In Figs. 21 and 21A are shown two curious old wood drinking cups, and Fig. 22 represents a wooden jug bound with copper.

Horn was a favourite material for cups, sometimes surmounted by elaborate covers and feet of silver. One of the rarest drinking horns, now in Queen's College, Oxford, was presented to the College by the Queen of Edward III in 1340. Of later types there are beakers and tumbler cups, the latter rounded at the base so that they were easily upset, the idea being that they must be emptied at the first draught. From these cups sprang the quaint hunting cups in porcelain, modelled in the form of a hare's head, or like a fox, some of the scarcest being evidently modelled for the fisherman's use, to take the form of a fish's head.

The very remarkable drinking cup shown in Fig. 27 is made of walnut; the ridges, carved in deep relief, stand out boldly, each one being carved, the letters forming a complete metaphor, to which is added the name of its original owner, the inscription reading as follows:—

"TAKE . NOT . FROM . ME . AL . MY . STOR . AXCP . YE . FILL . ME . VEE . SVME . MOR . FOR . AV . TO . BORROV . AND . NEVER . TO . PAY . I . CALL . THAT . FOVLL . PLAY . ION WATSON 1695."

Trays and Waiters.

In olden time not very far from the dining table stood the cupboard or buffet from which evolved the sideboard. On it were displayed the cups and flagons and table appointments not actually in use. It is true the servants carried the great dishes from the kitchen, and removed the lesser vessels on trays and "waiters," and it is such trays, especially those in silver and Sheffield plate used in the last century, which are now valuable. The waiter or serving man or woman has been an essential feature in domestic service from the earliest times, for the history of society invariably records those who wait at table:—

"The waiters stand in ranks; the yeomen cry 'Make room,' as if a duke were passing by." SWIFT.

It is an easy remove from the waiter to the tray or vessel on which the waiters carried the things they served up to those on whom they waited. The name "salver," commonly applied to a tray or waiter, seems to have originated from the old custom of tasting meats before they were served, to salve or save their employers from harm. Among the more valuable are the trays or waiters of silver and Sheffield plate. Trays made of iron and japanned after the fashion of Japanese metal lacquer wares, which towards the close of the eighteenth century were so largely imported into this country, are often neglected, yet many of them are truly antiquarian and by no means unlovely.

One of the chief seats of the industry was at Pontypool, but the business drifted to Birmingham. It was when the japan wares, so called from the attempt of the makers to copy the lacquers of Japan then much imported, were being successfully made amidst surroundings then exceedingly romantic in the little town singularly situated on a steep cliff overhanging the Avon Llwyd, that dealers found trays, breadbaskets, snuffer trays, knife trays, caddies, and urns much in request. In Bishopsgate Street Without, in London, there is a noted wine house known as the "Dirty Dick." This curious title was derived from the owner of a famous hardware store who kept it, and was dubbed "Dirty Dick" because of his untidy shop. The wild disorder of the establishment gave rise to a popular ballad of which the following are two of the first lines:—

"A curious hardware shop in general full Of wares from Birmingham and Pontypool."

In addition to japanned wares there are trays of paper pulp ornamented with mother-o'-pearl and richly decorated with gold.

The Tea Table.

The modern tea table presents a much less formal array of china and good things than that of a generation or two back when high tea was an important function, and the good wife of the household loaded her table with many substantial dishes. The best china was taken from the cupboard, and family heirlooms in silver were arrayed on either side of the teapot. Needless to say the teapot was an indispensable adjunct, and some of the teapots belonging to the old sets are massive and gorgeous, rather than beautiful, although the earlier teapots made in this country in the eighteenth century, a time when tea was expensive and a real luxury, were quite small.

There are many curiosities, too—such, for instance, as the Chinese teapots of the Ming period, when the potters seem to have vied with one another in producing grotesque forms, and from china clay fashioned objects which typified their mythological beliefs. Some of these teapots took the form of curious sea-horses represented as swimming in waves of green and amidst seaweed. Some of these fabulous beasts are spotted over with splashes of colour, and others have curious twig-like formations upon their sides, said to denote pieces of coral and water plants from the ocean. The teapot was at one time most frequently filled from the pretty little oval copper or brass kettle on the hob, or from a swing kettle on a stand on the table. The table kettle was generally heated by a spirit lamp which kept the water boiling ready for use. Of later years silver table appointments of early eighteenth-century make have become very scarce, and the curio value of the larger pieces has steadily risen. It would seem as if the maximum figure had been reached for silver of that period, for at the sale of the Fitzhenry collection a plain kettle and stand, an example of Ambrose Stevenson's work in 1717, realized L697.

Cream Jugs.

The cream jug included in the tea and coffee sets of silver or metal, and in the tea china of which so many beautiful sets are still extant, has almost an independent position in connection with table appointments, for ever since tea drinking became general it was regarded as a necessity, and was made in accord with the then prevailing styles. It is almost the commonest collectable antique in this particular group. In silver it was always hall-marked, and its date can, therefore, be fixed. Briefly outlining the development of its form, it may be mentioned that it was quite plain in the reign of Queen Anne, when tea drinking came into fashion. When George I came to the throne it was widened somewhat and made a little shorter. At that time the silver cream jugs were hammered into shape out of a flat sheet, there being no seam; after the body was formed a rim was added and a lip put on. There was a deeper rim in the reign of George II, and then feet took the place of rims.



Gradually Chippendale carving and the shaped legs of the furniture then being used were reflected even in the cream jug, the lip in those days being hammered out of the body of the vessel with a graceful curve. Rims again took the place of feet in the reign of George III, and the tall legged cream jug came into vogue. The body was decorated with repousse work or engraved, and the shape gradually changed until the familiar helmet-shaped cream jug resulted. The helmet cream jugs were beautifully engraved with ribbon and wreath decoration, and frequently there was a beaded pattern round the rim and the handle. The same styles prevailed both in Sheffield plate and in Britannia metal, often misnamed pewter. The decoration on the china cream jugs was frequently floral, but in those made in the leading potteries there was a distinct following of the public style.

