there — ^just as much and more so than in many of the inexpensive chamber pieces that I shall later introduce to your attention. The prices of 126 HOME FURNISHING the companion pieces are as follows : of the 4J4- foot bed with caned panels, $400; of the large lowboy, $450; of the small table, $125; of the somno table, $145 ; of the side chair, $100; of the rocker, $110. Evidently these are not goods for popular consumption. They are goods for those who can afford the best, and I am dwelling on their merits in order to drive home the lesson that quality costs money. There is so much twaddle written and talked nowadays about getting some- thing for nothing, that many persons waste their substance trying to do so. They believe the ad- vertisements of unscrupulous shops, and pay what would be a low price for what they think they are getting, but a high price for what they are getting. Or they are misled into trying to make their own furniture, and pay more for ma- terials than the finished piece should cost, and when they get the materials they are unable to put them together. Undoubtedly, there is noth- ing Americans should study so closely as quality and durability. If they begin with the good models in honest shops it will be harder for the faker to fool them. Recently I walked up and down the floors of one of the large New York shops, and noted the prices of some of the luxurious pieces and sets. HOME FURNISHING 127 that nowadays seem to move quickly side by side with goods at the extreme other end. A bed- room set in the style of Sheraton with fan inlay and twin beds was $745. A Louis XVI set in white enamel was $900. A terribly overcarved Colonial set in mahogany, with fourposter that will impress somebody as richly magnificent, was $1,950. A Dutch marqueterie set was $1,800. A Heppelwhite set in satinwopd with delicate inlay was $1,700. A so-called Chinese Chippendale set in antique finish was $1,000, getting its name evidently from the excised fret- work. Presently I came to the inexpensive chamber furniture — chiffoniers and bureaus without mir- rors from $6 up, and with mirrors from $9 up, and other pieces in proportion. Pinched in size not only to suit the tiny rooms they will help to furnish, but also to economize on the lumber that in this grade of goods is an impor- tant item. Casters and di;awer-knobs of the cheapest possible construction, sure to give way under the first strain. Sloppy finish that will bruise and darken at the first opportunity. But (and let me emphasize this but) they were incomparably better than the cheap furniture of a generation ago, despite the great advance in the price of lumber. Then the lines of all 128 HOME FURNISHING the bureaus harked back to Rococo, and Rococo of such a type! Gone from it all the French grace and beauty of proportion. Nothing left but awkward and ugly curves and swells, and the more pronounced they were the better the goods sold. Then, too, those dreadful machine carvings made by the mile and sold by the foot that they used to paste on in the name of orna- ment. And the thin and atrociously ugly brass drawer pulls, that have not yet entirely disap- peared, and that are always bending and break- ing and tarnishing. Yes, the cheap bureaus and chiffoniers to-day are distinctly of better model than before Mis- sion furniture came into the field, and it is large- ly to Mission furniture that I attribute the improvement. Some of the oak bureaus and chiffoniers at from $i8 to $30, in natural finish; demand more than mild approval ; they are posi- tively good in model ; the drawers work smoothly and fit close, and the lumber is of excellent tex- ture. There is room for more of this natural oak in residence furniture. The office furniture makers are doing wonders with it. Good, too, are many of the inexpensive pieces in white enamel and in French gray enamel. These give the most cheerful and daintiest effect that can be secured inexpensively. They also HOME FURNISHING 129 go particularly well with the enameled metal beds and with the combination brass-and-enamel beds. Certainly one of the example rooms fur- nished by one of the big shops to show how a bachelor's tiny chamber should be done would be much improved by substituting for the golden oak chiffonier at $30, a white enameled one at $18; and for the golden oak bed at $26, a metal bed with low posts and simple design at $8. The smaller a room is the lighter should be the colorings and the simpler the patterns and models, for light, unpatterned surfaces recede from the eye and increase the apparent size of a room. The staple finish in cheap oak furniture is "G. O.," as the tags write golden oak. Of this finish there are infinite varieties, from the cheap and muddy types to those with mirror-like luster in which you can see your face — until the luster gets tarnished or bruised. But there are also golden oak finishes that are dull, and that bring out rather than conceal the grain and texture of the wood. These, for ordinary use in bed- rooms, are to be preferred to the darker finishes, such as early English and weathered oak. The bureaus and chiffoniers at from $25 to $35 are in most ways superior, but in design not always. Some of the pieces in this grade are ' I30 HOME FURNISHING far worse than any that can be found in the cheaper grades. In walnut and Circassian wal- nut and bird's eye maple, as well as in mahogany, and imitation mahogany, there are monstrosi- ties that appeal only to those who are decora- tively deaf, and who have to be hit with a club before they can receive an ornament impression. Especially to be recommended are many of the simpler models in birch, both dark and light, and most of those in what is called satin walnut, but which really is gum wood. The texture of this gum wood is particularly soft and gray and agreeable, and a bureau I saw at $30 and a chiffonier at $28 were of such excellent propor- tions and spacing as to recall — distantly — the cabinetwork of China and Corea. Instead of the conventional drawers, all alike, of the ordi- nary chiffonier, it had one very deep one in the middle with three small ones below, and two half-width ones above. If a man is furnishing his own room he can- not do better than to spend from $60 to $150 on a man's chiffonier or bachelor's wardrobe, with special compartments for hats, ties, gloves, shirts, suits, etc. It will not only save him time and worry, but will help keep his attire in fine con- dition. The corresponding extravagance for a bachelor maid would of course be a cheval glass. HOME FURNISHING 131 For tiny bedrooms metal beds and couches are preferable. But these should have as little cheap enamel and cheap brass ornament showing as possible. Single beds can be bought as low as $6 and couches for even less, but by going a little higher you will get better value and bet- ter wear for your money. There are splendid models built for strength and durability, in a guaranteed satin finish, at $15 in the single size. Very vital indeed is the question of finish. The cheaper enamels and brass finishes are so trans- parent that they seldom even reach the home of the purchaser in good condition. It means much to have the durability of the finish guaranteed for five years by a responsible manufacturer or dealer. As regards elaborate efifects or attempts to express the period styles in brass, I regard them for the most part as failures. Perhaps the most successful are the Colonial and Dutch models with elaboration of the spindle efifects that seem so natural to brass. But the "Adams" (sic) beds with cast ornament in low relief, and the Louis XVI beds with cane-work imitated in metal — No! They won't do. Among the most ambi- tious attempts in the metal line are the beds in brass that has been triple plated in dull silver. 132 HOME FURNISHING Chacun a son gout. But I don't like it. Metal beds should be decoratively subordinate. In the inexpensive wooden beds, some of which with their upright slender splats and spin- dles copy the style effect of metal beds, there are good models at low prices, the cheapest not always well constructed and usually poorly fin- ished. There are single beds in curly maple at $8, in oak and imitation mahogany for a little more, in white enamel and well made at from $15 to $18, while mahogany four-posters of Colonial type start at about $40 and soar. XI SUMMER FURNITURE ONE might as well admit at the start that we Americans are very stupid about our summer furnishings. Some of us carry over into the out-of-doors season the heavy and stuffy trappings of the indoor ones. Some of us have a wrong idea of rusticity and imagine that because Mission furniture is of simple design and construction it is, despite its ponderosity, ideal to help one live the simple life. Let it be admitted that rough-tiled floors with Mission furniture and architecture make a pleas- ant background on a torrid day for groups of gayly dressed pleasure-seekers; it nevertheless remains that it is to the Chinese and Japanese, as well as to the French, that we must look for examples of the most comfortable and beautiful and appropriate hot-weather furnishing. The French of the eighteenth century devoted much attention during the reigns of both Louis XV and Louis XVI to the art of polite rusticity. The paintings and prints of the period show us 133 134 HOME FURNISHING many examples of villas and furniture planned for summer use only, and most of them were largely copied from or influenced by Chinese and Hindoo rustic architecture — fantastic ki- osques and pavilions, across bridges that top marvelous waterfalls and mysterious rivers, with romantic forests and mountains in the back- ground. And if we try eighteenth century Eng- land, we find summer furnishings also under the Chinese influence. So that we might as well go to China and Japan first as last, and study a group of three rooms recently fitted up in a New York shop as examples of the best that can be done to utilize the delights and advantages while overcoming the discomforts of "close to nature." Room No. I had fascinating panels of wall paper in a stork pattern, with delicious peach-trees in blossom, lilies, chrysanthemums, etc. The wooden joists that framed the panels and the room had faces of dull ebony with sides of dull gold. The joints where the joists met near the ceiling were crowned with metal plates in Pompeian finish. The center of the room was occupied by a large, inverted paper umbrella in bright colors, about seven feet from the floor, with tiny lanterns dan- gling in a circle from the projecting ribs. The doorway that led into room No. 2 was framed I. Prairie grass arm-chair. 2. Floor basket in wicker- work. 3. White willow. 4. Prairie grass. v:?2ar.^ - 2,1.8,1 u,., jjL; r_ J ' 5. Rattan fan chair. 6. Chinese linen. HOME FURNISHING 135 on top and sides with a three-foot fret-work in ebony and dull red. The walls of rooms Nos. 2 and 3 were paneled in Japanese grasscloth, plain in the dado and figured above with a delightful stenciled gourd design. The draperies were in scrim with a simple stained-glass design printed in soft colors. I must admit that to me personally the most fascinating summer furniture in the world is found in France, fashioned of cane and reed enameled in greens, blues, terra cottas, and whites. It has a gay vivacity that no other furni- ture seems to possess, not even the light maple or birch rustic chairs and tables and lattice work enameled in similar colors. However, there is much of our domestic enameled furniture, in French grays and blues as well as in white, that is very inexpensive though of fairly good con- struction. It should be used more than it is, and in thousands of chambers could be substi- tuted for the present "golden oak" all the year around. Among the illustrations accompanying this chapter. No. 3 is a white enameled willow settle with cretonne cushions for back and seat at $26.50; No. 7 is in leaf-green finish with mat- ting seat at $6. Particularly attractive and particularly sum- 136 HOME FURNISHING mery are the Chinese linen and the prairie grass pieces. Both have a reputation for wearing well, and both "look cool." The former are made in China out of wild flax curiously twisted to bind and upholster the wooden frame. No. 6, a Chi- nese linen work-basket, with handle to lift it from the floor and standing about 30 inches high, sells for $9; No. 11, an armchair, for $10.75; tables, side chairs, tea wagons, settees, etc., in Chinese linen are priced proportionately. No. 8, a side chair in American prairie grass, sells for $4.75; No. 4, a desk with imitation leather top, for $22; No. i, an armchair for $12.25. The models — more than 400 of them — of this prairie grass furniture are uniformly ex- cellent and the two finishes, "nature green" and "baronial brown," are soft and pleasing, the lat- ter being preferable for cold-weather use, except in sun rooms, which I believe should always be kept as summery as possible. It may be of in- terest to note that this furniture is made on Long Island from grass that grows on the prairies of Minnesota and Wisconsin. The source of the materials used in wicker, rattan* reed, and cane furniture is Oriental, Singapore being the great world market. The reeds are used both full and split, the split reeds, of course, being proportionately less expensive. 7. Leaf-green finish with matting seat. 8. Prairie grass. 9. Swamp cedar. 10. Wicker desk. II. Chinese Unen. 12. Rattan and linen tea-wagon. HOME FURNISHING 137 No. 12, a tea wagon in brown rattan and Chinese linen, sells for $30. Other tea wagons for vaca- tion use sell for $6, $8, $10, $18, and $20, in maple, reed and cane, and prairie grass. No. 10, a wicker desk in shellac finish, with glass top over cretonne, sells for $23.50. There is a very attractive chair to match. No. 2, a wicker work- basket, is priced at only $2.50 — not an imposing piece but well put together and serviceable. No. 5, an imported fan chair in peeled rattan with ornament formed by interweaving of black with natural, is to me a fascinating piece of furniture, of beautiful shape and tenacious struc- ture. The price is only $23. Also from the Orient, as everybody knows, comes bamboo, which in combination with mat- ting and cheap boards composes the bamboo fur- niture that is too cheap to be often good. You can buy a taboret in bamboo with matting top for only 35 cents. And the moment you are willing to spend two or three dollars you can have your choice of chairs, bookcases, tables, etc. You can furnish a whole room — of a New York apartment — for $25 or $30, unless you are so reckless as to select one of the very elaborate desks for $23. Furthermore, on some of the mat- ting covers you will find a very pretty stenciled ornament in colors, while the wooden shelves of 138 HOME FURNISHING the bookcases are diaper-figured by pyrography. The hickory and swamp-cedar rustic furniture brings us back to materials of American growth. The hickory furniture is made of hickory only — nothing but hickory — legs, arms, spindles, and stretches of the whole wood — bark, heart and all — seats and backs from woven strips of tough, but pliable and elastic inner bark. The prices range from $1.20 for a child's chair 23 inches high with seat 10x12, to $2.50 for a 40-inch armchair, $4.75 for a rocker with wide-swelling curved arms, $6 for grandfather's favorite, $5.50 for a settee 36 inches long and 36 inches high, $18 for a couch 6>^ feet long, $12 for a rustic bench 7 feet long, $75 for a summer house 8 feet square, etc. The swamp-cedar furniture I like particularly and regret that space does not allow me to show some of the pergolas costing from $50 to $150. A good idea of this furniture, however, can be got from illustration No. 9, showing the Klon- dike armchair