The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-08
MARBLES FROM ITALY.
Antique. and Reproductions in RE-
quest for Country Estates.


quest for Country Estates.
From the New York Evening Post.
Visitors to fine country estates must
have observed in recent years the in
creasing use of italian garden mar
bles as features of landscape archi-
lecture. Such marbles have been even
more noticeable of late in some parts
of this city lining the sidewalks adj
joining certain establishments which
deal in art works and antiques, both
real and imitation. These displays in
clude well curbs, fountain basins, wall
fountains, garden benches, vases, sar-
cophagi and an extensive variety of
stone or marble lions-rampant, pas
SAINT and couchant, with and without
heraldic shields, and with expressions
ranging from benign placidity to snar-
ling ferocity. There are so many of
these objects in such sidewalk col
lections that the passerby naturally
wonders where they all came from, in
what age they We're produced and to
what purpose they are destined in
this country. ...~
A representative of one of the firms
dealing most largely in these articles,
when applied to for information on the
subject, said that they We're all inn
ported from Italy, and that regular inn
portations of them began only about
five years ago. Previously such OBJ
1ects We're imported only on special
commissions. A steadily growing de-
mand for them had been caused by the
increase here of large and handsome
country estates, with a consequent de-
mand for such ornaments by land
scape architects, who often found their
use at certain points of much value in
| carrying out some desired effect. The
demand, 1t was said had increased
| largely within the last three or four
| years, and in the last two years the
| marbles had arrived in quantities
| There are only two firms in New York
| which import them extensively, but
they have also been imported of late
by house in Chicago, which supplies
them for fine estates in the west.
Clever Copies of Old Works.
The proportion of genuine antiques
among these works is confessed to be
very small. Such genuine pieces as
reach here are very seldom bought
| through European dealers, but are usu-
ally obtained by the importers direct
ly from some bankrupt italian family
which Is compelled to part with some
| OF It's possessions, and so sells it's gar
den marbles Italians, the importers
said, are the cleverest "fakirs" of an
tnlues in the world. They employ
expert marble cutters and have close
copies made of fine works of art on
| private estates, especially in the neigh
| borhood of Florence Naples and Ven
| ice. Copies are also sometimes made
of pieces in museums, but not so often.
| While the antique works are usually
| of the white Carrara marble or the
| pinRfsh Verona marble, the copies are
| chiefly of Sienna marble, Istrfan stone
| or a hard cement which closely re-
| sembles stone.
A variety of processes are skillfully
used to give the limitations the desired
antique effect Among these are ju-
dicious hammering to remove any
sharpness of outline the use of acids
and other chemicals, exposure to rain
which has dripped against iron and
burial of the object for a time in the
earth. The Italian makers will usually
swear by all that is holy that their
products are genuine antiques, even tc
American importers, who know that
they are lying, and tell most elabo-
rate stories of the history of the arti.
cles and how they came into
their own possession. They do draw
the line at stone and marble lions
however, as these are too plentiful anC
nearly all are admittedly copies o.
antiques at garden gateWayS and pal
ace entrances. 1t is said that only
some six or eight pairs of genuine
: antique lions have ever been brought
from Italy to this country, but more
have been secured for England and
France.
Some Samples of Values.
There is a very wide range in the
value of both antiques and limitations
the prices varying according to size
workmanship, and demand. A fine copy
of a good work of art is far from
cheap, even when sold by a reputable
dealer for just what it is. The inn
/ porter who has been quoted showed
to the writer a copy of an antique
marble garden seat, with a beautifully
executed dance of bacchanals on the
back, and said that the price was ST.
500, for which it could be sold without
difficulty. Near by stood two small
Byzantine columns from near Rome,
which were declared to be genuinely
| old and to be worth 5000. But for the
fact that 1t would be hard to make
use of them effectively, the price would
be $1,000 A well curb, deliberately
carved, was said to be the largest ever
brought to this country, having an in
| side diameter of six feet and a rim "A
1 foot in width. This was pronounced
i an antique and to be worth SO, 900. The
we'll curbs brought here are generally
| filled with earth and used on country
places as jardinieres. Such pieces are
also used in garden plots attached to
| costly private houses in the city, and
| in some of these dwellings built on
the American basement plan, one will
| find a marble garden seat on one side
| - @1a apfrapna hon ond "a