Sugar Tongs and Nippers.

With the use of lump sugar late in the eighteenth century sugar tongs were added to the table appointments, and their decoration and ornament usually followed that of teaspoons. They were sometimes engraved with the crests or initials of the owners, and occasionally, in the case of wedding presents, with the initials of both the master and mistress of the household, one being placed inside the sugar tongs and the other on the arch outside. In connection with the cutting of lump sugar steel sugar nippers were much used in the kitchen before lump sugar was bought from the grocer ready cut up. These nippers, some of the earlier ones being chased and engraved, have now passed into the region of household curios.

Caddies.

As the tea table would be incomplete without the beverage brewed from tea-leaves it follows as a natural sequence that the housewife has always required a storebox for her supply, and in some cases one in which she could keep under lock and key more than one variety. When tea was first imported into this country it was sent over from China in a kati, a small wooden box holding about 1-1/3 lb.; hence the name passed on to the more elaborate receptacles on the sideboard containing the household supply. These boxes were mostly fashioned in accord with the furniture, many having the well-known Sheraton shell design on the lid, or on the front of the box. Some are square-sided, others tapered, generally finished with beautiful little brass caddy balls as feet, and often with brass ring handles and ornaments. The inside of the caddy was divided into two compartments, usually boxes lined with lead or lead paper, and frequently a central compartment for a sugar bowl was added. In nearly all the better boxes there was provision for the silver caddy spoon with which to apportion the accustomed supply.

Chelsea and Bow Cupids.

Those curious little boy figures known as Chelsea and Bow Cupids are for the most part classed with ornaments, but they more appropriately belong to table appointments, for in olden time when the cloth had been removed these curious little figures were placed upon the mahogany or oaken board along with the dessert, as if to guard the fruit and the wine. The Cupids are garlanded with flowers, baskets of which they have in their hands—delightful little figures when genuine antiques. They vary in size and are said to have been divided in the past as "small" and "large" boys.

Nutcrackers.

Many a famous joke has been cracked over the "walnuts and wine." It was when the board was cleared of the viands that the nuts and fruit were partaken of. The edible nuts mostly favoured before foreign supplies came into the market were the hazel, walnut, chestnut, and the famous Kent filberts. Although doubtless supplemented by any objects handy, the primitive method of cracking nuts with the teeth was generally practised by the common people. What more natural than for the early inventor to see in the human head the "box" in which to place his mechanical device and to give power and leverage by utilizing the legs of the man he had carved in wood. In the Middle Ages some remarkable carvings were produced, mostly working on the same lines as the earliest forms. In the seventeenth century, when metal crackers came into vogue, pressure was applied by means of a screw, and the contemporary wood crackers were designed on that principle. Afterwards the older type of cracker was revived, both in wood and metal; subsequently the simpler form at present in use was adopted.

Here and there in museums and among domestic relics odd pairs of these old crackers are discovered. The interest in them, however, grows when several early examples are placed side by side. There are a few instances of specialized collections, and through the courtesy of Mr. Charles Evans, of Nailsea Court, who possesses a unique collection of all periods, we are able to illustrate a variety of forms. Fig. 31 represents a very early pair of nutcrackers, probably made in the fourteenth century; the one shown in Fig. 34 has the Elizabethan ruff round the neck of the carved head; and Figs. 28, 29, and 30 represent the screw period, Fig. 28 being an early example. One of the finest pieces in the collection is Fig. 29, a cracker in the form of a hooded monk; Fig. 30 being a charming bit of wood-carving in walnut wood, a somewhat grotesque figure representing an old fiddler. Fig. 33 is a curious cracker combining a useful pick almost in the form of the bill of a bird, Fig. 32 being of similar date. The next group shows the evolution from the metal screw to the more ordinary types, Figs. 36 and 38 being screw nutcrackers; 35, 37, and 39 being quaint examples of early metal nutcrackers modelled on more modern form. Such curios are extremely interesting, and whether exhibited as specimens of carving or of metal work, or used as table ornaments combining utility and antiquarian interest, they are well worth securing.



Turned Woodware.

Table appointments have afforded amateur wood-turners and carvers opportunities of showing their skill. Even before the days of modern lathes with eccentric chucks and other improvements, turners were very clever in producing little articles for table use, and in their making expended a wealth of skill and time. Among these were pepper boxes and wooden salt cellars, and carved wooden spoons, especially salad servers, which are even still made and delicately carved, the Swiss peasants being famous for such work. One of the village occupations during winter evenings in years gone by was to make wooden objects, although most of their efforts were directed in other ways than table appointments (see Chapter XIII, Fig. 85).

On the Sideboard.

Not far removed from the dining table is the sideboard or buffet, so important a piece of furniture in the dining hall, for on it were formerly displayed table appointments and emblems of the feast. The urn-shaped knife boxes which were so often placed on either side were chiefly of mahogany, sometimes inlaid with satinwood and often with those rare shell-like ornaments which became so popular in the days of Chippendale and Sheraton. The compartments in which were placed the table knives prevented either blades or handles from being rubbed. Copper and metal urns were frequently conspicuous on the sideboard, although many of the small tables so much treasured now as antiques in the drawing-room were originally made for urns to stand upon.

There are many beautiful curios of the home made of wood, among them being such rare gems as wood screens and the frames of hand screens, some of which screwed on to the ends of the mantelpieces with small clamps.



V

THE KITCHEN



CHAPTER V

THE KITCHEN

The kitchen grate—Boilers and kettles—Grills and gridirons—Cooking utensils—Warming pans.

