OCR Text |
Show H I Importance of the Mantelpiece II In the Decorative Scheme 1 !1 1 I'.j I ALTHOUGH it Is not generally rc-!; rc-!; y' ff nllzed, the mantelpiece Is one t1 of tne m03t Important fea- v A tures in a room, and an ugly hearth spoils the effect of otherwise i beautiful decorations. In nearly every 1 $ old country house the mantels are high, stiff, unsightly things which seemingly j if refuse, now that tho lambrequin has l gono by, to lend themselves to any sort j of softening decoration. I J In a certain country house which I ( have in mind was a,, white wooden man- 1 telplcce which reached to an ordinary I tho fireplace was a plain, Hat surface of j hlte wood eighteen or more inches 1-' wide. Tho effect was so utterly hid- : ; ious that it spoiled the whole room. ; ! While lambrequins wero used its un- i i compromising homeliness was veiled 1 L by one of these made of art Bilk with ' stiff goldenrods worked at the ends, j ' And when, In time, It was no longer I ' possible to employ this device it was j '. left In all its bareness until something I ; simply had to be done with It. So the : clever little housewife, who had not 4 much money to spend for such things, I l' . set herself l.o devise some plan of mod- I f iflcatlon. She had a prettily shaped It 2" shelf made, shorter than tho top shelf, I J which 8he had the carpenter fit into the i 1 A bottom of tho plain flat board by means ( I of nicely turned brackets. She then J i & connected tho two .shelves with a slen- I ' der little colunui at each ond. On this ncrnlnst tVio lint I Irri white background fhrcc or four dcll- cately tinted glass vases, a tall, slender Mil blue one in the middle and pink and , ' 'iw0pal tinted ones on each side. The cf-I cf-I vJSVect was very charming and the cost ,J JiW- small, and the old mantel instead of I lf!Rt being an eyesore was a thing of beauty. J jf, When the mantelpiece is of stone or i Uti' n,ar'e however, it is not so easy to tfT ; manage. One of these cold, stiff marble t' r I mantles has been made to look very - 'j j i beautiful. Tho room is furnished In t! empire style, with calendered, chintz, t J the fireplace being decorated to cprre- T ; spond. The marble mantelpiece Is I A. ' draned in emnire tanestrv. wide enr- "'' ;1 la'ns Q wn'cn entirely hide the lower tf' J part. These curtains swing on brass "i if ros' so that they can be drawn aside "ft ' In the winter' when it Is necessary to tf 2 light a fire. Pale pink silk screens with f" copper weights attached hang on each it $ Fhie of the mantelpiece, which is ar-ranged ar-ranged vitl. slender flower vases and jf bits Of o; 1 r'i'n:. Although mantel drapery has gone by, one can sometimes uso with good effect a piece of old Damascus embrold- .4 ...... ... faclures include many kinds of highly glazed ware, among which Is the "ox blood Utopian," which Is of the most nuuuj aiayo", lawns and blues, nnd the designs are carried out ln soft pastel shades. Then there Is a sort of Iridescent Iri-descent luster ware called "Venetian. This resembles certain kinds of Venetian Vene-tian glass In its rainbow and soap bubble bub-ble tints, except that lt Is ln heavy pottery, the Iridescent colors being all In the glaze. To one who delights ln pottery even the rich old brown .and yellow Jugs and pitchers, with their high glaze and quaint shapes, are a Joy, The ware of this kind is cheap enough and common enough, but so pretty In Us coloring that one could sit with a pudding dish or a Jug of it before them and almost not mind a bit that they had no pudding pud-ding or cVeam to fill cither the one or the other. What our American pottery may lack' in delicacy and daintiness Is fully made up for In its richness of coloring and bold, natural designs, and even delicacy deli-cacy Is not an unknown quality. It Is well displayed In some of the Belleek ware manufactured here, the shell-like tints of which arc very dainty and j This gives an especially pleasing effect ef-fect If the colors of the embroidery have become softened by age. Sometimes heavy lace looks well, battenburg, for Instance, or, for those who can procure It, the kind that Is used In Italian churches, Uut which is getting quite rare. A mirror over a fireplace is very attractive with shelves or brackets at the sides. Overmantels of carved wood are very effective and may be purchased pur-chased ready made. Some of them have mirrors In the center, with little shelves and cubby holes at tho sides, which may be filled with china and all sorts of de- llfrhtfiil nrtr1s nnrl fnrl3 A cmnll nil painting may be framed in the wood of one of these carved overmantels Instead of the mirror. The effect Is charming. As for the decoration, there is so much exquisite pottery and so many lovely vases made ln America these days that one need hardly wish for foreign ware with which to ornament their mantels. Our American manii- yellows blending Into each other ln a ravishing way. The designs In natural flowers, fruits and leaves melt Into the background in an Indistinct, artistic shading. There is also the "Utopian" unglazed, ln which the colors are very different, being light and delicate. This ware has a soft, dull finish, like a clay plpo. Ti.- roiTrtfl rnlAi-c nro pale. charming, so that one need hardly go abroad for beautiful mantel ornaments. For the collector, however, there are many fascinating things, among which Is the old fashioned luster ware. Since this pottery has become fashionable again a great deal of imitation is being made. I say imitation because, although al-though lt closely resembles some of the old ware, It Is not equal to It in texture tex-ture or finish, and the difference is easily distinguished by an expert. Luster Lus-ter Is an antique ware, having been first found ln old Moorish nnd Majolica types. The effect is produced by metallic me-tallic pigments being painted on the pottery, which gives lt a lustrous, iridescent iri-descent appearance. It was manufactured manufac-tured first ln Spain and Italy and later In England, where it was presumably Introduced by Moorish and Spanish vessels In Queen Elizabeth's time. Quito recently a fine specimen of old Spanish luster ware was cast up by the waves on the Dorset coast,' about ten miles from the scene of the defeat In JfiSS of the largest ships of the Spanish armada. jsp 1 1 j I Betwcen the middle of the eighteenth century and the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign luster ware of every description was unusually popular ln England. There was a variety of kinds of this pottery. Some of lt was made to assume completely the appearance of gold, silver or copper, merely decorated with colored figures. In others the luster lus-ter was made the decorative feature on cream, yellow and other colored grounds, and, again, tho luster and the colors were mixed in different degrees of proportion. pro-portion. Some of the schemes of ornamentation orna-mentation wero very elaborate and the shapes extremely graceful. Toward he end of tho eighteenth century Wedg-wood, Wedg-wood, used luster decorations on his ware. A specimen of a Wedgwood vase In the possession of a friend of the writer is in drab, decorated with silver luster in raised figures representing pictures of a tournament divided Into panels by twisted columns of sliver. The vase Is bordered with silver bands and headings. The specimens ln the illustration are among the finest of old luster ware. The teapot and two sugar bowls aro typical old bronze luster. The pitchers are ln silver luster, with the exception of one, which is a handsome example of gold luster decorated with flowers in rich colors. The silver designs are artistically ar-tistically picked out on a cream white ground. Venetian and Austrian glass are also lovely. Tho delicate opal tints of tHe Venetian look particularly well against a white background, while Bohemian and Austrian glass serve to light up tho darker wood. For a dining room mantel there is any variety of heavy, handsomo German Ger-man beer mugs, tall steins and cunning, bright colored little English tobies. Then nearly every family has some rare bits of old china cherished as heirlooms with which to decorate odd corners, mantels and shelves. EDNA FREEMAN. |