at $7. XII CHOOSING WINDOW DRAPERIES WINDOW draperies have much to do with the comfort of a room. Without them it seems cold and bare ; with too many, it seems stuffy. But when they conform in size and shape and weight and pattern to the character of the environment, the result is a background that makes the rest of the furnishing easy. If they are too long and narrow, the height of the room will be exaggerated. If they are too short and wide, it will be diminished unduly. If they are too dark and heavily figured, they will seem to stand out boldly from the wall, les- sening the size of the room and dwarfing the furniture. If they are too light and trivial, such as muslin in a stately room that has heavy wood- work and elaborate mural ornamentations, they look like a calico apron worn with a ball gown, or Mission chairs in a Louis XIV salon. The variety of materials suitable for draping is extraordinary, and the range of price permits 139 I40 HOME FURNISHING good taste to both small and large purses. Grace- ful lines and pleasing texture can be secured by the expenditure of pennies, and also by the expenditure of dollars; and to secure them re- quires no prolonged study of the technical prin- ciples of draping, or the nature of weaves and fibers — only an acquaintance with three or four of the rules that control the putting together of line and color, and the shading of light. Draperies divide into two great classes — cut and uncut, French and classic, elaborate and sim- ple — the three pairs of words being nearly syn- onymous. French is the term applied in a gen- eral way to all cut draperies, and cut draperies are apt to be more elaborate than those that hang free from rod and ring, or at most are gathered into "chous." It is, of course, a truism to say that simple and modern rooms should be draped simply; elaborate apartments, elaborately. But it is a truism that needs to be constantly reiterated. For no error is more common than to overdrape or underdrape. In the average home, elaborate draperies are entirely out of place. But between the simplest draperies and those that are appropriate for the average living-room there is a broad distinction, and wide opportunity for individual taste, so HOME FURNISHING 141 that the whole matter may well be given con- siderable study. There is also a wide distinction between the draperies suitable for chambers and those suit- able for living-rooms, between those intended for the individual and those that are to be shared by the family. The latter are rightly more ex- pensive and more formal. Take the dining-room, for instance. If it is small, with Mission furniture, and has plenty of color in wall-paper and rug, colored draperies of light weight are to be recommended. The most interesting color combinations are those to be found in madras, that on account of its deli- cate, translucent net ground and rough-figured surface, breaks up the light agreeably and per- mits the association of colors that in plainer weaves would fail to harmonize. Particularly suitable for dining-rooms is the madras in stained-glass effects. It drapes well, either straight, or looped back with a band of the same material. It should hang from a small brass rod, and be gathered about one-third full. The heading should rise an inch and a half or two inches above the rod. Besides madras, there are a number of other open-weave cotton drapery stuffs of interesting and individual texture. Where the cost must be 142 HOME FURNISHING reduced to the minimum, there are several very inexpensive domestic prints that are attractive, if skillfully hung to conceal their lack of body, among them printed madras and trellis cloth. Even in simple dining-rooms, it is often desir- able to have a short upper curtain, or valance, that seems to finish oflF draperies and windows at the top. When the windows are high and nar- row, this is almost imperative. If the side dra- peries are narrow, and they and the valance are of denim or velours or some opaque fabric, plain net or lace curtains should be hung flat against the glass, to soften the light. Only when the window-panes are very small or of glass that is not wholly transparent, should the light of the sun and sky be admitted without curtains next the glass to tone down glare and shadow. By draping, the apparent shape of windows can be radically modified. Tall windows can be pollarded, and wide windows can be made slim. As already pointed out, the addition of a valance or lambrequin tends to lessen the height of a window, and this in proportion to the low- ness of its position. The valance that hangs down over the glass shortens the window appre- ciably, but the valance that hangs above the win- dow, in combination with side curtains that HOME FURNISHING 143 lessen the width of the window, may even in- crease the apparent height. The best way to study out for oneself the effect of draperies of different size and shape on windows of different size and shape is to ex- periment with uncut length of cheese-cloth or cretonne, or any available material. This will quickly demonstrate how much higher windows look with curtains that hang straight than with curtains that are looped back, and with narrow side curtains than with wide side curtains. In general, it may be said that small rooms should be simply draped, and that elaborate dra- peries are permissible only in interiors of mag- nificent dimensions. Perhaps the only exception is small boudoirs in the Louis XV style, where an embroidered lambrequin and side-curtains cut in rococo curves are necessary to harmonize with the other furnishings. Certainly, the dra- peries of Louis XVI interiors should be simpler and more classic than is usual in the United States, or even in France. For the style of Louis XVI and of the Directoire represented a return to Greek and Roman draperies, and to the sim- plicity of line and of conventional ornament that characterizes only the more classic forms of our own Colonial. Just as Mission is not a style but the nega- 144 HOME FURNISHING tion of style, so Colonial is not really a style but a congeries of styles. It embraces all the periods of the past, except Gothic and those that come from the Orient. Most prominent in it are the French and English styles of the eighteenth cen- tury. But in form they have been more or less colonialized and assimilated to cisatlantic purses and traditions. The materials are less fine, the ornament less elaborate, and the execution less skillful. Simplicity is the rule in Colonial draping. In more elaborate interiors, with heavy architec- tural background pilastered and colonnaded and arched, gold-braided draperies in velours, with straight valance or lambrequin or cornice, are appropriate. As the ceiling decreases in height and the walls come together, the gold braid and the lambrequin disappear, and the valances be- come short and flat. In small Colonial chambers, the tendency to simplicity reaches its extreme. Here ruffled and fluted muslins, cretonnes and inexpensive prints are appropriate. In the larger chambers, the cretonnes are often made up elaborately with lambrequin and side curtains, and with tester and flounce for the fourposter. To the writer, however, the effect of too much boldly-figured cretonne, especially when the HOME FURNISHING 145 wall-paper matches in pattern, is unpleasant. It contracts the room in size and, because of the repetition of motif, suggests a merry-go-round, I recall particularly a peacock pattern imported from England that turns a chamber otherwise admirably planned into a pavonic aviary. There are some chambers where the only dra- peries necessary or desirable are inside the cas- ing, next the glass. These can be in plain net, or in some of the fancy nets which are inexpen- sive and of which there are many fascinating weaves. Suitable also are madras and many of the fancy cotton weaves figured with stripes in cloth or gauze and with tiny conventional fig- ures. Nor must we forget the dotted Swisses, especially those of delicate texture. An interest- ing way to drape these curtains is to cut them in half-length, attaching one pair to the upper sash and one pair to the lower sash. If the material is very light in weight, bottom rods may be neces- sary to hold the curtains in position and keep them from getting mussed. The reception-room or parlor naturally re- ceives the most formal and elaborate treatment. If it has a bay-window, a valance or lambrequin across the entire width, with narrow side and center curtains, may be the most prominent and indispensable decorative feature of the interior. 146 HOME FURNISHING An undraped bay-window is an ugly thing, that admits too much bright light and throws the room out of balance. Translucent curtains next the glass are necessary on most bay-windows. XIII DRAPERIES FOR BUNGALOWS ABOUT draperies for town houses almost everybody knows something; also about draperies for country houses that have windows of regular size and shape. But when it comes to bungalow draperies, uncertainty prevails. Out of the hundreds of photographs of bunga- low interiors that find their way into the edi- torial offices of Country Life in America, less than 5 per cent show draperies at all, and less than I per cent show suitable draperies. Evi- dently most people take it for granted that dra- peries are inconsistent with the simplicity that is supposed to characterize bungalows, or in searching for bungalow draperies have been unable to find anything they regard as suitable. Yet bungalows quite as much as any other type of residence need draperies to soften the hardness of wood and plaster and brick and stone, and to introduce the rich and warm and picturesque textures possible only in the products of the loom. 147 148 HOME FURNISHING It is obvious that the Flemish, Arabe, Cluny, and Filet Italien laces appropriate for stately apartments, are out of place in a bungalow — even a pretentious one. A bungalow stands for informality just as definitely as does a log cabin. And just as the colors and the cut of golf and tennis and yachting costumes are less conven- tional than those of evening clothes, so in the clothes worn by the windows and connecting doorways of bungalows there is unusual oppor- tunity for homespun and chintz eflfects. I think every one will agree with me that bungalow draperies should be characterized by coarseness of weave and roughness of texture, as well as by strength and solidity and intensity of color. The bungalow is no place for French grays and pinks and pastel eflfects. It is a place for stained-glass and shadow (warp-printed) effects in iridescent tones that flash like a kaleido- scope, and glow like fires made with ocean drift- wood. Above all, it is a place for warm tints and mellow colors. Such eflfects are easier to describe and long for than to obtain, especially if the expenditure be limited. Such eflfects enable weavers and dyers of the newest school to ask and get prices that cause the merchandise dealers to wonder. Such eflfects take one back to the wonderful fif- 1. Treating two windows as one, by framing them in a luminous Dutch print. 2, A group of casement windows, with over-draperies of silk monk's cloth and draw-curtains in striped net with diagonal mesh. HOME FURNISHING 149 teenth century when tapestries and brocades were heavy with gold and silver, and rich with the in- dividuality of the maker. The nearest approach to such effects in cotton and linen prints are the reproductions of English eighteenth-century hand-blocked prints — repro- ductions printed from the ancient and original blocks in all-over patterns, where every inch of the surface is packed with fruit and leaves that glow with autumn golds and browns. They are expensive, but they come 50 inches wide and can be split for the narrow side draperies that suit many bungalow windows. Still more expensive — $3.50 a yard — are the ' 50-inch shadow silks that excel in iridescence and drape back most gracefully where the in- troduction of curves is desirable. Other rich silk draperies are the grenadines and the tapestries. Less expensive silk draperies are the shikiis plain and broche, the brilliants plain and broche, the Colonial prints, and the Bagdads. One of the shikii type is Algerian silk, 50 inches wide, at $1.70. Shikii brocade in bold relief is $1.80 a yard. Kaneko stripe has a basket-weave ribbon on shikii ground — a most unusual contrast of irregular textures. Punjab silk is a crepe effect in splendid colors — especially the reds and browns. Tussah broche is $3.75 a yard. Monk's I50 HOME FURNISHING cloth, 50 inches wide, at $1.50 a yard, is what the name implies, a very rough, plain fabric — for some places superior to anything else woven. It must be seen to be appreciated. The Colo- nial prints, 31 inches wide at $1.40 a yard, are reproductions of the old black prints that had tiny figures — rosebuds and butterflies and little blossoms swarming thickly over the surface — another find for the person with individuality who is looking for means of expression in the form of individual draperies. But some of my readers at this point, I fear, are beginning to say to themselves: "All these things are too expensive to be practical for our purpose. We want results for little money." Of course, to the indictment I must plead guilty. I did start at the upper end, because at the upper end the range of qualities is wider. Thus I have been enabled to get a background against which to display very inexpensive tex- tiles that, without such backgrounding, might seem tame and uninteresting. Plain nets and scrims in ecru and coffee colors, and also in reds and greens and browns, make up into excellent bungalow draperies. But better still are the cross-bar and lattice-work effects — woven like the nets on the lace-curtain machine. One of the best is the simplest of all — just square HOME FURNISHING 151 lattice-work of tiny open rectangles, framed by narrow intersecting bands of lace. Either in white or ecru 45 inches wide it is only 20 cents a yard — ^^and a little more in color. Another of these lattice-work lace nets has diagonal meshes — 43 inches wide at 32 cents a yard ; another oval meshes — ^45 inches wide at 25 cents a yard; an- other with large diagonal meshes and half-inch vertical stripes, imported — 48 inches wide at 55 cents a yard; other imported ones from 31 to 60 inches wide in great variety of yarns and textures range from 65 to 75 cents a yard. Scrims, both plain and with drawn-work ef- fects, are useful in bungalow draping — not white scrims but those in cream and ecru. Sometimes the stringing of a bright-colored ribbon through the open path left by the drawn-work adds to the gayety of the environment. Sometimes the gayety is secured by draping back with bright- colored ribbons. The printed scrims — ^mostly border patterns — 40 inches wide, range in price from I2j4 to 40 cents a yard. The open nature of the texture and the hardness of the threads make the printed effect particularly agreeable. The borders are used also horizontally as valances and head- ings. Where the size and importance of the win- 152 HOME FURNISHING dows makes two sets of draperies necessary, the rough basket-weave cotton cloths called cloister, and friars', and druid, make splendid overdra- peries. The warps and wefts of the coarsest are in groups over a quarter of an inch wide, pro- ducing a texture that is "bungalowy" to the limit. It contrasts wonderfully well with scrim curtains beneath. Of all the fabrics that can be suggested for bungalow draping, however, I know of none more generally useful in the living-rooms than madras and crete. In the chambers there is rea- son for seeking the lighter color and smoother surface eflfects of nets and scrims. But for the living-rooms the rich colors