It is in the kitchen and the pantry that domestic economy centres. The very essence of home life is found in the preparation of suitable food in which to satisfy human appetites. Whether the kitchen is furnished with apparatus sufficient to cook for the inmates of a large institution, or with the more modest appliances with which a chop or a steak can be grilled or a small joint roasted in a gas oven, the basis of cooking operations is the same, and the cook requires an outfit of culinary utensils small or large, according to what she has been accustomed to use or considers necessary for her immediate wants. In olden time the kitchen was furnished with fewer accessories in proportion to the meat consumed than at the present time, and the large hanging caldron and the strong and heavy wrought or cast iron saucepan on the fire, and the roasting spit and jack in front of it, went a long way towards completing the outfit. The gradual advance and increase in the furnishings of the kitchen have been the outcome of development and progress in culinary art. Since the introduction of scientific cooking and the establishment of schools of cookery, the hired cook and the mistress who dons the apron and assumes the role of the economic housewife have learned to appreciate the use of modern culinary appliances, lighter in weight and convenient to handle. These differ according to the purposes for which they are to be used.

Hygienic conditions now regarded as essential have displaced many of the older cooking pots which have been condemned as injurious to health. Greater knowledge of the chemistry of cooking, and of the action of acids upon metals, has enabled the scientific cook to differentiate between the pots and pans to use according to the various foods prepared. The beautifully finished light, handy, and convenient porcelain-enamelled saucepans and stewpans and aluminium cooking pots used on modern gas stoves and ranges, would have been just as unsuitable on the open fires of the older grates as what are now regarded as the curios of the kitchen would be deemed to be in modern culinary operations. In almost every house there are to be found obsolete utensils, some of which are valued on account of their great age, others because of their unusual forms, and some because of the beauty of workmanship and the costly materials of which they have been made. It is when turning out the kitchen and storeroom on the occasion of periodical cleanings that these old-world pots and pans come to light; at such times the collector may be able to secure scarce specimens and rescue them from oblivion.



It is not always easy to realize what the old kitchen was like when these vessels were in use, although in out-of-the-way places kitchens may occasionally be discovered in which but little change has been made. This is especially so in some of the Welsh villages, and in order that visitors may see what such kitchens are like a Welsh cottage fireplace showing the objects which might commonly have been found there a century ago has been reconstructed in the National Museum of Wales. This we are able to reproduce in Fig. 41 by the courtesy of the Director. The grate came from Llansantffraid, and was made by a local blacksmith; the spit and its bearers came from Glamorgan; the brass pot came from Barry, and the dog wheel (referred to on p. 130) from Haverfordwest; most of the minor accessories came from different parts of North Wales.

The Kitchen Grate.

The kitchen grate has evolved from the open fire; at first in the centre of the room, then removed for convenience to the side or end in front of which joints of meats were roasted on a spit in olden time. The spit, at first quite primitive, was improved upon by local smiths, until quite intricate arrangements provided the desired revolutions, and turned the meat round and round until it was properly cooked. In the thirteenth century the "bellows blower" was an officer in the Royal kitchen, his duty being to see that the soup on the fire was neither burnt nor smoked. In course of time the bellows blower in lesser households became a useful kitchen boy, turning the spit by hand. It would seem, however, as if in quite early days efforts were made to economize labour in the kitchen, and turn the spit by mechanical contrivances.

In roasting meat sliding prongs held the joint in place, a cage or basket being used for roasting poultry. This contrivance, first turned by hand, was afterwards accelerated and made more regular by the mechanical contrivances just referred to. These appear to have been of three different types. There was the clock jack, two splendid specimens of which are illustrated in Fig. 42, types becoming exceedingly rare. Those illustrated were recently in the possession of Mr. Charles Wayte, of Edenbridge, an enthusiastic discoverer of antiquarian metal work in out-of-the-way places in Sussex and Kent. Earlier still there was the smoke jack or rotary fan fixed in the chimney, operated by an up-draught, pulleys and cords being attached to the end of the spit. The third method referred to involved the shifting of manual labour from man to his domestic beast, for the faithful hound was pressed into the service of the cook. The dog worked in a cage, operating a wheel or drum which in its turn revolved the turnspit. Such turnspits seem to have had a lingering existence, and were occasionally heard of in North Wales late in the nineteenth century.



Roasting before the fire lingered on long after the old-fashioned iron jacks and spits had ceased to be the common method of cooking meat. The meat hastener and the Dutch oven conserved and radiated the heat, the joint turning slowly by the clockwork mechanism of the improved brass bottle jack. As the size of the fireplace narrowed and kitchens were built smaller roasting in ovens became popular; the cooker of to-day with its hot-plates, grills, and steam chests—whether heated by coal, gas, or electricity—presents a remarkable contrast to the old open fire grate.

It will readily be understood that the necessary basting of meat roasting before the fire involved the use of ladles and other utensils before the modern cooking appliances were invented. Most of the old vessels were strong and lasting, and the materials employed in their construction were iron, copper, and brass. In Fig. 49 we show a selection of fat boats and hammered iron grease pans (in the centre of the plate is an old mothering-iron from Sussex) typical of the vessels used in open fire roasting. To these may be added basting spoons and skimmers, in many places called "skummers."

Boilers and Kettles.

It is probable that the cooking pot over the fire has been used side by side with roasting apparatus from the earliest times, although no doubt vessels would be required for boiling foods before roasting, in that discoveries show that the earliest method of roasting a piece of meat or a small animal was to encase it in clay and then expose it to the fire. The clay crust could then be broken and would, of course, have been destroyed.

No doubt the crock antedated the bronze pot, which was at first made of metal plates hammered and beaten into shape, and then riveted together. This method was followed by the craft of the founder, who cast vessels after the same model first in bronze and then in iron. The cooking pot was indispensable when the food of the common people was chiefly such as necessitated a vessel containing liquid; the name of this ancient vessel has furnished us with many apt quotations, and it is still the pot so many find difficult to keep boiling.

There have been many contrivances by which to suspend the pot over the fire. Years ago the usual method of suspension was from a beam of wood or a bar of iron placed across the chimney opening—the name by which the bar was known in the North of England was a "gallybawk." Simple contrivances of metal followed, the suspension hooks and chains leading to improved cranes with rack and loop handles.

