Los Angeles herald., 1910-11-13
DUTCH IDEAS IN FURNITURE


One hears of William and Mary fur
niture, but few people pay much at
tention to it; they think that the
Dutch ideas or artistic beauty were
too solid and heavy to produce any
thing of great merit. But the Dutch
craftsmen certainly brought over
quite a new train of thought Their
designs were interpretations Of the
Flemish, Italian, French and Spanish
schools, and they no longer held tC
the theory that oak was almost the
only wood in which furniture should
be made, as their predecessors had
done. The William and Mary furni-
ture is built of oak in most instances
but it is veneered with italian wal
nut, and other woods are introduced
in landings and marquetry. Some o1
the arm chairs, with seats of velvet
or brocade, are very handsome; the
backs are beautifully carved ano
turned, the C and S scrolls being otter
in evidence.
The craft of the cabinetmaker was
imbued with new life under the Or
ange influence. The king brought ovel
many craftsmen from Holland, bu'
their designs were very cosmopolitan
being borrowed from Spain, Portugal
Flanders and France. Moreover, they
fired the ambition of British work
men, who had received a strong in
centive from the beautiful designs OF
Sir Christopher Wren and his contem-
porary Grinling Gibbons The stretch
ers which kept the legs of the chairs
firm and strong took a different form
at this period. Previously they hac
consisted of straight bands or bars
but these were superseded by two
curved bands, with a small ornament
al knob where they Joined in the CEN
ter. This is called tiled stretchel
work." and is typical of a genuine
piece. 1t was used for cabinets anc
tables as we'll as for chairs.
The clock cases in the time of Will
liam and Mary were chiefly ornament
ed with marquetry, which was quite
Dutch innovation. The favoritt
subject was the bouquet and bird, bu
we also find the seaweed, cobweb, spi
der web and leaf design. Later OF
these clock cases were made in differ
ent sizes. To begin with, they were
very tall, ten fet being an average
height, and then sometimes a hol'
had to be cut in the ceiling to allow
the top to go on, or part of the cas'
had to be cut away for the same rea
son; but during the eighteenth cen
tury clocks were made not exceeding
five or six feet in height, and called
grandmother clocks because the lad,
of the house could really reach then
and wind them up herself!
During the reign of William ant
Mary lacquered furniture was great.
to the front. 1t certainly is an ac
quired taste-like caviare-and, in m.
opinion. one piece in a room is quit
sufficient. \ clock case or a beau
tiful cabinet in this style may be reck
oned as an art treasure, but too mucl
of it would be oppressive and Difficult
to live up to. OF course, the origina
lacquer work came from the east, an,
in bygone years took the form of case
filled with tea or spices. These wer
mounted on adequately elaborate
stands and used as cabinets. TIL
black lacquer is not difficult to find
the red lacquer seems to De most pop
ular, but the green ana pale BROW
lacquer are far more artistic, and tn
silver lacquer, which is certainly rare
can be accepted in any room withou
fear of a discordant note. Japan ha
sent us the most beautiful specimen
of lacquer.-Victoria CoIonist.