of the fuzzy figures of Crete and madras are exactly fit. Cream-colored madras, 36 to 50 inches wide, costs from 25 cents a yard up; chintz-colored madras from 40 cents a yard up ; crete, 45 to 50 inches wide, $1 to $1.75. Crete has an etamine ground (like scrim) with inserted figures that are cut on the wrong side of the fabric. Madras not only has figures that are cut on the right side of the fabric, but also a most interesting gauze ground formed by the twisting of the warp threads in pairs around the weft threads. Both madras and crete should be treated with the greatest simplicity, merely hemmed with a HOME FURNISHING 153 broad hem, without galoons and figures by which I have sometimes seen them disfigured. Among the coarse linens, agra cloth, 50 inches wide at $1.25 a yard, stands first. It is as coarse as burlap but soft and agreeable to the touch and no end durable. Sometimes it is ornamented in a manner appropriate to bungalows, with border and edging in coarse, bright-colored em- broidery. Like all of the very coarse weaves, agra cloth is suited for large rather than small windows. Among the imported prints none are better for bungalow use than those from Holland and Japan. There is a quaintness and unconven- tionality about them that goes straight to the heart. The Dutch prints, 32 inches wide at 90 cents a yard, excel not only in quaint effects but also in the all-over fruit and flower patterns. Among the best of the plain fabrics on the mar- ket are the Japanese cotton crepes, 30 inches wide at 50 cents a yard. The mulberry is a par- ticularly pleasing color. The tour de force from Holland is a sampler print — a print reproducing an old embroidered sampler pattern. It is the most different print I have seen for several years and comes 32 inches wide at 90 cents a yard. The draperies illustrated in connection with 154 HOME FURNISHING this article were designed and sketched from the actual fabrics. They suggest the possibilities not only of the goods selected but also of all kinds of similar stuflfs, and should be useful to deco- rators and dealers as well as to the public. Above all they are practical and do not set problems impossible to solve, which so often cause men in the trade to lament the ignorance of writers on decorative subjects, and assume an attitude of op- position toward publicity. The valances in my illustrations are tacked to the under side of cornice or molding made to match the trim of the room. The side and glass curtains hang on small brass rods, over which they draw easily, draw cords being added when desirable. In some cases the glass curtains are hung from an extension rod with rubber ends that snap fast into position against the inside of the casings. In No. 5 each of the overdraperies is on its separate short rod that swings free on a hinged bracket attached to the casing. This en- ables casement windows that open in, to be opened without drawing back the draperies. Valances can also be divided in the middle and treated in the same way. In Fig. I the window, is framed in a rich orange-brown and gold all-over Dutch print, 32 inches wide at 90 cents a yard. It is pleas- -rt__ .= w EU- ^'■■■. 1 ■'^ r r ?' - ~ J ■| r - ^1 ,■1 » — >■ r t^r?= 1. .tk s a M a jiMl 3. Next the glass is scrim, with 4. Valance and side curtains in printed border. silk golden-brown net. S. Arranged to let casement 6. Side curtains in Colonial window open in, without draw- printed silk, ing curtains back. HOME FURNISHING 155 ingly translucent. It tacks to the inside of the improvised cornice, and behind it are the rods carrying the square-mesh lattice net that costs only 20 cents a yard. Notice the simple panel- ing outlined on the net in machine or hand stitch- ing. Notice also the transparent and translucent effect of this and all the other schemes that will tone and soften and cool the hot light of sum- mer, without introducing closeness or stuffiness or gloom. Next the glass in Fig. 3, scrim with a printed border is suggested, and for valance and side dra- peries, cloister or druid cloths with their coarse basket weaves at from 60 to 75 cents a yard, 50 inches wide, or linen agra cloth at $1.25 a yard. The narrow band across the valance just under the heading is a plain galloon. In Fig. 4, plain net or nothing next the glass. Valance and draped curtains in golden-brown net with tiny open mesh formed by warp threads twisting in pairs around pairs of weft threads. The two pairs of lines across the valance are simple stitching, while plain ruffles of the same material head the skirts of the side draperies. The glass curtains of Fig. 6 are in lattice net, with diagonal mesh, 43 inches wide at 32 cents a yard, with applique edging in woven lace. The overdraperies, the knotted valances hiding and 156 HOME FURNISHING tacked to the wooden rod, and the loops, are all in the printed silk known as Colonial. It is ex- quisitely soft in texture as well as in color. The lower part of the curtains should be shirred on a wire or metal tape to hold in the position illustrated. The overdraperies in Fig. 5 are in Kaneko cloth. The rough and contrasting textures of stripes and ground, and the open translucency of the stufif, tone the light marvelously. The orna- mental medallions and stripes at the top can be either embroidered, or applique of cut-outs from cretonne or muslin prints. So, too, the edgings. This is the only one of the six schemes in which the rod shows, but here it shows boldly and ob- viously and is a definite and recognized part of the plan. Next the glass, plain net. Fig. 2 is in monk's cloth, a wonderful silk weave almost as coarse and rough as burlap, but soft and clingy and drapy to an extraordinary degree, more so than any other fabric with which I am acquainted. Valance and draped curtains carry a simple silk fringe on the bottom. The windows are leaded in glass not quite transparent and full of texture. Between the glass and the overdraperies are draw curtains in striped lattice net with diagonal mesh. All of the fabrics recommended in this chapter HOME FURNISHING 157 are suitable for use in much simpler schemes than those illustrated. Often the only draperies desirable will be next the glass, shirred loosely at the top on rod or wire or tape or cord at- tached to the sash, so as to permit of easy draw- ing back. If the windov^ts are comparatively small, sometimes half-sash curtains only will be enough, with roller shade to cover the upper sash when necessary. If the windows are very large and high (whether guillotine or casement) , two sets of curtains, one above the other, are usually best. Again, if the windows are very small or the glass is leaded in small panes or only semi- transparent, the glass curtains can be omitted, and the work of excluding and toning the light entrusted to side overdraperies with draw cords that pull them easily along the brass rod. Some of the very light stuffs will need to be weighted at the bottom with shot, or, in the case of sash curtains, held fast by a second rod or tape or cord. XIV LACE CURTAINS THE lace curtains, spread and pillow cases that draped the bed of Marie Louise were of Alen9on lace made en- tirely by hand — Napoleonic bees composed with the needle and applique inextricably into the substance of the pillow-made net. There have been other famous examples of draperies orna- mented exclusively with point lace. But as a rule it is the coarser and firmer bobbin- or pillow-made hand laces that are employed for curtain work, and when they are mounted as in- sertions or edgings on net, the net is net that has been woven on the loom. Instead of net, etamine and fancy open-work or drawn-efifect weaves are also employed. Lace draperies like those just described arc very properly classified as real lace curtains, while all others count as imitation lace curtains, but are none the less useful and beautiful because of it. As most of the real lace curtains used in the world were formerly made in France, 158 In the middle, filet italien; above, Cluny; below, filet antique. HOME FURNISHING 159 while most of the embroidered lace curtains were made in Switzerland, the former were once almost universally called French lace curtains, the latter Swiss lace curtains. For convenience and clearness I retain these two terms in my classification of the varieties of lace curtains, as well as the term bobbinet, once employed to des- ignate curtains with insertions and edgings of machine-woven lace. We have then as the basis of our classification : 1. French or real lace curtains of which real lace made by hand with the needle or with the bobbin, forms an important part. 2. Bobbinet or imitation lace curtains with machine-woven insertions and edgings applique on machine-woven net. 3. Swiss or embroidered lace curtains. 4. Renaissance, lacet Arabian, Marie Antoi- nette, and braid lace curtains. 5. Nottingham lace curtains woven in one piece on the lace curtain machine. 6. Madras and Crete lace curtains. 7. Muslin curtains. The principal varieties of hand-made lace used in curtain work are those illustrated in con- nection with this chapter: Venise, Flanders, Cluny, filet italien; filet antique. Flanders and Cluny are pillow-made laces, Venice is point- i6o HOME FURNISHING lace made with the needle, the two filet laces are made by darning or embroidering with the needle on square-meshed hand-made net. Real or thread Arabe lace is made on the pillow like Flanders lace, but has the patterns outlined by a cord. In combination with these laces, squares of hand-embroidered cut work in the form of broderie anglaise are often employed as well as squares of embroidered drawn work. Cut work and drawn work occupy an intermediate posi- tion between point and pillow laces, and woven laces. The point and pillow laces are made en- tirely by hand, the woven laces entirely on the machine, but the cut work and drawn work by hand on machine-woven cloth and etamine grounds. Often imitation laces, like those made on the schiffli embroidery machine, as well as machine-woven drawn-work effects, are com- bined with the real laces. To the ingenuity of the converter there is seemingly no limit. The antithesis of French curtains is Notting- hams, so-called from the English city where the lace-curtain machine, as well as the imitation- lace machine, was invented. French curtains are made largely by hand and consist of many sep- arate pieces sewn together. Nottingham cur- tains are made entirely by machine and in one piece. Formerly we imported all our machine- Point de venise panel framed in Flanders lace. HOME FURNISHING i6i woven laces and lace curtains from England. The first lace curtain woven in America was made at Fordham, N. Y., in 1885. To-day the American makers of Nottinghams not only con- trol the home market but in the style of their patterns and the interest of their product lead the English. One of the new effects is that of a double net border obtained by weaving at the edge of the curtain an extra width that is turned back and sewn down fast after it leaves the loom. Of course, the part that turns under the edging matches it exactly. As the standard of American machine-woven curtains has risen, the makers have exerted every effort to get away from the word Nottingham, which, on account of the cheap and inferior cur- tains made for the mail-order houses, had fallen into disrepute. Some adhered to the old term of Scotch laces, others advocated American laces as a slogan for this American industry, and the name craft laces has also been introduced. However, Nottinghams are Nottinghams, no matter how called, and while coarse of texture and obviously a cheap substitute, are compara- tively durable because made in one piece, and have been especially favored by hotel propri- etors who had to make a lace-curtain show at the minimum of expense, and with the least possible i62 HOME FURNISHING loss from wear and tear. Of course, Notting- hams, like other imitations, are apt to masquer- ade under real-lace names, especially in mail- order catalogues, and I have no doubt that farmers' wives in many remote parts of the coun- try think that for $3 a pair they are getting the real thing. The Swiss as well as the real laces are also widely imitated on the lace curtain machine. Just as Nottingham was the first center of the woven lace-curtain industry, so St. Gall stands preeminent for the manufacture of Swiss or embroidered curtains. But it is a house-to-house industry there, and the bonnaz machine is still run by foot in the cottage instead of by steam or electric power in the factory as here. In the rural districts of New England, fifty years ago, women used to employ their leisure at home profitably sewing together braid into straw hats. So still in St. Gall and vicinity, when outdoor work is not urgent, the Swiss families take to the embroidery machines. The printing, designing, cutting, perforating, and stamping of Swiss lace curtains are done at central factories; the embroidery, applique work, and cutting out, at the houses of indi- viduals. Most of the embroidery is done on foot-power machines, the needle stitching firmly HOME FURNISHING 163 a trail of soft yarn into the net. The hand em- broidery is accomplished, not with the needle, but with the crochet hook and thimble, the re- sult being in buttonhole stitch. The mending that rectifies the omissions and mistakes of ma- chine or hand is done at the central factory, while for the bleaching and finishing there are special factories. The tambour curtains are so called because they were once made by hand on the tambour or drum that is used for hand embroidery. Now, the foot-power machine is used, and tambour curtains show a design in bonnaz stitch applied on a ground of plain net. The brusseh curtains are made on much finer net with much finer embroidery stitch, and the design-enclosed surfaces are filled in with solid embroidery of still finer yarn. The very finest brussels curtains bear the name "duchesse." Double-net curtains consist of one fine net em- broidered on another, the ground of the upper net being completely cut away, so that the net remains doubled only in the field of the design. Hand embroidery is general on double net cur- tains, and for additional ornamentation, spaces are often covered with needle-made dots and tiny conventional figures (called hohl work). In applique curtains the designs are in thin i64 HOME FURNISHING muslin applique on net with the bonnaz stitch. This is the least expensive variety of swiss cur- tains. Irish point lace curtains are distinguished from appliques by their open-work effects — spaces where the net has been cut away and the opening bridged with cords or brides. When the cords meet in a knot at the middle of an opening the lace figure is called a spider. Etamines have etamine instead of net for ground. The figures are formed in hand em- broidery, the field of the designs being cut away and the open space bridged in various manners. Etamine curtains are admirable for use as por- tieres in simple and modern interiors. Those who are not afraid of rich color turn gladly to the so-called novelty Swiss curtains, mostly on colored nets, with colored applique and colored embroidery, and in the important period styles — Gothic, Empire, Heraldic, Re- naissance, Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI, Biedermeier, and Colonial. To the braid variety of lace curtains belong those that applique the braid directly on the net ground as well as those that use insertions of Renaissance and Arabian lace made by tack- ing together with brides and spiders, etc., flat woven braids into motifs that imitate Flanders HOME FURNISHING 165 and Arabe (real) lace. Renaissance lace cur- tains have a bold and showy effect that once was very popular, but is so no more. Nor