No doubt many have noticed the apparent indiscriminate use of the term "kettle"; the tea kettle as we understand it to-day is a modern invention. The old kettle was a boiling pot with a bail handle, its modern survivor being the three-legged kettle of the gipsies, and the boiling pot or fish kettle of the modern household. Associated with the early use of tea kettles slung over a fire is the now scarce lazy-back or tilter, at one time common in the West of England and in South Wales.



In "Chats on Old Copper and Brass" some very interesting illustrations of old copper and brass saucepans, skillets, and pipkins are given. The skillet has survived for several centuries. Those made in the seventeenth century were frequently inscribed with various religious and sentimental legends; one in the National Museum of Wales is inscribed "LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR." Frying pans have been in common use for a great number of years and are still daily requisitioned. Bakestones, on which cakes were formerly baked, are, however, becoming obsolete. They were called girdle plates in the North of England, and bakestones in Wales and elsewhere.

Grills and Gridirons.

The gridiron or "griddle" was an appliance used extensively all over the Continent of Europe from the sixteenth century onward. In this country it was formerly made by the village blacksmith, and, like the iron stool, kitchen fender, and other iron and brass kitchen utensils and furnishings, was often made quite decorative. It would appear as if the smith filled up his spare moments in designing intricate patterns with which to decorate the grid. Some of the sixteenth and seventeenth-century European gridirons were quite elaborate, serving the double purpose of ornament and use, for when finished with for cooking purposes they were carefully cleaned and polished and hung up over the kitchen mantelpiece. Some of the characteristic types met with are shown in the accompanying illustrations. In Fig. 43 is seen the light and lacy Italian style; in Fig. 44 the openwork design of the Flemish; a formal Dutch pattern being illustrated in Fig. 45; whereas the heavy German floreated type is shown in Fig. 46. Contrasting with these Continental types the English gridiron was strong and serviceable, and essentially a grid or grill, the smith putting his best work in the handle rather than the grid.

Cooking Utensils.

Besides pots and pans there are many cooking utensils which may now be reckoned among the domestic curios. There are, of course, ewers and basins, water-carrying and retaining vessels, and colanders of brass and earthenware, strainers and graters which have been used from time to time in the kitchen. Sometimes the metal worker appears to have gone out of the way to produce curious forms not always the most convenient for the purposes for which they were made—such, for instance, as the aquamaniles, several of which may be seen in the British Museum (see Fig. 26).



Some of the minor kitchen utensils include flesh hooks and forks and carving knives. There are spoons of every kind made in all metals, some of the earlier examples being of brass and latten. In this connection also may be mentioned ladles, fish slicers, and scoops. There are also many curious little pastrycooks' knives, and knives used for cutting vegetables and preparing a repast in olden time, many of them quite decorative, even the common pastry-wheel frequently being carved. It was at one time customary to expend much skill in decorating apple scoops, those shown in Fig. 51 being very choice specimens in the National Museum of Wales, in Cardiff. The one on the left hand of the picture is made of bone, and is inlaid with a small brass name-plate; that on the right-hand side is of ivory delicately turned, the scoop being exceedingly thin; and those in the centre are all home-made out of the metacarpal bones of the sheep, being slightly ornamented with cut X-shaped lines and hatchings. In the same museum there are some remarkably interesting coffee crushers and mortars and pestles, several of these being illustrated in Fig. 50. In Fig. 53 we show a representative selection reminiscent of the days when wooden spoons and wooden platters were in common use. The trencher takes its name from tranche, the old name of the platter which replaced the piece of bread on which it was formerly customary to serve up meat; like the bread, it was at first square. The minor kitchen accessories formerly in constant use included many objects of wood, such as the charming little nutmeg mills of turned rosewood, some of which are to be seen in the British Museum. There are also antique pasteboards and rolling-pins for rolling shortbread, pot stirrers of wood, and other utensils such as sand glasses.

In Figs. 47 and 48 we illustrate two wooden food boxes, such as were formerly used to carry food to men working in the field. They are now deposited with other curios in the Cardiff Museum, where also may be seen some little wooden piggins, and bowls used for porridge; the piggin was an ancient vessel often mentioned in mediaeval days (see Fig. 52).

Warming Pans.

There are some household appointments which, like some of the brass skimmers, platters, engraved foot and hand warmers, chestnut roasters, and the like, have always served the double purpose of use and ornament. Among these are warming pans which in modern days have been brought out of their hiding-places, repolished, and hung up in conspicuous places by the fireside. In the Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as some of the provincial museums, there are many very fine examples, those having dates and names upon them being especially valued. As an instance of an exceptional specimen in the Victoria and Albert Museum we may mention one on which there is an engraving of reindeer, ducally gorged, the inscription upon this pan reading: "THE EARL OF ESSEX. HIS ARMES. 1630." Another elaborate warming pan is engraved with figures of a cavalier and a lady, richly embellished with peacocks and flowers. The pan is of copper, but the handle is of wrought iron with brass ornamental mounts. Some pans have wooden handles, either walnut or oak, some of the more modern being ebonized (see Fig. 40).

This brief review of kitchen utensils by no means exhausts the varieties of old metal work and other curios which may still be found in kitchens. There appears to be no end to the minor varieties in form and decoration. This is natural when we remember that years ago kitchen utensils were not made in quantities after the same pattern as they are nowadays. They were the product of the local maker, the smith and the village woodworker being frequently called upon to supply new kitchen utensils, and it would appear that they did their best to make their work successful in that the vessels they fashioned were lasting, and during their use contributed in no small degree towards the ornamentation of the home.



VI

HOME ORNAMENTS



CHAPTER VI

HOME ORNAMENTS

Mantelpiece ornaments—Vases—Derbyshire spars—Jade or spleen stone—Wood carvings—Old gilt.

