The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1883-02-18
Esthetic Shams.

The present will be known as an age OF col
lectors. The taste for bric-a-brac, antiques,
and curiositios. formerly confined to princes
and few conposseurs here and there, is now
very general. In every civilized country,
everything that is rare or difficult to pro-
cure has its admirers, who make 1t
mems, to preserve them, and show them to
their friends. Tho fashion Is o useful one;
for II nothing Is more sad than the loss for
want OF care OF a beautiful piece OF work. on
which the labor and thought of some
man above the common have been ex-
pended, it follows that he who charges
himself with the preservation OF such
objects Is a public bencfactor. This Is
especially tTue in view Of the extension OF
the modern system Of manufacturing by ma
chinery. II 1t goes on, pretty soon no moro
handmade work OF good quality will be pro-
duced In many cases 1t Is already incum
bent upon us to preserve what we have,
as no more OF the same kind can be OBJ
tanned; either the old processes are forgotten
or machine-made wares have driven the
| handmade out Of existence; or a falling of
In taste or in skill. very often consequent on
mere familiarity with machine-made work In
other kinds, has taken place. Occasionally,
| too, an increased facility In working has
brought about debasement Of taste In a
manufacture. Thus the earlier potteries
| Of China and Corea have more artistic
value than the clever productions OF
modern Japanese workers; and 80, too,
the somewhat coarse Venetian woodcuts
OF the seventeenth century are finer as works
of art than the best fac-simile engraving OF
to-day. 1t Is we'll, therefore, to follow the
advice OF the apostle, and hold fast to that
which is good " In regard to objects OF art rs
well as In other things. The world cannot
afford to lose any work into which a man has
put his honest endeavor to do well and his
desire to produce something beautiful.
But, unhappily, the wish to possess rarities
OF this sort has created an industry which is
prospecting and growing greater day by day:
that OF the fabrication OF false antiques and
OF copies which are put forward as originals.
Thus man may paw five hundred dollars
for what he supposes Is an enamel OF the
sixteenth or seventeenth century, and find
afterward that 1t was made but q year or
two ago, and cost the cnterprising manufac-
turer five dollars. Or no may think that a
coin bought from q dealer was in circulation
in the time OF the CRsARs, while 1t may have
been made In an electrotyper's bath here In
New York. The growth OF this trade. lie
likely to inter fere seriously with real indus.
trial progress as well by drawing tho most
capable workmen OF our times away from
their legitimate employments as by creating
distrust OF the reality Of everything that
pretends to have either archaeological or ar
tistic value.
Paris Is the headquarters Of this neiarioui
traffic; 1t is the chief mart for counterfeits
electrotypes, veneers; for thingspatched up
retouched, and stuck together. Statues, fur
niture. faIence, offensive and defensive arms
vases Of Sevres, etchings OF REMBRANDT
old English silverware, Tanagra statuettes
oven modern work by celebrated masters
such as DELAcRoIx and CoRoT, are imitatet
sometimes with consummate skill 1t Is II
Paris that they invented the dust Of ages,
which is blown with small bellows into worn
holes bored with an auger. It is In Pari
that they make the most deceitful imitation
Of old Eastern rugs, Of Gothic wood cary
. ings OF Venetian stamped leather.
But the Parisians have by no means mo
I0poly OF the business. English manufac
turers turn out vases OF Sevres rose, an
\ produce the old pdte tendre by tho wholesale
Egyptian antiquities are manufactured b.
7? the Bedouins, and scraps Of old earthenwar
t from the Campagna Of Rome are painted Il
a the Eternal City with figures In the name
t OF the ancients, burnt anew. and sold as tn
! vcritablo work OF Greco Roman artists.
t In this country 1t is only Of late years ths
, there has been much encouragement for sue
, An industry; but already its foundation
Q have been laid here. In the bric-a-bra
!. shops 1t u not unusual to come across som