are the imitation Arabians holding their own. But the Marie Antoinettes, with their soft ribbon ef- fects, often supplemented with real lace inser- tions, maintain a popularity that is deserved. The variety of braids used by novelty cur- tain makers for applique by a machine with two needles that cleverly sews down both sides of the braid simultaneously, is very great. And the addition of cut-out and hand-work effects often adds to the laciness of the result. Madras is a fabric with mosquito netting ground and figures formed by soft coarse extra weft threads that are allowed in the process of weaving to float loose where not wanted, to be sheared off afterward. The rough side of madras is the right side, and a distinctive fea- ture of the weave is that the warp threads twist in pairs about the weft. Crete, on the other hand, has a plain or etamine ground, and the rough or cut side of Crete is the wrong side. Both ground and fig- ures are much heavier in crete than in madras. Madras comes in a wealth of colors, richer and brighter than would be permissible in a fabric of heavier structure. It is seen at best i66 HOME FURNISHING in a bright light, and the darker tones like the darker tones of velours are apt to look muddy when the light is dim. In rooms where only one set of draperies is to be used and where color is desirable at the window, one has to choose between madras, crete, colored Irish points, and colored fancy nets. Of these the madras drapes, gathers and pleats best and dresses the window most completely. The nets and Irish points should usually be supplemented , by some light overdrapery. The crete shuts out too much light for use in most windows. Muslins have their greatest popularity in New England where ruffled muslins were first manufactured about twenty years ago. In New York and Philadelphia fluted muslins are much used, probably because windows average larger here, and on large curtains the ordinary ruflfled band is apt to look mussy. The only objection that is urged against the fluted band is the difficulty of refluting after cleaning. The ordi- nary laundry is unable to accomplish it, but all the better class cleaning establishments can. The variety of muslin curtains on the market is enormous — from thirty-five cents for abom- inations made only two and one quarter yards long by thirty inches wide, out of the cheapest materials from the bargain counter — ^up to the HOME FURNISHING 167 finest Swiss grades of embroidered muslins at eight or nine dollars a pair. Ruffled muslin curtains are admirable for chambers. In coun- try houses those with applique colored border and ruffle are frequently available. But to hang ruffled muslin curtains at two dollars a pair in the windows of fine city residences as they do in Boston is both undignified and inartistic. The finest part of the residence is properly the facade that faces the street; the draperies at the front of the house should correspond. Even on the cheaper muslins, braids and Not- tingham laces are often applied with good ef- fect. Perhaps the best method of ornamentation is with the bonnaz machine. There is no ob- jection to the use of real laces on the very finest muslins, and the effects obtained with muslin or with etamine ground are exceedingly good. But the more open structure of net shuts out less light. One of the best tendencies of the past few years has been the increased use of plain and fancy nets, and one of the first to set the exam- ple was Stanford White, who draped the win- dows of his residence in Gramercy Park with perfectly plain machine-woven net, merely bor- dering it by turning over and tacking down about two inches of the edge. Even more i68 HOME FURNISHING pleasing and vastly more lacey and drapey are many of the fancy nets with tiny floral or geo- metrical figures woven in very fine point — thir- ty-two threads to the inch as contrasted with sixteen or fewer in Nottingham lace curtains. The texture is exquisite and there is less sug- gestion of imitation than in other of the ma- chine lace products. These nets come forty-five inches wide at from $1.25 to $2.50 a yard. XV WINDOW SHADES THE decorative effect of window shades is often disregarded, the selection de- pending on the momentary whim of purchaser or salesman. Almost without excep- tion parsimony is practiced, even when the rest of the furnishing is on a generous scale. Yet the window dressing of a house has everything to do with the appearance of both interior and exterior. And of window dressing, except in metropolitan mansions, where draperies are elaborate, with lace next the glass and over- hanging of tapestry, damask or brocade, the shades are one of the most obvious features. In all decoration an important law is: "Avoid violent contrasts." If the shades are very dark or densely opaque, the contrast between the shaded and unshaded parts of a window, seen from the interior, is extreme — deep shadow above bright light. For during the day shades are commonly rolled up to leave the lower half or two-thirds of the window exposed. But if 169 I70 HOME FURNISHING the shades are light in color and scmi-translu- cent, the contrast is gentle and pleasing. The color of the room is an important factor. Green shades in a red room, or red shades in a green room are an abomination, as are dark shades in a light room. But while the shades in a room with dark walls and furniture should correspond in tone, the contrast with the out- door light must be kept in mind, and the shades should be lighter than the other furnishings. If the windows have small panes, or leaded and colored glass, the brilliancy of the light that comes through them is less, and there is less danger of too violent contrast with the shades and interior walls. The night effect of the shades (when the source of illumination is inside the room) is economically as well as decoratively important. Dark shades and shades rough of texture re- flect little light, so that if the windows are many and the shades completely lowered, the necessary cost of gas or electricity may be half as much again as with light, smooth shades. To leave the shades up only aggravates the evil, for clear window glass lets out practically all of the illumination that strikes it, and the windows are then black boxes against lighted walls — the most unpleasant kind of contrast. HOME FURNISHING 171 Extreme contrast is also the most common fault in the exterior appearance of shades. From outside the house, light shades against dark walls, and dark shades against light walls, are equally distasteful. Unshaded windows are black boxes when seen from the outside — too black even by contrast with a house that has been painted dark, and aggressively ugly against light paint, as may be seen in the illustration below. In hue the shades should harmonize with the exterior, red with red, green with green, and yellow with yellow, but as a rule, should be lighter in tone. Shades darker in tone look opaque and stand out against their background. Some attention should be paid to the environ- ment of the building. The colors and tones that dominate in the landscape invite repre- sentation and reflection in the shades, especially if their presence has already been appreciated by the house painter. At this point some reader asks: "How recon- cile the decorative demands of the exterior with those of the interior? What shall be done when the exterior is dark red and the interior is light green?" There is the rub. Duplex shades with red outside and green inside are sometimes suggested and used. This makes it 172 HOME FURNISHING possible to have shades that correspond on the inside with the different colors of half a dozen different rooms, and are all the same color on the outside. But duplex shades are necessarily- opaque, and usually offensive. They are an attempt to solve a difficulty that should never have been created. In other words, the con- trasts between interiors and exteriors should never be so strong as to call for shades of dou- ble face. If these contrasts are gentle, it is easy to find shading of intermediate color and tone. When in doubt, use gray, brown or light yellow. I have emphasized the disagreement between reds and greens because it is the one that most often troubles, yet it is one that is regarded by many persons as harmony. However, reds and greens do not always disagree violently. They can be reconciled by toning them together. Light red against dark green is hideous, as is dark red against light green. Yet the contrast between light red and light green is pleasing. For in both the hue has been softened and toned down by the addition of white or gray. The addition of red to the green or ^ green to the red, or of some third color to both, also brings them together. Of these facts the reader can assure himself HOME FURNISHING 173 by personal observation. — unless he is color- blind. It is not necessary to accept the dictum of the decorator or the epigram of the faddist. It is possible by practice and experiment to ac- quire a working knowledge of light and color. The use of two sets of shades — the outer set opaque to shut out the light completely, the in- ner set translucent to tone the light agreeably — is the best solution of the whole problem. And if the light be also modified by leaded glass, or latticed sashes, or by net curtains next the glass, glare and shadow will be entirely avoided. XVI DOMESTIC PRINTS BETWEEN the hand-blocked French and English prints illustrated and described in Chapter XX and the domestic dra- peries that form the subject of this chapter, no comparison or competition is possible. The former sell at from $i to $5 a yard, the latter from 10 to 50 cents. But the latter are only 36 inches wide (and the tickings a little nar- rower still), while many of the former are from 50 to 54 inches wide, and some of them on linen or even wool, instead of cotton. Technically and artistically the color work of the roller prints is inferior. The colors are necessarily thinner, and being impressed on one another wet, equal accuracy and delicacy of toning cannot be secured. Most significant of all, the repeat of the patterns in roller prints must occur at least once in 18 inches, the en- graved copper roller being from 9 to 18 inches in circumference. This means that compared with block prints, the repeat of which is lim- ited only by the number of blocks employed, the effect of roller prints is monotonous. 174 I. Coventry bird pattern on plain 2. A tapestry effect on rep ere- cretonne. tonne. 3- An ambitious attempt on rep 4. Another ambitious and not un- cretonne. successful attempt on taflfeta. HOME FURNISHING 175 However, this has at least one compensating advantage, for it makes roller prints safer in the hands of the decorative ignorant and in- experienced. To apply the large-figured prints from abroad successfully on walls, windows, or furniture, requires taste and skill of no mean order. In short, the domestic goods are excellent of their kind, and meet the necessities of house- holders who have limited purses. The fact that the design standard is constantly and rapidly improving shows not only that the manufac- turers are alive, but also that the taste of those who purchase domestic goods is being educated. For of one thing we may be sure: while force may bring horses to the trough, it cannot make them drink. What the public want they get in the long run, and no one but a genius like William Morris is able to make an immediate and lasting impression upon their taste. Worth noting is the fact that a large propor- tion of the domestic printed patterns are put forth on several cloths — taffetas as well as plain and rep cretonnes. Tickings and dimities have patterns peculiar to themselves, mostly stripes, although they do share a few designs with the taffetas and the cretonnes. Silkolines have dropped out of most of the better-class stores, 176 HOME FURNISHING and are confined to the comforter trade and the rural districts. Once the piano trade ab- sorbed many in the form of lambrequin-printed scarfs or throws, given away with the instru- ment as an inducement to purchase. The prices of domestic prints range as fol- lows: Taffetas from 30 to 35 cents a yard; rep cretonnes 35 to 50 cents; plain cretonnes 15 to 20 cents; linen taffetas 50 to 75 cents; tickings and dimities 25 to 30 cents; silkoline 10 to 15 cents; and even less for very inferior fabrics; chintzes, painted on plain cloth in imitation of the small-figured English chintzes — particu- larly the hand-blocked ones with their delight- ful smudgy effects — from 35 to 40 cents. I am afraid that the European manufac- turers look with no friendly eye upon the imi- tations and reproductions of their goods made in America. One can hardly blame them. In some cases the effort and the accomplishment have been to kill the sale of the original with- out bringing much profit to the imitator. But on the whole, the tendency of American makers to improve their product in the European di- rection, has worked to the advantage of the importers. The farther our American makers get away from the "bargain counter" price basis, and closer to the quality and style basis, S. A well-arranged floral on woven- 6. Chinese floral on plain cretonne, stripe taffeta. 7. Flower and bird pattern on printed 8. Hampton, a ribbon-floral on taf- strifi ground. feta. HOME FURNISHING 177 the larger the proportion of our fine trade that will be sufficiently educated to pay the price for the best hand-blocked draperies. Several years ago a great deal of noise was made over the fact that domestic printed dra- pery and wall paper manufacturers were swap- ping patterns, so that the customer could match his walls in paper, to his draperies and furni- ture upholstery in cretonne. Sketches were made and illustrations printed in the trade magazines showing one pattern regnant and rampant throughout an entire interior. Occa- sionally, of course, this may be permissible if the pattern selected be not too pronounced. And often the effect of matching slip covers to wall paper will be delightful. But as a rule, one of the three, and usually two of the three — draperies, wall hangings, upholstery — should be free from emphatic ornament. I would call the especial attention of my readers to the availability for cutting up into applique borders on plain-ground cotton dra- peries, of the stripe patterns found mostly on tickings and dimities. Some of the florals on cretonne also make up well into coverings and flounces for simple bedroom furniture. How well, is illustrated in the upholstery departments of many of our big shops. XVII DOMESTIC TAPESTRIES IN its broadest sense, tapestry includes all fabrics — ^woven, painted, printed, embroid- ered — ^used to clothe and adorn walls and floors. In its narrow and special sense, it de- notes the product of high warp and low warp looms. In this chapter the term will be confined to machine loom and jacquard drapery and up- holstery stuffs, all of which it covers in a gen- eral way, though also employed especially to designate ribbed imitations of verdure and picture arras and gobelin. During the past five years a great advance has been made in the manufacture of domestic tapestries. Once they were notable for ugliness and stuffiness. A generation ago chenille por- tieres and couch covers were the staple stock of shops that supplied furnishings for the home. To-day the extra heavy weaves are a drug on the market, and at windows openwork weaves are taking the place of those impervious ; to 178 1. Tapestry at Si.oo a yard, 2. Armure at i.io a yard. 3- Armure at 1.70 a yard. HOME FURNISHING 179 light and air — especially in country houses, seaside cottages, and mountain bungalows, and most of all in city flats and apartments with their small rooms and scanty outdoor exposure. To-day there is less attempt to imitate in in- expensive materials the elaborate effects that are appropriate only for palaces. To-day both demand and supply are turning toward simple, unconventional patterns suitable for expression in cotton on machine looms, and for use by families of limited income. Probably the most important element in ac- complishing the change has been the perfection of the mercerizing process, and the discovery that mercerized cotton can be dyed both sun- fast and tub-fast — fast against both light and water. As long as mercerized upholstery and drapery goods were sold merely as imitations of silk, it seemed impossible to surround them with a distinctive halo ; but as soon as a Scotch firm began to advertise "sundour" madras and other cotton draperies, the bogie was stilled, and customers became willing to pay from 10 to 15 per cent more for mercerized than for unmercerized cotton. The silkiness and more attractive appearance of the mercerized stuffs have, of course, played an important part in changing the attitude of dealers and the pub- i8o HOME FURNISHING lie ; but it is the guarantee given by the foreign and domestic makers which caused that attract- iveness to become effective in producing sales. One of the guarantees reads: "These goods are guaranteed absolutely fade- less. If color changes from exposure to the sunlight or from washing, the merchant is hereby authorized to replace them with new goods, or to refund the purchase price." The tub-fast quality is quite as important as the sun-fast quality. It means that the laun- dress supplants the expensive dry cleaning process for unlined curtains and portieres. It means that dust and dirt lose half their terrors for the housekeeper. Another change in domestic tapestries is the decline in the demand for made-up curtains and portieres. The introduction by architects of smaller windows, and of windows of irregu- lar size and shape, calls for smaller draperies, and even on large windows and windows of conventional size and shape, the tendency is toward the use of narrower and shorter hang- ings. This is a matter of serious concern to some of the lace-curtain manufacturers, and it has even been suggested that they should ap- peal to American architects to construct win- dows easier to fit with ready-made curtains. ' ? »»a2!