We are apt to wonder sometimes what it is that makes the house homelike, and why there are such strong attachments to the old home. Surely it is the familiar aspect of the furnishings, rather than the bricks and mortar, that makes the old home so dear! To the original owners there was an individuality about every piece, although to the collector the same characteristics of well-known objects tell that in days gone by the cabinet-maker followed stereotyped lines, and there were but few who moved out of the regular ruts and made distinctive designs in home ornaments and sundry furnishings. It is noteworthy, however, that however much alike in furniture no two houses were alike in their ornamental surroundings. The pictures and portraits on the walls have peculiarities recognized and understood by those who have dwelt for many years among them. Familiar table appointments, however humble, have a homelike look, and there are odd bits of old china in the cabinet and silver or pewter on the sideboard which distinguish one house from another; and it has ever been so. Chimney ornaments, which may be quite commonplace, have well-known characteristics which cannot be duplicated. It is undoubtedly among the home ornaments that the tenderest thoughts linger, and it is the trinkets of comparatively little value to an outsider that members of the family store when the old home is broken up. There are such ornaments in every household; and whenever there is a sale there are those who gladly buy them because of their associations with those by whom they were owned and valued. The collector rarely gathers them on sentimental grounds, securing them as curious specimens or characteristic styles wanting in his collection. Some specialize on old china cups and saucers; others on rare porcelain figures; some on the beautiful gilt and ormolu knick-knacks which looked so well on the early Victorian drawing-room table, and others prefer odds and ends, some of which are mentioned in the following paragraphs. It is, perhaps, from the old ornaments of the home that we learn most about the true home-life lived in former years. Wood carvers, silversmiths, leather workers, glass blowers and potters fashioned their ornamental things after the living models they saw about them, in the days in which they worked. Thus in the groups of Staffordshire figures, now much sought after, we learn something of the story of life in the Potteries in the closing years of the nineteenth century. The story is recorded in the earthenware "landlord and landlady," "lovers arm in arm," and rustic cottages with which collectors are familiar.



Mantelpiece Ornaments.

There are many quaint brass chimney ornaments which were popular in many parts of England fifty to sixty years ago much sought after nowadays. They were of polished brass, usually in pairs, and when several were arranged on a mantelpiece they presented a bright array. The one illustrated in Fig. 54 is of the type much favoured in country districts. It represents a shepherd with his crook, the companion brass being a shepherdess. On the sea-coast fishermen were much fancied, and in mining districts the miner with his pick and other industrial models were extensively sold. These were varied with birds and animals and miniature replicas of household furniture. The older ones are not very common, and therefore have been much copied, for of these goods there are many modern replicas.

Vases.

Ornamental vases have varied much in form, until a collection seems to cover every style of art. Thus Egyptian and Roman influence is seen in some; others of French origin, dating before the Empire period, are a combination of French art with Egyptian ornament, brought out during the Directoire, when after the Battle of the Pyramids French artists introduced the sphinx and other Egyptian ornaments into their art designs. During the Empire period, the style that is said to consist of a blending of Roman, Greek, and Egyptian prevailed. Many of the continental countries have been noted for glass ornaments—especially vases. The beautiful Venetian glass is rich in colour, and the vases are varied and graceful in form, especially those of ewer-like shape. Bohemia has always been a noted centre of the glass industry. Then in our own country some beautiful vases have been produced.

There are other materials which are met with in curiously shaped vases. At one time the beautiful Derbyshire spars were much used. There are biscuit china and Parian vases, and many exquisite vases of silver and other metals. Much might be written of the Oriental vases and enamels, especially of the artistic treasures of Old Japan and China, from whence so much of our early vases and beautiful porcelain came. Of the products of Chelsea and Bow, of Coalbrookdale and Derby, and of Bristol and Nantgrw, writers and collectors of rare ceramics have had much to record of the many-shaped vases with which the homes of the middle classes were made beautiful in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. These are preserved with care, but many of the vases produced by the pioneers of the potting industry in this country serve their original purpose still, and glass and china and rare Wedgwood jasper ware ornament the home of the twentieth-century reader of the "Chats" series, as they did the "withdrawing" rooms of their original owners in the eighteenth century.



Derbyshire Spars.

The Derbyshire spars and inlaid marbles just referred to were very popular, some exceedingly ornamental and decorative pieces being produced. Others were stiff and formal, and can scarcely be regarded as beautiful. The variety of marbles quarried in Derbyshire gave the artist ample opportunity of displaying taste in colour. The most beautiful are those made of fluor-spar, the celebrated Blue John Mine providing the most beautiful specimens. The purple shades present delightful tints, and some of the old workers in Derbyshire mosaics were exceptionally fortunate in their schemes of arrangement of the tiny pieces they inlaid so carefully. The marble workers in this country have never been able to produce those beautiful effects for which the Florentine school of artists was famous, although it has been claimed by some that the artists of the Peak produced in their larger works some equally as effective. Among old household ornaments small Roman mosaics, so called, are often met with. At one time the Florentine artists used gems and real stones, whereas the Romans chiefly employed glass. Many will be familiar with the Vatican pigeons and the fountain so frequently copied. It is said that the Derbyshire workers in mosaic excelled themselves in the production of a beautifully inlaid vase covered with flowers, foliage, and birds, prepared for the late Queen Victoria, in 1842. Half a century ago fancy shops were filled with the products of the Derbyshire mines, but most of the best pieces are now among household curios. The wide-topped vase shown in Fig. 55 is made from Derbyshire black and gold marble, and was produced in Matlock about sixty years ago. It may be interesting to collectors to mention that although the Romans are believed to have worked the Blue John mines, it was not until 1770 that the lovely purple spar was rediscovered in the Hope Valley, a workman passing through the Winnats being attracted by the pieces of spar he saw lying about, eventually bringing them under the notice of the owner of a Rotherham marble works. Besides the smaller objects there are the larger tables, worked in the same materials, some of which are sometimes met with second-hand for quite trifling sums.

Jade or Spleen Stone.

