The Express.
London, England, 1853-10-03 00:00:00

FINE ARTS.

RE-OPENING OF THF: MUSEUM OF ORNA-
MENTAL MANUFACTUNES, MARLBOROUGH-
HOUSE.

On Saturday there was .1 private view of the
Museum of 4 rnamental Mane:hectares at Marlbo-
rough House, previous to its re-opening, after re-ar-
rangement and augmentation during the recess. This
exquisite collection may be regarded 08 the quintes-
sence of the " Great Exhibition," of wLch it is an
offshoot. Much as the " world's fair" was cAculated
to awaken wonder and to give an invaluable iusight
into the relative standing of all the nations of the
earth under certain aspects, it was but ill-fitted to
develop taste or assist its growth in any but the
comparatively few, whose tastes were already fixed,
in the right direction. The good things were far
from being the must conspicuous; indeed, the exam-
ples of pure taste were so few and far between, and
so equally dispersed among the chaos of worthless
art, that none but those who made the study of the
Great Exhibitiou the business of many days, had any
chance of becoming acquainted with these grains of
wheat in the mountain of chaff. As regards taste
this little " Exhibition " bears about the same rela-
tion to the " Great Exhibition," that a bit of car-
bon in the form of a diamond bears to another bit in
the shape of a lump of charcoal. We hope and trust
that this museum will ere long be appreciated as it
deserves to be. Thee eis not another display in Lon-
don, of any kind, public or private, from which the
mass of the people can derive so much good by a few
hours' study as they can from this. Tins little collec-
tion really seems to be the first effectual step which
her been taken in this country to cultivate the sin-
cere love of art among the people. Picture galleries
and sculpture galleries are likely to be of little
general influence compared with a collection which
teaches people how to turn their commonest homes
into galleried of art. Good taste, once rightly car-
ried out and generally felt, would not only bees cheap
as bad taste : it would be a great deal cheaper ; for bad
taste is compelled to bury itself as far as it can under
show and costliness, for costliness' sake; whereas
good taste delights in nothing more than in doing
much with small means. There is no reason in the
world why paperhangings at five farthings a yard
should not be as beautiful as paper-hangings of
twelve times that cost. It is only the absence of
real beauty in almost all paper-hangings which ren-
der beauty of mere material an important considera-
tion. And so with almost every other article of
house decoration and furniture. The barbarity of
modern "taste" in these matters it quite unspeak-
able. The delight of the negro in gaudily contrasted
colours; the love of the savage for head-dresses of
dead men's scalps, earrings of live snakes, and skin
decorations of purple tattoo, is nothing to the barba-
rity and imbecility of our English taste in house or-
nament. The taste which dictates the finery
of the negro and the savage is at least
a living taste ; and if it be said that our taste,
though dead, is full of traditions of beauty from
taste which was formerly alive, the answer is shortly
that " a living dog is better than a dead lion." It
matters little that the castings of our fireplaces are
from the mouldings of the Parthenon, or the pat-
terns of our papers from the arabesques of Raphael.
If we do not understand the sense of them, and if
they are so placed that there is no sense left in them
to be understood, they are as " wise sentences in the
mouth of a fool;" and blank walls and patternless
castings would be incomparably more acceptable to
an eye capable of discerning good from ill.
Let us now take a glance round the rooms, and
enumerate those objects which strike us as best worth
the attention of our readers—to all of whom we
heartily recommend the study of this museum.
Under the head of " furniture " there are not many
objects, the chief articles of ordinary furniture being
totally unrepresented. There are several japanned
and carved boxes; papier macho trays, and two great
carved cabinets, for which 5541. were paid out of the
5,0001. allotted to the formation of this collection,
that is to say, more than 10 per cent. of the whole
sum. The price of these two cabinets, which are by
no means perfect specimens of art, would, if judi-
ciously expended, have rendered this department of
the museum comparatively complete. F 17, an ex-
quisitely carved jewel-box of sandal-wood, is the only
other object in this subdivision that is likely to attract
the attention of the public. The next subdivision,
consisting of manufactures in glass, is more interest-
ing. A Virgin and Infant Saviour and a chorus of
angels, designed and painted by Beranger, and ex-
ecuted at Sevres, is a lovely picture on glees, but, as
the catalogue rightly tells us, it is for that very rea-
son false in principle as a piece of decorative art.
The examples of Venetian glass are numerous and
striking, and it is to be hoped that the study
of them may lead to the revival of the only artistical
method of dealing with glass as a material of orna-
ment; for moulding and cutting are both incapable
of evoking the artistical capabilities of this substance.
The collection of metal work is exceedingly rich and
fine. M 1 is a very beautiful Indian dagger, with
enamelled sheath and handle. M 2 is an equally
meritorious sword, likely of Indian manufacture.
Both these objects are perfect models of art manufac-
ture, and are recommended with much emphasis by
the writers of the catalogue—which, by the way, is
one of the soundest, as well as the cheapest, works
on art ever published. M 16, an Indian gold
necklace, is a noble study for our jewellers and gold-
smiths; as also are M 19 and M 21, two bottles of
most refined and graceful design. M 50, a " Hunt-
ing Knife, representing the Legend of St. Hubert,"
and manufactured by Marvel Freres, of Paris, is one
of the finest pieces of modern art-manufacture we
have seen; 2001. was paid for it, and it is worth the
money. M 52 is a beautiful jewelled cup by the
same artist. M 53, a silver snuff-box also by
Marcel Freres, reminds us of the real genius
of ancient art manufacture as much as anything in
the museum. M63is a very grand shield, designed
and executed by Vechte. M7O is a magnificent
Oriental agate cup, by. Morel, of New Burlington-
street, a truly royal piece of ornament; 21W. was
paid for it ; the pearls set around the foot constituting,
we suppose, the main money-value. The gold and
jewels, indeed, in many objects in this department,
have run up the prices of the articles to a flare
which seems to us to be greater than was justified by
the artistica' interest of these objects. The 6,0001.
originally voted might certainly have been expended
to better effect. Casts and copies, in far cheaper
materials, might often have been substituted for
articles costing from one to two hundred pounds
each, without much, if any, diminution of efficiency
with regard to the objects for which this museum
wasinstituted. M 74 is a gorgeous silver flagon,
by Lambert and Rawlings, of Coventry-street; 1281.
was paid for it. It is equal to any ancient example
of the same kind of work with which we are