*i r>""!w«ii?i iSSBSS") SSiSSSS * ^SjiUmm S ^ 4. A Colonial couch cover for S6.00. 5. Ashley net at J1.50 a yard. 6. Russian net at .85 a yard. HOME FURNISHING i8i Of the tapestry curtains now sold by the manu- facturers, the common size is 50 inches wide by 8 feet 3 inches long (eleven quarters) . Particularly in madras, that shows to best advantage when the light shines through it, is sun-fastness desirable. It removes the chief de- fect that has always prevented the more gen- eral use of madras. The variety called Cerean cloth, in heraldic and modern designs, and in an extensive line of colorings, some with black and some with self-toned ground, sells at 80 cents a yard 32 inches wide, and $1.25 a yard 50 inches wide. The same cloth, plain, is from 50 to 80 cents a yard 32 inches wide, and from 80 cents to $1.25 a yard 50 inches wide. - Then there are sun-fast damasks at from $2 to $4.25 a yard; armures from $1.10 to $1.30; reps plain and moire from $1.20 to $1.35; tapes- tries from $1.90 to $2.25; velours strie at $3.50; double-faced flax velours at $2.60. Among the made-up curtains are Venici damask at $12.50, and fancy velours curtains with armure back at $15. Interesting couch covers in needlework effects are those copied from the one in Paul Revere's bedroom, and sold 60 inches wide and 3 yards long at $6 each. Among the open-work weaves of delightfully iSz HOME FURNISHING irregular texture are Russian net and Ashley net, the former at 85 cents, the latter at $1.50. The former has a madras ground (warp threads twisting in pairs around the wefts), with lattice work formed by pairs of very coarse threads. It comes in a range of colors as well as natural. Ashley net has open-work blocks on the madras principle, alternating with blocks in plain weave, and between-stripes also in plain weave but finer. It drapes most gracefully. In some respects most interesting of all is Dutch linen at from $1.40 to $2 — a mercerized linen with detached broche figures in mercer- ized cotton that stands out boldly like embroid- ery. It is especially recommended for pillow and slip covers, but would also make up into bright and attractive summer draperies. The motifs are of the modern straight-line type. It also comes with broche stripes and in a Louis XVI rose basket pattern. XVIII CHOOSING WALL PAPERS IN choosing wall papers for the different rooms of the house, it is not necessary to trust to guesswork and inspiration, or to the advice of the Sunday Supplement and the Ladies' Page of the Evening Magnifier. There are guiding principles which, though sufficient- ly general to leave much room for individual taste, are yet sufficiently definite to prevent gross error. It is obvious that the treatment of a dining- room should be different from that of the cham- ber. It is clear that the upper floors of the house which receive more outdoor light, are easier to illuminate brightly in the daytime than those on the first floor or in the basement. But the situation is complicated by the fact that we must consider artificial as well as natural lighting. To illuminate even a small room the walls and ceiling of which are dark, is practically impossible. It can be accomplished only by 183 i84 HOME FURNISHING multiplying three or four times the amount of light used, and by enclosing the light sources in opal or other globes that vastly increase the amount of illuminating surface, and by distrib- uting the light sources so completely that no part of the room is far from one of them. The effect of dark walls cannot be overcome by the use of refractors that send the light down, thus insuring high photometric tests. There is no more wasteful way of distributing light than to direct it toward the floor. If the floor is dark all the light is eaten up that reaches it. If the floor is light it is slippery to walk on and disagreeable to look at. One reason why rugs, particularly pile rugs, are so satisfactory, is that they swallow up the light that does descend and give a firm foothold. The highly waxed parquet floor, unfigured and uncovered, is almost as unsafe as clear ice. Fortunately, the majority of wall papers are comparatively light in color. Whether by day or by night, they reflect a generous proportion of the light. If they are light in color, free of surface and plain of design, the walls do all that can be done to illuminate an interior cheer- fully and inexpensively. The use of a room has everything to do with the wall paper. If the room is used HOME FURNISHING 185 mostly by day, the wall paper should be chosen with that in mind, and may be much darker than if the room is used principally by arti- ficial light. But in natural lighting as well as in artificial lighting, strong contrasts of light and shade must be avoided. If an interior is long and narrow, with windows at ends only, or at only one end, the wall paper must be luminous with grays and golds, and free from complicated patterns. In the living-room, that has external light on at least three sides, a comparatively dark color scheme is permissible. But in the living-room that receives little light from the sky, the wall paper must be light or the interior will be gloomy. The shape of a room can be completely trans- formed by the kind of wall paper that is se- lected. If the room is too low, stripes or small figures and dark colors will push the walls in, while light ceiling paper in plain ivory, cream or gold will send the ceiling up. If the room is too high, it can be lowered by using a frieze wainscot or dado with filling paper that is un- figured and light in color. The ceiling should, of course, be darker than usual, and if figured with a small pattern, will be made to appear much lower. i86 HOME FURNISHING To panel a room or to use a picture frieze or a figured ceiling paper, because it happens to be the fashion, or because the lady of the house is moved by momentary fancy, is absurd. The size and shape of the room and the size and shape of the windows absolutely control the situation. And if the room is to be used as a reception-room of any type, drawing- room, or parlor, or sitting-room, or living- room, the position of the lighting fixtures must always be considered. As the dining-room does not need to be lighted brilliantly, darker colors in wall paper as well as draperies are often preferable. In libraries that are used for studying and seldom for entertainment, the darker colors are also permissible. In dens that are intended to be always dimly lighted, dark wall papers are permissible. The walls of the hall should never be dark. If the hall is long and narrow and high, the ceiling should be brought down, the side walls should be spread out, and the amount of light increased whenever practicable. People generally are more fortunate in their selection of wall papers for chambers than for other rooms. It has been the custom to em- ploy cheerful florals in light tones. But there HOME FURNISHING 187 are many small chambers, the wall paper for which is too elaborately patterned, and many large rooms the wall paper of which has not pattern enough. Other things being equal, walls tend to re- cede from the eye when hung with paper that is smooth, or unpatterned, or large-figured, or light in color. They tend to advance when rough of service or heavily patterned, especially with small figures, or in dark colors. Of all the colors golds and yellows are the most luminous, and to them the term bright particularly applies. Nearly all the luminosity of the spectrum is to be found in yellow and its two neighbors, green and orange. It is possible to eliminate red and blue entirely without appreciably lessening the amount of light in white that is the union of all colors. But if we eliminate yellow, green and orange, there will be little light left. All red rooms and all blue rooms, even though the red has been grayed and the blue has been overpowered with white, are expensive to light. The colors in the middle of the spectrum are also the easiest to see by. They are better adapted to the human eye. They represent the average wave-length, which almost all persons can see with equal distinctness. At the red i88 HOME FURNISHING end of the spectrum, the eyes of many are color blind. At the blue end of the spectrum, the eyes of others are keen. The woodwork and furniture of the room should be taken into consideration in selecting the wall paper. If the doors, windows, side- boards and cabinets are^many and large, the use of plain or small diapered patterns on the side wall is imperative. To spread huge Re- naissance pomegranates and florals over a sur- face that is much broken mutilates them dis- agreeably. To use wall paper that contrasts violently in color with the woodwork and fur- niture is also disagreeable. Dark furniture in a room with light walls is as obtrusive as is light furniture in a room with dark walls. Simplicity is the only safe principle. But this does not necessarily mean muslin curtains and absence of ornament. It means absence of mixture and absence of violent contrasts. It means that when furnishing an inexpensive Colonial interior, you do not introduce the grandiosity of Louis XIV. It also means that when you are doing a dainty boudoir after the fashion of Louis XV, you should employ the colors and shades that were rightly employed in the Eighteenth Century, because they went well together. Undoubtedly any assemblage of HOME FURNISHING 189 furnishings that accomplishes harmony is deco- ratively good, even though founded not on pe- riod style. The trouble is that few of the masters as well as few of the laymen are sufficiently fa- miliar with the principles of decoration, and have senses sufficiently keen to color, and line, and mass, to originate anything that is really good. Even in Germany and Austria, where straight lines and squares and rectangles are being manipulated with such wonderful suc- cess, failures are frequent. And as for the French Art Nouveau that flourished at Nancy and Paris a few years ago, its sinuous stems and parabolic curves have long since uncoiled themselves into nothingness. XIX EUROPEAN HAND-BLOCKED PAPERS THE paper hangings illustrated in con- nection with this chapter represent the best that has been accomplished in pat- terned wall papers. They range in price from $1 to $12 a roll, the English rolls being 12 yards long and 21 inches wide exclusive of the plain edges, the French and German ones 9 yards long and 185^ inches wide, as compared with our American roll length of 8 yards and width of 18 inches. All of the papers illus- trated were printed by hand from wooden blocks in France or England or Germany (Al- sace), and are sold in one or more shops in every large American city. In bringing these papers to the attention of my readers in different parts of the country, I do not wish to emphasize the hand-blocked part or the European part unduly. Both in America and in Europe excellent papers are printed by machine, and America as well as Europe produces hand-blocked papers of good design and high quality. But as a general prin- 190 1 'I ^')^^ 1, Morris, the Pimpernel. 2. Morris, the Acanthus Scroll. HOME FURNISHING 191 ciple it may be stated that hand-blocking, after the manner invented in 1688 by Jean Papillon in France, is superior to machine work, and that the finest papers, patterned as well as scenic, are made in Europe, although one American wall paper manufacturer has had the audacity to carry coals to Newcastle by opening a shop in London. I understand that the shop has been very successful, which is perhaps the best testimonial to the merit of his wares. The principal points of inferiority of ma- chine to hand-blocked papers are: The stock of the cheaper machine papers is so rough and full of impurities that it could .not receive a clean impression even from hand blocks. It also tears easily and fades quickly. The colors used in machine printing are necessarily thin, and all are printed at one operation, one on top of another while still wet. In hand blocking, rich colors are avail- able and each color is allowed to dry before the next is applied. Large, flat flowers and leaves and broad stripes cannot be successfully printed on the machine. The wooden blocks of the hand printer, with only dots and thin lines in brass, produce a much softer and more interesting impression than the brass and ffelt machine rollers. 192 HOME FURNISHING Aside from the difference in artistic merit, it is easy to tell hand-blocked from machine papers by the narrow blank border at each end of the roll, and by the guide marks in the mar- gin that show the printer where to place his blocks. The effect of machine papers is apt to be monotonous, even when variety is secured by combining different rolls that have been planned to go together as frieze and border and filling. This is due to the smallness of the unit of de- sign and the necessary frequency of the repeat. Elaborate and scenic designs are not only bet- ter, but also cheaper when printed by hand. Such papers as those ancient scenic ones illus- trated in Country Life in America for Novem- ber 15, 191 1, it would not be possible to print by machine. Even by hand they present enor- mous difficulties. The famous Cupid and Psyche series designed by Lafette and printed by Dufour in 18 14, has twenty-six different widths that together form the complete story, and no less than 1,500 separate blocks. It is interesting to note that this paper is still on the market, having been reprinted from the original blocks, and has been used with splendid effect in American residences. The Stag Hunt that appeared as a frontis- 5. Walter Crane, the Peacock. 