Among the rarer curios of the home are those wonderful ornaments cut and carved out of jade, a beautiful stone which has been so highly prized by the Chinese. Its special value lies in the exquisite tints of the different hues. These marvellously varied stones were formerly quarried from the Kuen-Kask Valley, where jade or yu-stone runs in different-coloured veins through the rocks. It is said that jade in the form of spleen stone first came to Europe from America. It is found extensively in Mexico, and also in Burma, but the chief interest centres in the grotesque and cleverly carved Chinese curios. The beauty and value of these pieces lies not so much in their forms as in their marvellous tints and the clever way in which the Chinese workmen, in fashioning grotesque forms, have cut away practically all the colour of certain intruding shades, leaving the figures in some brilliant hue of green, red, or pink, standing out upon a base of some other shade. The curiously smoked mutton-fat colour is one of the rarest, but to the amateur the more transparent and brilliant tints possess the greatest beauty.



True jade, or nephrite, is a native silicate of calcium and magnesium, and does not exhibit either crystalline form or distinct cleavage. In addition to the "mutton-fat" shade spoken so highly of there are lovely shades in green, emerald, moss, tea and sea green, violet and yellow, and white and camphor; but the rarest of all combinations is violet, mutton-fat, and emerald green.

Wood Carvings.

Many of the more decorative household ornaments are made of wood. To cut down a tree or to whittle a stick has been the favourite occupation of men of all ages, and the possession of a pocket-knife the ambition of the schoolboy from time immemorial. Something to cut keeps him out of mischief and calls forth any ingenuity he may have. Some of the most wonderful curios have been cut by hand, fashioned with skill. Some are remarkably realistic in their forms, faithful copies of living originals, or of objects of still greater antiquity with which the wood carver has been familiar. Carvers have sometimes allowed themselves to run wild in their imaginations as they have cut and shaped a block of wood, giving it the most fantastic form, picturing myths and fables in a wonderfully realistic way. There seems to be no end to the variety of wooden ornament. The carver has found a place in architectural design, too, many old houses being enriched with his handiwork. In the days when walls were panelled with oak, the carver and the wood worker delighted in cutting deep and intricate mouldings and in giving that delightful linen fold to the panels which would otherwise have been plain. That was the ambition of the household decorator of Elizabethan days. Tudor beams were cut and carved and quaint mottoes engraved upon them. The old oak settles—sometimes portable, at others fixtures—were carved all over, and the fronts of oak chests were often made into pictures of wood. They told the tale of the family tree by the coats of arms and the shields emblazoned by the cutter of wood, sometimes being enriched with colour; at others the picture forms were created by inlaying and superadding fretwork. There were intricate carvings of the Sheraton and Chippendale periods, and there were the wonderful floral sprays, cherubs, and other ornaments so cunningly wrought by Grinling Gibbons and his followers. Wooden ornament in those days took the form of over-doors, and wreaths running down the lintels; and massive mantelpieces of oak were carved deeply. There were vases of wood full of flowers cut from the same material standing on wooden pedestals. The floral sprays, it is said, were in some cases so delicately cut that they shook like natural flowers when any one crossed a room or a post-chaise rumbled along the street. Some remarkable picture frames were cut and carved by amateurs, corresponding well with the handiwork of the needlewoman they enshrined. The cutting and carving of banner screens was a work of art, and many times a labour of love.



There are quaint relics of other countries in wood carving among the curios of the home. Some remarkable pieces of carved cherry-trees have been brought over from Japan, the black trunk or root of the tree being turned into a grinning demon, similar to the one illustrated in Fig. 56, which resembles the "temple guardian." Others have been fashioned like ancient idols or apes, many being an intermixture of different-coloured woods, varying from almost red-brown to black, throwing up the carving in relief. The Oriental was a clever wood carver, and with his primitive tools he cut and fashioned a piece of wood according to his own sweet will, evolving from it intricate works of art in wood. Perhaps the most remarkable examples of the wood-worker's skill are those tiny miniatures of which there is such a splendid collection in the British Museum, notably the almost microscopic reliquaries. The Japanese and Chinese have shown remarkable skill in carvings, and especially in the way they have set off china plates and bowls intended as ornamental objects; a truly magnificent example of such work is shown in Fig. 57.

Old Gilt.

The highly decorative work known as old gilt, very fashionable in the early Victorian drawing-room, has quite recently been hunted up, and many pieces have been restored to positions of honour. The gilt, so-called, was in reality eighteen-carat gold overlaid upon soft brass by a process not now practised. Delightfully decorative trinket stands, card trays, and little baskets were made in this way; and as they were afterwards coated over with a transparent varnish, they have preserved their colour; indeed, when found black with age, after carefully washing in soap and water, they frequently come out bright and untarnished. Then if brushed over with white of egg or some transparent white varnish they will keep their colour for many years to come. These decorative ornaments, often perforated as well as embossed, were frequently enriched with imitation jewels. Those shown in Fig. 61 are typical of the style of ornament referred to. Sometimes scent satchets and jewelled caskets are found fitted with quaint reels for sewing silk and curious needle holders. The more elaborate pieces are often ornamented with floral sprays made of porcelain; some of the baskets filled with coral and seaweed have curiously made little birds and butterflies, many of them being genuine Chelsea. Others are the framework for holding Bow figures or painted plaques. This Victorian gilt is at present not over-scarce, and as it is not as yet much in demand collectors have an exceptional opportunity of securing interesting specimens at moderate cost.

Old Ivories.

Much might be written about old ivories. Ivory has been a much-valued material for ornamental decoration from quite early times. In almost every home there are curios and pieces of furniture in which ivory has either been overlaid or inserted as panels. At one time it was much used for overlays, and in very thin plates made up into all kinds of decorative models.



There are carved tusks from Africa and India, and quaint native curios made of ivory cunningly wrought. It is from the East that we receive so many beautiful curios, and especially so from India, China, and Japan. The three remarkably handsome ivories illustrated in Fig. 62 will serve to illustrate the beautiful and oftentimes costly curios found in so many homes.

