The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-19
FURNITURE ART IS
 DEBTOR TO DUTCH

From the victoria COlon1St.
 One hears of William and Mary fur niture, but few persons pay much at tention to it, they thinK that the Dutch ideas of artistic beauty were too solid and heavy to produce anything of great merit. But the Dutch craftsmen cer- tainly brought over quite a new train of thought. Their designs were inter- pretations of the Flemish, Italian, French and Spanish schools, and they no longer held to the theory that oak was almost the only wood in which furniture should se made, as their pre- decessors had done. The William and Mary furniture Is built of oak in most instances: but it is veneered with Ital- ian walnut, and other woods are intro- duced In bandings and marquetry. Some of the armchairs. with seats of velvet or brocades. are very handsome; the backs are beautifully carved and turned the and S scrolls being often in evidence.
 The craft of the cabinetmaker was imbued with new life under the Orange influence. The king brought over many craftsmen from Holland but their de- signs were very cosmopolitan, being borrowed from Spain, Portugal, Fland- CTS and France Moreover, they fired the ambition of British workmen, who had received a strong incentive from the beautiful designs of Sir Christo- pher Wren and his contemporary, Grin ling Gibbons. The stretchers which kept the legs of the chairs firm and strong took different form at this period Previously they had consisted of straight bands or bars. but these were superseded by two carved bands, with small ornamental knob where they joined in the center. This Is called tiled stretch work" and is typi- cal of genuine piece. It was used for cabinets and tables as well as for chairs The clock cases in the time of William and Mary were hfef1v ornamented with marquetry which was quite a Dutch innovation. The favorite subject was the bouquet and bird, but we also find the seaweed, cobweb. spider web and leaf design. Later on these clock cases were made in different sizes. To begin with, they were quite tall, ten feet be- ing an average height, and then some times hole had to be cut in the ceiling to allow the top to go on, or part of the case had to be cut away for the same reason; but during the eighteenth cen tury clocks were made not exceeding five or six feet in height, and called grandmother clocks because the lady of the house could really reach them and wind them up herself.
 During the reign of William and Mary lacquered furniture was greatly to the front. It certainly is an acquired tdSle--llke CdVldre-dHu. Tn ny opinion, one piece in a room Is quite sufficient. A clock case or a beautiful cabinet in this style may be reckoned as an art treasure, but too much of 1t would be oppressive and difficulut to live up to. Of course, the original lacquer work came from the East, and in bygone years took the form of cases filled with tea or spices. These were mounted on adequately elaborate stands and used as cabinets. The black lacquer is not difficult to find, the red lacquer seems to be most popular. but the green and pale brown lacquer are far more artis- tic, and the silver lacquer which is cer- tainly rare, can be accepted in any room without fear of a discordant note. Japan has sent us the most beautiful specimens of lacquer. .a