acquainted. M 121 is a medal, by Albert
Dare tr of great beauty. M 123, M 124,
and M 125, are fine examples of ancient gothic
iron. These objects belonged to Mr. Pugin. There
are many other examples of metal-work in this noble
collection which deserve minute examination. The
collection of pottery is likewise very numerous; but
the objects do not seem to us to have been so use-
fully chosen as they might have been. P 24 is a
painted vase, from Sevres, which is certainly the
most lovely thing of the kind we know. The paint-
ing is at once • noble piece of art, and an excellent
work of scientific adaptation to the purpose and
material. There are several good examples of
Raphael ware. In all there are 308 objects of pot-

tory.
The department of Woven Fabrics contains seve-
ral very beautiful specimens of Eastern work,
which put our manufactures in colour to shame.
Particular attention should be given to the descrip-
tions of these objects in the catalogue. It is not
often that we have met with such solid and at the

same time clear and practical criticism. The remarks
on the collection of Indian fabrics are particularly
valuable. We extract a portion of them, and
heartily recommend our country readers who have
no opportunities of studying the museum to pur-
chase this mast estimable sixpenny catalogue, and
to read it and act upon its instructions, in the adorn-
ment of their persons and their houses.

SERIOUS ACCIDENT AT WALLSEND.-0a Tues-
day last, while John Johnson and John Bainbridge were
working in the shaft of the C pit at Wallsend, the rope at-
tached to the scaffolding broke, by which they were mei-
pitated to a depth of several fathoms, and were dashed to
pieces. On examination it was found that the rope bad by
same means got off the sheaf and was jammed between
it and the frame, so that on attempting to draw the scaf-
fold up the rope was cut in pieces. On Wednesday an in-
quest was held on the bodies, before Stephen Esq.,
coroner, when a verdict of " Accideatal death" was tO•
—lfelocastio Guardian.