Miniature Antiques.

Some of the most pleasing little antiques are silver models of children's toys. The original models made contemporary with the furniture or household gods they purport to represent were frequently the gifts of godparents, and many are most elaborate in their designs, every detail found in the larger originals being faithfully reproduced. Some of these little silver toys, with which probably children were seldom allowed to play, represented common objects outside the home, such as the dovecote in the garden, the travelling coach with its prancing steeds, the pack-horse ascending the slope towards a bridge over a stream, in some instances objects of husbandry and agriculture, being given to children familiar with the country.

Another favourite type of model curio is found in the remarkably tiny objects workmen sometimes prided themselves upon making—such curios, for instance, as the silver and copper kettles and coffee pot shown in Figs. 58, 59, and 60. The larger specimen (drawn larger than the original) was made from a copper farthing, the smaller kettles being hammered out of threepenny-pieces; the coffee pot is of ivory—a charming model.

There are a few sundries which should not be overlooked when collecting curious things reminiscent of home-life as it once was. Among these are the glass pictures once so much prized by well-to-do folk, now valued only by the collector of such things. These were really "prints from prints." The method of their preparation was most inartistic, although it was effectual. A piece of glass was coated with varnish, the print was then placed upon the varnish, and when dry and quite hard the paper was washed off, leaving a "print" upon the prepared surface, which was then painted over at the back, the picture thus being made complete.

Much store was formerly set by the little plaques and medallions which, with silhouettes, hung upon the walls. Among the gems of such ornaments were the exquisite tablets and cameos made by Josiah Wedgwood, whose beautiful vases and miniature bottles, as well as tea-sets in the same wares, were so much admired.



VII

GLASS AND ENAMELS



CHAPTER VII

GLASS AND ENAMELS

Waterford, Bristol, and Nailsea—Ornaments of glass—Enamels on metal.

Glass is used in every home. It is seen in its ornamental forms, and is necessary in almost every department. In kitchen and pantry there are dishes and tumblers and wine glasses and decanters ready for use. Among these there are often found old glasses—that is, glass vessels which from their rarity or age have attained a curio value; indeed, many housewives are unaware that their kitchen cupboard contains what would be valued as interesting specimens gladly purchased by collectors of glass. Many of the old tumblers are beautifully engraved, often having floral ornament and dainty rustic scenes. They are now and then commemorative of events which the glass maker has recorded with his graving tool, and sometimes they have been prepared to catch the passing fancy. The styles of table glass have changed, and their shapes and sizes have altered according to the popular custom of imbibing certain liquors.

When punch ceased to be the customary drink, and lesser quantities of ale were consumed, punch bowls and tankards were less in request. Their places were taken by wine glasses of more delicate forms, and charming tallboys and crinkled vessels of glass took the place of the older mugs and pewter cups. The glasses used in proffering and drinking toasts have changed much during the last century, and the "fiat" glasses of the Jacobite period, and those curious glasses with portraits of the Old Pretender and the Young Pretender upon them, are curios only, for they are no longer needed, neither is the toast of "The King" drunk "over the water." Spirit glasses and decanters have altered in form, but among those which have survived and are still sound are some rare examples of cutting, made in the days when the glass cutter worked with primitive tools, and such methods as the sand blast, chemical etching, and some of the newer processes were unknown.

Waterford, Bristol, and Nailsea.

Among table sundries are glass salts and cruets; the latter, however, have been modernized and reduced in size, and the bottles and curiously shaped oil and vinegar cruets of a hundred or more years ago look quaint when compared with those of the present day. Even the flower vases which formerly adorned the table, and the more decorative dishes used for fancy sweetmeats and confections, have changed, leaving in the process many of the older pieces, relegated to the store-cupboard, where disused glass so often remains until in due time it is rescued from oblivion by the collector of household curios. Among the eighteenth-century cut glass jugs and trifle bowls are many beautiful vessels, for the making of which certain districts from time to time became famous. The old Waterford glass is especially noteworthy, and as a speculation, apart from the interest it possesses for collectors, is worth securing. Bristol glass to the uninitiated appears to be a misnomer, in that the beautiful white milk-like surface upon which so many exquisite floral designs have been painted looks more like egg-shell porcelain, but when held up to the light is found to be of glass-like nature, pellucid although semi-opaque.

Nailsea glass has many peculiar characteristics about it, notably the curiously introduced waved and twisted lines in colours. Many objects which were essentially curios, their utilitarian purposes having always been secondary, were made at Nailsea. There are gigantic models of tobacco pipes, formerly hung up against the walls as ornaments. As fitting companions to the pipes were walking-sticks of glass, some very remarkable designs which might at one time have been carried by the gallants of that day. They were often filled with sweetmeats and comfits, ornamented with bows of ribbon, and presented to ladies of their choice by devoted swains. A few of those curious sticks or shepherd's crooks, as they were called, are to be seen in most representative museum collections. The so-called rolling-pins of glass, made at Sunderland as well as at Nailsea and Bristol, were known as sailors' love tokens, and are referred to more fully in Chapter XIII. In the Taunton Castle Museum there are some interesting specimens of old glass, notably one of the very rare dark bottle-glass linen smoothers which came from South Petherton. Such smoothers were at one time favoured in the kitchen laundry in the days when servant-maids excelled in getting up linen, and prided themselves on the beautiful gloss they were able to impart—in the days before public laundries with their modern glossing machines were instituted.

Some of our readers may have seen the curious glass tubes, one yard in length, into which ale was poured in the days when it was considered a desirable attainment to be able to drink at one draught a "yard of ale."

Of the larger vessels such as wine bottles, the chief collectable feature about them is the old glass-bottle-makers' stamps, very frequently found on fragments of bottles, such stamps often turning up among the oddments of kitchen drawers which have probably been undisturbed for many years. To collect bottle stamps is certainly an uncommon hobby, but one that is not altogether devoid of interest.