6. Walter Crane, the Macaw. 8. Regence pattern. HOME FURNISHING 193 piece in the number of Country Life in America mentioned above, and that was from a photo- graph taken by Mr. Cousins of one side of a room in the old Andrew Safford house, in Washington Square, Salem, Mass., has been identified by Mr. Harry Wearne as one orig- inated by Reveillon, the famous and most im- portant French late eighteenth century manu- facturer of wall paper, whose business was ruined by the French Revolution that in 1789 broke out in his factory in the Faubourg Saint- Antoine, the establishment being raided, set on fire, and destroyed by the mob. The Stag Hunt took thirty-one widths of paper to form one complete set or collection. And now for the papers shown with this chapter. Nos. i, 2, and 3 are English papers designed by William Morris, who did more than any other man of the nineteenth century to raise the standards of industrial art, and not only designed but — ^what was of far greater importance and significance — actually made and superintended the making of wall papers, printed draperies, real tapestries of the old Gothic type, and furniture. He knew what so many forget or never learn, that in the creation of masterpieces of art the hand is more im- portant than the head, and the execution than 194 HOME FURNISHING the design. Pattern No. i is called the Pim- pernel (the pimpernel being not the large but the small flower), No. 2 the Acanthus Scroll, No. 3 the Chrysanthemum. Pattern No. 7 is the best "roses" paper in the world. The bold simplicity of the lines, com- bined with the exquisitely soft delicacy of the colorings, appeal to him who sees it, quite in the same way as a wonderful painting, a mar- velous tapestry, or a perfect statue in marble. This paper was designed by Muller about 1850 and is made in Paris. It takes 185 blocks to print from and the widths are twenty-six in- stead of the regular eighteen and one half inches wide. Patterns Nos. 4, 5, and 6, shown two widths together, were designed by Walter Crane and printed by the firm who did and still do all the Morris papers. No. 4 is called the Golden Age, No. 5 the Peacock, No. 6 the Macaw. I regard the Golden Age as a masterpiece. It comes in self tones and also in many colorings, as do most of the papers here illustrated. Some of these patterns can also be had on cretonne. Nos. 8, 9, 10, II, and 12 come from Alsace from a factory that has been established for more than a century, and consequently in char- acter class properly with French rather than g. The Golden Pheasant, a modern lo. Modeled on a Renaissance tap- Zuber paper. estry after Van Orley. n. Reproduced from an old toile de 12. The Dutch Garden, «. modern Jouy. - paper. HOME FURNISHING 195 with German papers. No. 8 is a Regence pat- tern originated in the early part of the nine- teenth century. No. 9, the Golden Pheasant, was originated only three years ago. However, the form in which it now appears is not the original one that was rejected after the blocks had been cut and samples printed. I saw the original cartoon. It was evident to me, after I had been told, that when assembled on the wall the tails of the birds would mark too strongly. This and other defects caused the maker to destroy the paper that had been print- ed and the blocks that had been made, and after an interval of twelve months, to bring out an entirely new and much modified set of blocks from which was printed the paper before us. The result is worthy of the effort. No. 10 is a paper taken from one of the famous tapestries designed in the sixteenth cen- tury by Van Orley, the Belles Chasses de Guise, also called the Hunts of Maximilian. No. II was reproduced from a Louis XVI toile de Jouy, Jouy being a little town near Paris where were made the most famous linen drapery prints of the eighteenth century. The ground of No. 11 is faintly but charmingly damasse. No. 12 is a modern paper, the Dutch 196 HOME FURNISHING Garden, designed by the famous Frenchman, Arthur Martin, whose collection of tapestries, furniture, wall paper, etc., is worth crossing the Atlantic to see, and whose services to French makers of damask, brocades, and other woven stuffs are noteworthy. This Dutch Garden ap- peals to me most when printed in gray. XX EUROPEAN HAND-BLOCKED DRAPERIES IN my chapter on "European Hand-Blocked Papers" I pointed out some of the reasons why hand-blocks produce better results than machine-rollers. This applies not only to wall papers but also to the linen and cotton drapery cloths that form the subject of the present chap- ter. Those illustrated are fifty inches wide, ex- cept as otherwise noted, were made in France and England, and range in price from $3 to $5 a yard. The designs and colorings are of extraor- dinary excellence, and should be studied even by persons who cannot afford the best. Noteworthy is the size of the design units, in most cases larger than would be practicable with machine-rollers. These large-figured patterns are especially suit- able for window and door draperies, but must be handled with unusual skill and taste when applied to walls and furniture. Anybody can manage papers and cloths that show tiny figures and small repeats. The most famous name in the history of hand- 197 198 HOME FURNISHING blocked prints is Jouy. Now Jouy was not a man, as one of our American decorators seemed to think who asked Mr. Harry Wearne if he could help him locate that Parisian cretonne manufacturer named Chouy. (Almost as bad as the lady from Kansas City who besought a salesman in a New York shop to direct her to Mr. Chippendale's shop, and when the salesman managed to respond without smiling that he be- lieved Mr. Chippendale was dead some years since, went on to inquire about Mr. Sheraton and his shop.) Jouy is a little village near Ver- sailles, famous for the printed linens made there from 1768 to 1 81 5 by Christophe Philippe Ober- kampf , a naturalized Frenchman, born at Weiss- bach in Bavaria in 1738. Oberkampf, however, was by no means the first to establish this industry in France. The manufacturers of upper Normandy preceded him by nearly ten years in the production of persiennes, indiennes, and siamoises (Persians, Indians, and Siamese) , as the first French domes- tic prints were called in imitation of those im- ported from the Orient. The earlier develop- ment of the industry in France had been for- bidden by law and the manufacture was not authorized until the publication of the Royal Decree of Louis XV, dated November 9, 1759. I. The Tulip, a characteristic Mor- 2. A quaint and curious Chinoiserie. ris pattern. 3. From an old Rhode Island wall- 4. From one of Grinling Gibbon's paper. famous carvings. HOME FURNISHING 199 By that time much had been accomplished in other countries, notably by Koechlin, who in 1746 started to make indiennes in the small Re- public of Mulhouse in Alsace. Gberkampf was late in starting, but he soon surpassed all his competitors. In 1768, with a total capital of 600 francs, he hired an aban- doned building in Jouy, built his equipment and tools with his own hands, and was designer, dyer, engraver, and printer, all in one. Success was almost immediate, and his goods soon became so fashionable that he was able to send men to Eng- land, Germany, and even Persia to study pro- cesses, especially dyeing, in which the East sur- passed. In 1787, by an edict of Louis XVI, his works became a royal factory. The destruction of the plant in 18 15 by the invading allies, ruined him and he died that year of a broken heart. Oberkampf produced not only patterned stuffs, some of which we illustrate, but also large scenic designs with personages and landscapes, such as the "Fables of La Fontaine" after J. B. Oudry; "The Village Festival"; "The Balloon Ascension"; "Paul and Virginia." Among de- signers whose reputation is linked indissolubly with Jouy is J. B. Huet, of whose designs the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris has a won- derful collection. 200 HOME FURNISHING Of the cloths illustrated by us, No. 2 is an exact reproduction of an old toile de Jouy. It is 34 inches wide and is also exceptional because printed in several colors, most of these old chinoiseries being monochromes. Quaint and certainly interesting and most decorative are the Chinamen shown, one with parasol walking up a tight rope, another swinging, another skipping a rope as he juggles, while a squirrel on a branch adds comical gravity to the situation. No. 3 is on linen, though not a toile de Jouy. The design was taken from an old wall paper in a house near Providence, R. I. Another with delightfully soft and smudgy tones was taken from an old Cordova leather, and another re- produces an ancient piece of Jacobean needle- work. No. 4, on linen, is of unusual origin, being modeled from a carving by Grinling Gibbons, whose skill was utilized to such happy advantage by Sir Christopher Wren, the famous English architect. The colorings are dull and rich, quite unlike the carving that was in limewood without color. No.' 5 is a French linen, 31 inches wide, whose intricate tones of soft orange and green required many blocks for the printing. It is full of the exuberant richness that characterized the Ital- 5- A rich French Renaissance pat- 6. An eighteenth-century Chinese tern. efEect, 7. The Compton. by Morris and 8. The Strawberry Thief, by Morris. Dearie. HOME FURNISHING 201 ian Renaissance, and reminds one of some of the work of Primaticcio. No. 6, a 32-inch linen with Chinese groupings on a gray stripe, is French and distinctly of the toile de Jouy type. One very rich design was suggested by an an- cient Portuguese embroidery. It is especially recommended for the main floor of a country house or for a man's bedroom.' Another on cot- ton, was recently originajted for the English Royal Family, and the large leaves and flowers rest against a black ground. Among English chintzes not illustrated here is a collection 30 inches wide with very small figures, flowers, peacocks, cashmere designs, etc., at from $1.25 to $1.50 a yard. These also are printed from ancient English blocks. They can be had glazed or unglazed, and cost a little more when glazed. Among the old English blocks that have been preserved are also many with very large figures that are now printed on cotton 54 inches wide. The reassembling of these blocks to form the various patterns was no easy task and only the fortunate discovery of certain written documents made it possible. It was with blocks like these that the ancient printers flattered the pride of local magnates and provincial nobles, using the same background for a dozen families, but 202 HOME FURNISHING changing the bird or some especially significant feature in order to produce a cloth individual to the user. A modern English pattern that delights me shows birds and flowers and winding branches in tones of rose and blue green and mauve on a white ground of cotton 32 inches wide. The fact that the shades and furniture coverings in the drawing room of the Duke of Westminster's home in London, Grosvenor House, are made of it, will also commend it to many. Of course Westminster used it glazed in the English fashion. The late nineteenth century revival of block printing in England was due to William Morris, who not only made the designs but also worked out the processes at Merton Abbey, a quaint lit- tle village not far from London, where the same prints are still made in the same way to-day, with the same blocks, and the same dyes, and sent to art lovers in different parts of the world. Sev- eral of the patterns I am permitted to reproduce. All of them come 36 inches wide on cotton or linen or wool. A print that in cotton would sell for about $3, would bring $3.50 in linen, and $4.50 in wool. To these "wool challets" I want to call par- ticular attention. They have a far more in- HOME FURNISHING 203 teresting fine twill surface than either the cotton or the linen, and possess the crisp and clinging qualities so uniquely characteristic of wool. Very grateful, too, is the way in which the wool takes the colors. No. 8, the Strawberry Thief, is produced by discharging, that is to say by printing dark blue cloth with acid-wet blocks that eat part or all of the color out where the pattern indicates. No. 7, Compton, only 25 inches wide, shows the influence of John W. Dearie, who for many years rendered important assistance to Morris in de- signing and coloring, and who still carries on the work of the master at Merton. No. i, the Tulip, is a characteristic Morris pattern, and like all his others splendid for use in many interiors that are not at all "in the Morris style." Among the two-tone prints at from $1 to $1.25 are Bird and Anemone, Rose and Thistle, and Brother Rabbit. As the illustrations show, Morris's idea of a drapery print was something gay, something made up of "the naivest flowers (and birds, too, or animals), with which you may do anything that is not ugly." He would tell designers, wrote Lewis Day years ago in the Art Journal, that they could not well go wrong so long as 204 HOME FURNISHING they avoided the commonplace and kept "some- what on the daylight side of nightmare." Frank color Morris always insisted on. He said a "right-minded" colorist would make his work as bright as possible and as "full of color," and if he did not bring it out "pure and clear" he had not learned his trade. To be prejudiced against a particular hue, he thought indicated "disease in an artist." But yellow he himself found "not a color that can be used in masses"; red "a difficult" one ; purple a color "no one in his senses would think of using in bright masses." Green, on the other hand, he described as being "so useful and so restful to the eyes, that in this matter also we are bound to follow Nature, and make large use of it." Most of all he loved blue, the "holiday" color as he calls it by way of distinction from "workaday green." He was against all rules of color. His experience taught him "the paler the color, the purer it may be." XXI ART POTTERY FASCINATING are the forms that clay assumes on the potter's wheel — forms that fire makes permanent. Fascinating, too, are the elusive colors with which accident and intention diversify the surface of pottery; and, when the opportunity for expression is seized by a master, the result is classic Wedgwood or modern Rookwood. To some persons, art pottery is a term that designates the shapeless extreme and the ama- teur experiment. They associate it only with the exhibits of beginners and dabblers in the arts and crafts. They regard it as something that appeals peculiarly to the faddist and his followers, and are of the opinion that plain everyday people would do well to let it alone. Art is a dangerous word. The ignorant use it too much : the cultivated use it too little. To describe anything as an art product introduces doubt into the mind of the connoisseur; so famil- iar are we with the art supplements of news- 205 2o6 HOME FURNISHING papers and magazines, and with art shops and the art departments of large stores. And the manufacturer who makes a bad copy of some- thing good almost invariably tries to lift it from fake to fact by means of the prefix, ART. Such is always the fate of the genuine. The more worthy an object is of imitation, the more likely it is to be imitated; which is why we have re- tained the word art in the title of this article. Man makes many things that are not art. Utility often blinds him to the value of beauty. The exigencies of machine construction seem to compel shapes that are