Evening star., 1937-02-07
RY ROBERT CRAWFORD.

BY ROBERT CRAWFORD.
ssss THREE sounds Of increase:
L the lowing of COW in
milk. the din Of a smithy, the swish
Of q plough"
- NE of the most interesting as
well as the most beautiful
shows the National Gallery
~ has put on this Winter Is a
small collection Of the ancient craft
Of hand wrought iron. The collection
consists of screens, grilles, lampadaires,
torcheres, consoles and smaller pieces
such as large keys-some OF them as
biz as Gen. Washington's key to the
Bastile, which hangs on the wall at
Mount Vernon-whose lacey tops are
lovely enough for a medallion. There
are massive door locks almost two
feet long which are ornamented with
chased and raised designs fine enough
for a bit of silver. These locks with
some of the seventeenth-century keys
were a gift to the gallery from Mr..
Heinrich Meyn: they came from
Nuremburg, noted in the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries for its
artistic iron work.
Mr.. Settler Arranges Beautiful
And Educational Exhibit.
It was a great privilege to see this
collection in company with Mr.. Frank
M. Settler, the we'll known anthro-
pologist of the Smithsonian Institution,
who assembled and arranged the ex-
hibit primarily to demonstrate the
evolution Of one Of the earliest OF the
utilitarian arts Of man, from the first
centuries of the Christian era, through
the elaborately decorative period OF
iron work in the Renaissance, down
to the present time when the anvil,
bellows, hammer and other ancient
implements are still used for the FASH
ioning Of the most exquisite pieces. To
illustrate the changes and progress
In wrought iron as q decorative me-
dunn Mr.. Settler has used number
of large photographs of gates, grilles,
rood screens and other objects, start
ing with the Middle Ages and coming
on down through the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries to the elaborate
and conventionaiized designs of today.
He remarked that he did not try to
20 back as far as the Hittites Chose
tiresome. disagreeable people in the
Bible), to whom were generally attr1o-
uted the invention Of iron working
back somewhere in the fourteenth
century BIC. He spoke of the dis
covery of effective processes for the
extraction and manufacture Of one
Of the commonest metals which had
introduced an industrial revolution in
that it made tools cheap and acces-
sible to all, and called attention to
the present time, when iron IS enter
ing more and more into architecture
as a means of decoration as well as
utility.
Work Of Edgar Brandt and
Paul Kiss on View.
In the present exhibition is some
beautiful work of the noted Partisan
artist, M. Edgar Brandt, and Of his
pupil, M. Paul Kiss, who received the
Medaille d'Argent and Diplome d'Hon-
neur Arts Decoratifs from the French
government. A number of the hand
soonest pieces in the exhibit are owned
and lent by Mr.. Fred S. Gichner, for
many, many years known to Washing
tonians as an artist in the smith craft
who learned his trade in Salzburg,
Austria, his native country. Hallstatt,
Q village near Salzburg, is where the
old tombs of warriors dating 1000 BIC.
were found, where the weapons in
the tombs discovered furnished many
evidences of the passage from the use
Of bronze to that of iron-hence, what
Is known as the Hallstadt period-one
Of the two epochs recognized by arche-
ologists for the general spread OF the
use of iron in Europe. The terne Pc
riod, of the coating of iron and steel
with lead and tin came later. The
Hallstadt period ended in the Roman
conquest during the second century
BIC.
Exquisite Iron Work at
British Embassy.
The designs for the handsome iron
lamps on the new British Embassy,
the beautiful iron balustrades OF the
grand stairway and those of the circu-
lar stairway, were made by the emil
nent British royal architect-who, by
the way, built the new City of Delhi
when the seat Of government OF India
was moved there from Calcutta-Sir
Edward Lutyens. but the work was
executed by Mr.. Gichner and his
assistants. Two lovely consoles with
alabaster taps, lampadaire and sew
eral grilles in the exhibit at the Ma
tional Gallery are the work OF Mr..
Gichner. Also several handwrought
wreaths Of roses almost dainty enough
for milady's tiara; some wall pieces
for sconces that are wrought like
fine spider web and encircled with the
daintiest wreaths Of fruit and flowers
are evidences of the artists early
training.
Just q few more: Spear blades,
knives, horse shoes and roasting spit
of the first centuries, which were for
use and not for beauty, are examples
Of the evolution. Two handsome
torcheres with alabaster bowls. also q
fire set consisting Of tall andirons with
cleverly wrought cup-shaped tops and
lacey wings attached to the inner side
as a screen and for safety. were the
rtft Of Mr.. Kiss to his friend Mr..
Gichner, and are exquisite examples OF
his artistry. There are several other
pieces presented to Mr.. Gichner BY
Mr.. Brandt and Mr.. Kiss which are
simply superb; one Of these q fire
screen about 3 feet high with pheas-
ant In full plumage as the central
motif and background Of lacey leaves
which in its fine craftsmanship makes
one think Of heavy, rare old escurial
lace such as grandmother had gown
Of. Back Of this screen Mr.. Settler had
placed q heavy cream-colored card
board which brought out every detail
Of the work. This also made one think
Of grandmother's dress, for 1t. too, was
lined with q heavy cream-colored ma
terial. Mr.. Settler illustrated very
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