ugly. Art implies skill and beauty. It is the raw material of nature, shaped and made individual by human hands. It is inspired craftsmanship, tapestry or carv- ing or pottery that meant something to the maker and that means something to the owner. Take Rookwood pottery for instance. The shapes are beautiful and grew out of the nat- ural tendencies of the clay. This is an impor- tant point. It is of course possible to imitate, in clay, designs that the carver originated on wood, or the smith on iron. But the result is never more than imitation ; it lacks spontaneity and character. It is no more real than is the mahogany made by staining birch with ma- hogany stain. Rookwood pottery is genuine The most beautiful and valuable vase in the world, the Port- land vase in the British Museum. HOME FURNISHING 207 through and through. Shape and surface, de- sign and color, are produced in American clay by methods that conform to the nature of the material, and take advantage of all its possi- bilities. The illustrations indicate what the pieces themselves show definitely — that the designs are first, last and forever, clay designs, conceived and executed in terms of clay. The shape of a handle, the swell of a dome, the neck of a vase, the onlay of leaves and flowers in relief — all are done in the manner of the potter. If you would get hold of the full significance of this, watch the potter at work; or, better still, play potter yourself. What you create may be valueless, but what you learn will be invaluable. Herein lies the importance of the arts and crafts schools, and of arts and crafts in the public schools. It is not part of my plan in the present short chapter to discuss mats and glazes, or by defini- tion to separate porcelain from other pottery, or to discuss and differentiate the different makes. But I would call the attention of my readers to the wonderful colors and tints and shades that are attainable in clay. Peculiar to clay are many of these color combinations. There are grada- tions of tone that cannot be secured by workers in glass or metal or wood or wool. Mysteriously 2o8 HOME FURNISHING they lurk beneath the surface, revealing them- selves partially and in infinite variety. They are born of clay, and in clay only can they be materialized. Marvelous was the art of the ancient Greeks and Romans. In statuary and architecture they attained a pinnacle of perfection that we mod- erns have not yet reached, and may never reach. In the lesser arts they also excelled. Wonderful were their accomplishments in tapestry and em- broidery and bronze and wood and pottery. To the classic arts were due not only the Italian Renaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- turies, but also the classic revival of the latter half of the eighteenth century, that was conse- quent on the excavations of Pompeii and Her- culaneum. The single object that had the greatest in- fluence on modern pottery was the Barberini or Portland vase, so named from the families that successively owned it. It is now in the Gem and Gold Ornaments Room of the British Mu- seum, and is not surpassed in beauty, or value by any vase in the world. It is about ten inches high and twenty-two inches in circumference, with figures in snowy cameo on a dark-blue ground. In 1790, twenty-four reproductions of it were HOME FURNISHING 209 made by Josiah Wedgwood in his famous jasper ware, after four years of patient experiment. This period was of extreme importance in the history of Wedgwood's development, and in the history of art pottery. According to Wedgwood, the Portland vase pictures the Eleusinian mysteries, and dates from the age of Phidias and Polyclitus — the golden age of Greek sculpture and relief work. A facsimile of it in the original materials was made by John Northwood, of Stourbridge, Eng- land, in 1877. This facsimile is to be placed in the British Museum beside the original. The beauty of the vase is striking, even in our illustration, that lacks color. So exquisite are the proportions and composition of the figures that it is no wonder the artist sought inspiration here. And if the modern artist works along other lines, it is because he cannot, along these lines, accomplish results that are equal. Not that the Portland vase represents the be-all and end-all of plastic design, far from it. In differ- ent countries, in different periods, thousands of types of pottery and porcelain have been pro- duced, owing nothing to Greece or Rome, and yet perfect as forms of artistic expression. China alone has filled the world with the product of her potteries, and from Chinese porcelain came 2IO HOME FURNISHING the inspiration that established royal manufac- tures of porcelain in the principal countries in Europe. From China and Japan, to-day, come shiploads of pottery and porcelain, much of which deserves the name of art pottery. This is true of the coarse and unglazed ware quite as much or even more than it is of the elaborately decorated and hard-finished pieces. The product of modern European potteries is by no means to be despised. Each locality has worked along some special direction and ac- complished an individuality all its own ; for in- stance, the Royal Copenhagen ware that we illus- trate. And then there are Sevres and Doulton, and Minton and Limoges and Berlin, and other names innumerable, associated with the produc- tion of art pottery. But to an American, of course, American pot- tery has preeminent interest. We started with Rookwood, and we come now to Volkmaar and Grueby and Van Briggle and Newcomb, not naming, but at the same time not forgetting, the numerous individual makers who exhibit at the National Arts Club, in Gramercy Park, New York, and at other houses of arts and crafts so- cieties. : The importance of their work is out of all proportion to the importance of their wares. HOME FURNISHING 211 They are pointing the way in a new direction, and to the creation of original types. Often, indeed, the shapes are bizarre rather than in- dividual, while the mats are uncertain and im^- perfect, and a distinct effort appears to have been made to avoid use value. But here, at least, we have what commercial pottery seldom pos- sesses — the direct embodiment of an idea with- out a wilderness of processes between designer and maker. It might not do harm for some of the ama- teurs to keep use value more in mind. The highest form of beauty is that which associates use with beauty, and for a designer to work under definite limitations is often an education more than a hindrance. Certainly, some of the amateur vases for lamps would be vastly im- proved by being made less unstable, and small pieces for definite use, as ash-trays, flower-stands and pen-holders, might be substituted for mean- ingless vases, with advantage to art as well as to the salesman. The arts and crafts movement is important, both educationally and industrially. It educates workers and their friends and many of those who see the work. It also develops workers who make a business of the craft, and help to re- generate an industry from which art — as from 212 HOME FURNISHING most American industries — has been wofully missing. It is to them and to the potteries that occupy the borderland between the amateur and the professional that we owe most of the interest- ing pieces that diversify decorative and jewelry shops, and have done so much to arouse the at- tention of the buying public to the possibilities of art pottery. While exaggeration and affecta- tion are far too common, and there is a lack of classic repose and balance in even the most suc- cessful examples, the forms and ornament are alive and are good for people to live with. They tend to make one dissatisfied with ugly furniture and wall papers and draperies, and they develop an interest in material and method of making, as well as in shape and color. While the tendency of the arts and crafts makers has been along new art lines, the Ameri- can potteries making for the shops have often followed European or antique precedents and nomenclature. Our illustrations show two pieces of Mycenean ware that is made in Baltimore. It resembles the famous Italian Capo-di-Monte pottery in shape and ornament and color. Many of the models are purely Greek in origin, some being reproductions of pieces excavated from the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Mycenae. Mycenean ornamentation includes geometrical. HOME FURNISHING 213 marine, animal and leaf forms, and the human figure, and dates back to the twelfth century B. C. The first important discoveries at Myce- nae were made by Schliemann, in 1876 and 1877, and the chief objects found are now in the mu- seum at Athens. This tendency of the commercial potteries toward reproduction work is by no means to be despised. The results in most cases are far bet- ter than would be achieved along original lines, even though the reproductions are often unfaith- ful and unintelligent. If the standard of the reproductions would only be raised, and if American potters were content to copy — and the American public were content to buy — simple shapes, simply ornamented in the Greek spirit, it would do quite as much as the modern move- ment to educate the public artistically. Further- more, a large proportion of commercial pottery is useful. Preeminent in age as well as in achievement is the Rookwood pottery, that was founded in 1880, in the suburbs of Cincinnati, by Mrs. Maria Longworth Stover. From commercial- ism it has always kept itself free, and the battle of individualism and Americanism it has fought with what, to some, seems almost fanatic devo- tion. Instead of importing European decora- 214 HOME FURNISHING tors rich in traditions of the past, American artists were employed to work out original meth- ods by experiment and selection. All Rookwood pieces are signed with the mark of the etcher and of the artist, and no pieces are duplicated. Rookwood pottery received the Grand Prix at Paris in 1900 and two Grand Prizes at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. The eight principal types of Rookwood ware, illustrated and described in a little book, are standard, sea-green, iris, mat-glaze painting, conventional mat glaze, incised mat glaze, modeled mat glass, and helium ware. Stand- ard was the first ware that was produced at the pottery, and is noted for its low tones of yellow,, red and brown, with luxuriant flowers beneath a brilliant glaze. Sea-green is characterized by limpid and opalescent sea-green effects, and a favorite decoration is fish moving under water. Iris has a light body with brilliant white glaze, with decorations in delicate gralys, pinks, soft blues, greens and yellows, that possess a pecu- liarly "pottery" quality as distinguished from the hardness of porcelain. The so-called mat glazes are distinguished by the absence of gloss, and show wonderful variety of texture — sometimes of crystalline solidity like quartz; sometimes mellow in color like ripe HOME FURNISHING 215 fruit; again, the quality of old ivory or stained parchment; or, again, unevenly translucent. The incised mat glaze in reds, blues, yellows and greens gets its name from the incised orna- ment. The modeled mat glaze has modeled ornament, in addition to the colored mat, and is particularly effective for lamps and elec- troliers. 1 /'. The prices of Rookwood are moderate, con- sidering the individual quality and the wonder- ful workmanship; one hundred' dollars; for. a lamp thirty-three inches high in mat glaze with conventional decoration; eight dollars 'for an electrolier four and a quarter inches high in vel- lum finish with dogwood ornament; seven dol- lars for an electrolier four and three-quarter inches high in vellum with mistletoe orna- ment; thirty dollars for an iris vase nine and three-quarter inches high with bleeding-heart ornament; eighty dollars for a modeled mat vase thirteen inches high with dragon ornament. I would warn my readers against overorna- mentation in pottery, particularly in cheap pot- tery. Exquisitely refined effects with which great artists triumph are absurd when imitated or attempted by rough hands. One of the worst forms of overornamentation is the introduction of elaborate human figure 2i6 HOME FURNISHING subjects. The treatment that in its origin was naive, conventional and decorative, gradually aped the composition of fresco and canvas until the pottery painter reached a point where his work had nothing in common with the material to which it was applied. Particularly was this illustrated in painting on majolica at Faenza and Urbino. The neces- sity of graduating every tint and modeling every form destroyed the potency of the colors. Sub- jects that required the talent of a Maestro Giorgio or a Fra Xanto verged on the ridiculous when handled by a mediocre artist. When the French soft-paste porcelain was first made at Rouen, St. Cloud and Chantilly, the patterns were mostly decorative. But at Vin- cennes and at Sevres, between 1750 and 1770, the fresh and charming ground colors of the old pate tendre had to give way to panels of cupids and figure groups and landscapes. No longer content to make vases and dishes and plates, the pottery painter copied the paintings of Oudry and others on large flat slabs of soft-paste por- celain with skill and pains worthy of a better cause. Enormous vases were constructed with paintings invading the whole piece from shoul- der to base. The fashion set at Sevres was followed HOME FURNISHING 217 throughout Europe. At the successive interna- tional expositions of 1850, 1867, 1873 and 1876 the great potteries vied w^ith each other to excel in elaborate painted pieces. The first protest came from John Ruskin and William Morris, whose pleas for sincerity and simplicity were not without effect. A strong reaction set in against the mechanical smooth- ness and evenness of color and surface that was the ideal of the pottery painter. The great impulse toward better things, how- ever, came from the Orient. XXII REAL TAPESTRIES TAPESTRY is a broad word. It ranges all the way from ten cents a roll for verdure papers to ten thousand dollars a yard for the marvelous pictures woven on the highwarp looms of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. In between the wall papers and the arras come numerous pirinted, painted, and loom- figured textiles that, on account of their resem- blance to real tapestry — often remote — ^have ac- quired the same name. Consequently it is not strange that confusion exists in the minds of many as to what real tapestry actually is, espe- cially as dictionaries and encyclopedias almost without exception define the word incorrectly or incompletely, while its trade meaning varies ac- cording to the shop in which it is found. Several years ago the writer was invited by an intending purchaser to visit an antique shop to pass on the genuineness of what purported to be a Seventeenth Century Gobelin tapestry, de- clared to be worth $10,000. While the dealer 218 Jacob blessing two children. Part of the Gothic Seven Sacra- ments tapestry at the Metropolitan Museum, New York. HOME FURNISHING 219 disclaimed all expert knowledge of tapestries and was not ready to guarantee the attribution, the eagerness with which he pointed to the woven signature, Ch. Le Brun Pinxit, and the willing- ness with which he introduced references to per- sons and books likely to spur on the hesitating purchaser, showed that he was either extraordi- narily ingenuous — ^which antique dealers seldom are — or was trying to perpetrate a gross fraud without technically violating the law. The dealer was indignant and threatened violence when the writer stated that the tapestry was machine-made and worth about twenty-five dol- lars. The purchaser covered our retreat, inci- dentally expressing his opinion of the dealer. Recently I related the anecdote to the manager of a house that imports many of these Jacquard tapestry panels, expecting him to be as surprised at the customer's ignorance and the dealer's dis- honesty as myself. Imagine my amazement when he retorted : "Wha'd yer wan'der butt in on der man's business fur? He had a ridt to get what he could. Eodts of the tealers magke good money on dese dapestries." He then went on to express an unflattering opinion of writers who give illustrations and prices that tend to make the public less gullible. Indignant at his atti- tude, and enlightened by it, I have since made 220 HOME FURNISHING it a point to investigate the methods of distribu- tion of these tapestry panels, and have discov- ered that a large proportion of them are sold to persons who do not understand what they are buying, at prices that are extortionate. They are an important source of revenue to the cheap and tawdry auctioneers of bric-a-brac and what are called "art" objects for the home. And, as in- stanced above, they are a treasure trove to the dealer in bogus "antiques" and second-hand furniture. Only in a few of the large establishments is it possible to purchase these Jacquard tapestry panels at a fair price, from a stock that is large enough to give reasonable choice of designs and sizes. Even there, few or none of the salesmen have ever seen a real Gobelin or learned to un- derstand the difference between real tapestry and imitation. So the writer is confident that those behind the counters, as well as those in front of them, will appreciate the attempt here made to present the points of difference, with illustra- tions that eflfectively supplement the printed story. First, as to what constitutes real tapestry. There have been many poetic descriptions glori- fying it with the iridescent beauties of the rain- bow, and the rich tones of sunrise and sunset; HOME FURNISHING 221 but such descriptions are of little help in de- ciding whether a particular textile is or is not a real tapestry. Only a definition based on weave can do that. It is the weave that makes the difference. A real tapestry is a fabric in plain weave with warp entirely concealed by the weft, which is of uniform thickness, and is exactly alike on hath sides, except for the loose threads on the back that mark the passage of bobbins from block to block of the same color. With some ex- ceptions, it is also a rep fabric — that is to say, it has a ribbed surface — and in weaving open slits are left where two colors meet parallel with the warp. This sounds harder than it really is. If the fabric is ribbed with from seven to twenty-four ribs to the inch, is of uniform thickness and exactly alike on both sides, with the character- istic open slits, then it is a real tapestry. If the threads that float loose on the back are parallel instead of zigzag, then the fabric is not a real tapestry, but a broche tapestry, with body that is thicker where figured. The loose threads on the back are not a necessary criterion, for they can easily be clipped close, leaving the back exactly as if it were the face showing through. This is sometimes done to ancient tapestries. 222 HOME FURNISHING which are then mounted back side out, like two of the famous pieces of the "Seven Sacraments" series of the Fifteenth Century tapestries in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, in order to show the colors, that have faded less on the pro- tected back than on the long-exposed face side. Between furniture tapestries and wall tapes- tries there are a number of usual but not vital distinctions. The latter are comparatively large, with coarse horizontal ribs, and tell a story. The former are comparatively small, with fine ribs, either vertical or horizontal, and with designs that are primarily decorative. Of wall-tapes- tries, wool is the basic material, with gold and silver to add richness and silk to increase high lights. Of French furniture-tapestries silk is the favorite material, with wool to serve as back- ground and to supply the low tones. The first step in learning how to buy real tap- estries is to learn where to buy them. It is foolish to seek fine china in a five-cent store, and it is equally foolish to look for important tapestries in ordinary shops. Tapestries are in a class by themselves, and even the furniture coverings are above the heads of general dealers, few of whom are able to tell the genuine from the imitation. Most of the business in real tap- estries — furniture coverings, as well as the vast- HOME FURNISHING 223 ly more important wall hangings — is done through auction-rooms and decorative shops — not the average auction-room, and not the aver- age decorative shop — just a few that, on account of their high reputation for straightforwardness and quality, have as regular clients persons who can appreciate good things of the sort. Among important tapestries sold at auction in New York City during the last few years were those belonging to Henry G. Marquand, Stanford White, Charles T. Yerkes, James A. Garland, and Henry W. Poor. One of these, sold at the Yerkes sale, a Gobelin on the subject of "Vulcan and Venus," designed by Boucher and woven by Audran, brought $17,700. For three or four days before such sales begin opportunity is given to examine the tapestries at one's leisure, and the catalogues supplied are not intentionally in- accurate. But they are seldom as complete as they should be. Perhaps that is why the ten- dency is for imperfect and damaged and artisti- cally inferior tapestries to sell for more than they are worth, while the superior examples sometimes sell for less than they are worth. Out of twenty large tapestries the writer recently ex- amined in an auction-room, seventeen had never been especially good, while the other three were so badly repaired as hardly to merit house room. 224 HOME FURNISHING Herein lies a lesson that the amateur of tapes- tries should take to heart. Mere age counts for little. The value of an inferior work of art does not increase as the generations pass, although the price paid by ignoramuses sometimes does. It is the tapestry, or rug, or chair, or table, that artistically excels which multiplies in value more rapidly than the interest on money, and at last is enshrined in the palace of a collector, in the museum of a great city or nation. The only museum in the United States that contains an important collection of fine tapes- tries is the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Compared with the forty splendid pieces now displayed on its walls, the collections of the Boston and Chicago art museums — as well as of the Metropolitan Museum itself five years ago — are insignificant. The collection of books on tapestry in the library of the Metropolitan Museum is also large and important. The prize tapestry in the Metropolitan col- lection is one in the Gothic style, lent by the late Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan and called the Mazarin tapestry, because tradition says that it once belonged to the famous French Cardinal who chastened the youthful haughtiness of Louis XIV. The subject of this tapestry, which is partitioned like a three-fold screen, with Gothic HOME FURNISHING 225 columns between the leaves, is "The Triumph of Christ and of the New Dispensation." Christ is seated on a throne in the upper part of the middle panel, with angels on each side of Him, one bearing a long branch with lil- ies, symbolic of the Church ; the other a sword, symbolic of the State. Below are two groups of worshipers, the Church group headed by the Pope and the State group by the Emperor. A figure representing the Synagogue of the Old Dispensation appears on the right, blinded, with broken scepter and shattered tablets of the Mosaic law, while the State of the New Dis- pensation is represented by the Persian King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) and Esther. A figure rep- resenting the Holy Catholic Church of the New Dispensation appears on the left with crozier and chalice, while the State of the New Dis- pensation is represented by Emperor Augustus, to whom the Tiburtine Sibyl announces the coming of the Messiah. Technically, this is one of the most wonderful, perhaps the most won- derful, tapestry ever woven. Certainly the flesh tones of faces and hands and of the tiny nude figures of Adam and Eve, and the silver tones of hair and beards, and the gold and jewels of the costumes are marvelously expressed. Almost in the same class as regards excellence 226 HOME FURNISHING of weave are two Renaissance tapestries illustrat- ing the "Story of Herse," lent by Mr. George Blumenthal. They were woven in Brussels by Willem van Pannemaker, whose woven signa- ture, together with the Brussels monogram, ap- pears in the border. The borders are rich with gold in basket weave, and the one of the two tapestries that shows the "Bridal Chamber of Herse" is almost equal to the great Gothic tap- estries as regards the suitability of the design for interpretation on the loom. -Tapestries like these, however, are beyond the reach, even at present prices, of all but the greatest collectors, and therefore the writer would call attention to other tapestries, excellent duplicates of which can be bought or reproduced at prices that make them available more generally for adorning the home. At this point I should like to remark that the nouveau riche dog-in-the-manger spirit which locks up many famous paintings in pri- vate galleries, without affording the public an opportunity to see them, is manifested to a much less extent by those Americans whose good for- tune it is to possess fine tapestries. Perhaps they are influenced by the example of Leo X, who left with the weaver, Pieter van Aelst, in Brus- sels, the cartoons of the tapestries designed for him by Raphael, with the result that duplicate Saint Luke painting the Virgin, a Late Gothic tapestry in the Louvre. HOME FURNISHING 227 sets were woven for all who had the taste to select and the money to pay. It is important for the revival of the art of tapestry weaving that every opportunity should be afforded by owners of Gothic tapestries to those who wish to copy them on the loom, and the writer is glad to note the tendency of American collectors who possess historic examples to be very substantially gen- erous in this respect. Among the Gothic tapestries at the Metropoli- tan Muesum especially suited for reproduction to-day are two from the famous Hoentschel col- lection, lent to the museum by Morgan. One of these, that pictures "Jesus Among the Doc- tors" and the "Marriage at Cana," is 5 feet 3 inches high and 12 feet 6 inches long. It is the "Marriage at Cana" that I suggest as affording the best opportunity for the modern weaver to attempt to emulate his Fifteenth Century fore- bears. The composition of this scene is most interesting. The coloring of the tapestry is ex- tremely simple, and the weave is masterful with- out being intricate. In copying a tapestry like this a weaver would learn more than most weavers now know. This dates from the age when tapestries were still line drawings, with long slender vertical hatchings (spires of color) that combined with the cross-ribbed weave to 228 HOME FURNISHING produce the most interesting and unique texture that the world has even known. Also interesting for the purpose of modern reproduction would be the Gothic "Departure for the Hunt," likewise lent to the museum from the Hoentschel collection. It is lo feet high by 3 feet 11 inches wide, and pictures a forest of oaks with floriated ground. A page and three valets lead the way. Two of the valets carry hooded falcons. On the right a white horse, above whose head appear the busts of a lord and a lady half hidden in the foliage. Other figures on the left. In the foreground there are dogs. A tapestry like this is a thing of beauty and a joy forever, and deserves repro- duction not only for the training in technique it would give the weaver of to-day, but also, and especially, for its intrinsic merit. It is worth a multitude of "counterfeit arrases," which is what they called painted imitations of tapestry in the Fifteenth Century, real arras being, of course, real tapestries, called arras from the now French, but then Flemish, city of Arras, that was long the center of production of high- warp picture tapestries. The oldest, and on the whole the most in- teresting, tapestries at the Metropolitan Museum are the five fragments containing seven scenes HOME FURNISHING 229 from an early Fifteenth Century tapestry, origi- nally containing fourteen scenes, illustrating the Seven Sacraments in their origin and also as celebrated contemporaneously. These tapes- tries, given to the Museum by Mr. Morgan, were correctly named and described for the first time in my article in the Burlington Maga- zine of December, 1907. Though much re- paired, they are splendid examples of technical perfection in tapestry weaving, and point out the path that weavers should follow in attempt- ing to revive the glories of the past. A large proportion of the real tapestries that one finds in the shops are from Aubusson looms, and whether antique or modern, they are usually in the style of the Eighteenth Century — rustic and pastoral scenes with verdure or landscape backgrounds, and with narrow verdure or woven-frame borders. One reason for their popularity is their size, which is comparatively small and adapted for display on the walls of houses as they are built to-day. Another reason is that the styles of Louis XV and of Louis XVI, as expressed in tapestry, harmonize with most modern English as well as French interiors — Louis XV being preferable with Chippendale chairs and Baroque or Rococo backgrounds; Louis XVI with Hepplewhite and Sheraton and 230 HOME FURNISHING Adam designs. A third reason is the price, which is less, because these are the tapestries that Aubusson weavers understand best how to produce. Not that I would decry the art of the Aubusson weavers. From time immemorial this little city of Aubusson, in France, two hundred and seven miles by rail south of Paris, has been noted as a center of tapestry weaving. Tradi- tion says that the industry was established there in 732 A.D., by stragglers from the great Saracen army, defeated nears Tours by Charles Martel, grandfather of Charlemagne. As late as 1585 the weavers were called tappiciers sarrazinois (Saracen tapestry-makers). The Aubusson product is by no means confined to furniture coverings. At the Paris Exposition of 1900 two Aubusson manufacturers received the grand prize, displaying among the reproductions two of Le B run's Seventeenth Century "Royal Resi- dences," of which the jury said, "They are so like the originals as to be mistaken for them." The so-called Aubusson rugs are real tapestry in heavy weave, and in designs suitable for the floor. Of Eighteenth Century tapestries in general, it may be said that they are vastly inferior to the Baroque ones of the Seventeenth Century, just as these are inferior to the Renaissance ones HOME FURNISHING 231 of the Sixteenth Century, and the Renaissance ones to the Gothic tapestries of the Fifteenth Century and earlier. Among Renaissance tapestries especially desir- able for reproduction are the Grotesque ones that have ornament pure and simple — ornament often incorrectly called arabesque and consisting of arbors and foliage and flowers, and occasional human and animal forms — and that get their name "Grotesque" from the Roman excavations (crypts or grottoes) that at the beginning of the Sixteenth Century disclosed the Golden House of Nero. Photographs and color sketches are easily accessible, from which the reproductions can be woven with finished effect. Dq^ *-^^."..