Ornaments of Glass.

Of household ornaments in glass there appears to be no end. There are the glass Venetian vases and ewers, beautiful and graceful in form, richly ornamented in gold; and there are the old English and French vases, the colouring of which is not always in accord with modern taste. Cut glass, in whatever form it is met with, is appreciated, in that the workmanship involving so much studious labour is recognized. Continental glass has at all periods been imported into this country, and especially so Bohemian glass, of which there are decanters of ruby, claret, blue, and other rich colours; some remarkable effects have been produced upon red glass by adding tinted colours and white decoration interspersed with gold. Glass lustres have acquired an antiquarian value, and chandeliers and mantelpiece lustre candlesticks are sought after by the collector, who sometimes finds interspersed with cut glass lustre pretty coloured china droppers.



Pictorial Art in Glass.

Stained-glass windows are associated with ecclesiastical edifices. Old English houses, however, not infrequently contain armorial panels, coats of arms in leaden frames, and curious little pictures in colours which can be hung against modern windows where the light will throw up the rich colouring of the old-time painters. Little patches of colour, too, were often introduced in otherwise plain diamond-shaped lattice panes.

There are glass pictures, so-called, oftentimes consisting of coloured prints pasted on one side of the glass, a softened effect being produced by the glass through which they were seen; but they must be distinguished from the more costly paintings on glass sometimes met with.

In many an old house the glass shade with its contents so inartistic, although removed from its place of honour on the parlour table, found a niche where it is preserved. Under such shades were preserved wool-work baskets filled with artificial flowers, among which were often small porcelain figures, butterflies and birds. Sometimes a Parian vase has been filled with wax flowers, the making of which was a favourite pastime half a century ago. The dried plant called "honesty" was frequently covered with a glass shade. Glass ships were exceedingly popular in seaport towns, and little miniature replicas of household furniture in glass are met with; indeed, there seems to have been no limit to the fancies and freaks of the glass blower, who has at different periods provided the present-day collector with curious, if very breakable, curios.

Enamels on Metal.

The art of enamelling on metal has been practised from very early times. In its earlier forms it was chiefly an art applied to jewellery and the ornamentation of ecclesiastical metal work. In time, however, it was applied as a convenient method of decorating utilitarian household articles such as fire-dogs and candlesticks. Those who frequent the more important museums often associate enamels with the costly and rare enamels of Limoges, and the choice bits of Italian enamels seen in the cases of metals where the most valuable curios are gathered together. Such vessels as those marvellous effects produced by the enamellers of Limoges are indeed rarely found among household curios; it is well, however, to note that the processes by which those effects were produced changed as time went on. The earlier translucent enamel of the Italian artists was laid over an incised metal ground, the design previously prepared showing through. In the later Limoges enamels the surface with which the copper base was overlaid was painted, very much in the same way as the miniature painters on enamels operated in after-years.

The process of covering metal with enamels made of a species of glass is very ancient, but the basis of all enamels is the application of fusible colourless silicate or glass in pattern or design, mixed with metallic oxides, the prepared surface being afterwards fired until the enamel adheres firmly to the copper or other metal. The processes varied, but the firing or fusing was the same throughout. The name "enamel" is traceable to the French word enail and the Italian smalto, both having the same root as the Anglo-Saxon word "smelt." The enamels of China and Japan so extensively imported into this country of late years are chiefly made by filling cloisons or cells formed of fine metal wires or plates with coloured enamels and then firing them. As the collector advances in his appreciation of the old craftsmen, he soon recognizes the difference between the antiques sent over by Oriental merchants and the modern works made on present-day commercial lines, and not the work of men whose time was deemed of small account if they acquired notoriety for the beauty of their work.

The household enamels of English make consist chiefly of those beautiful little boxes, trinkets, and domestic objects made at Battersea and Bilston in the eighteenth century. The enamels used for the ground were tinted rose, blue, and other shades, and ornamented with painted pictures and mottoes. A very fine group of Battersea patch boxes is shown in Fig. 63.



VIII

LEATHER AND HORN



CHAPTER VIII

LEATHER AND HORN

Spanish leather—"Cuir boulli" work—Tapestry and upholstery—Leather bottles and drinking vessels—Leather curios—Shoes—Horn work.

That "there is nothing like leather" has been believed by people of all ages, and in many countries the general belief has been put into practice, for many indeed are the uses to which leather has been put. As a lasting material it has been proved to possess excellent qualities. The artist, too, has found that leather is capable of being treated so as to give the effect of delicate carvings, and to serve well many purposes of decoration.

In the East leather was used in patriarchal times, the skins of animals making excellent water bottles. In mediaeval England leather black jacks, cups, and flagons withstood the rough usage of those roisterous times. The collector seeks both useful and ornamental, and finds much to delight among the old leathern objects hid away as being now quite useless or antiquated.

Spanish Leather.

As early as the fifteenth century Cordova, in Spain, was celebrated for its workers in leather, and for the fine ornamental leather vessels produced there. Some of the designs favoured by Spanish craftsmen were gruesome in the extreme. Indeed, many were fashioned for the purpose of creating fear in the use of the vessels so ornamented.

A few years ago a remarkably fine collection of old Spanish leather work was exhibited in London. There were some hideous and grotesque figures, which it was said had been designed for the mental torture of the victims of the Inquisition. Some of the larger specimens were remarkably well executed, especially so some of the wine bottles which imitated very realistically the pose of men and women. Some of the female figures were represented wearing flowing gowns and costumes of the height of fashion—tall and noble women. By way of contrast there were little manikin wine jugs of the most grotesque forms.

The Spaniards made leather upholsteries of remarkable designs; they also ornamented boxes, trunks, and cases for knives and costly trinkets.

"Cuir boulli" Work.

Most of the decorated leather work of that period, examples of which are not very difficult to secure, was made by the cuir boulli process. The leather, after being boiled down to a pulp and salt and alum added, was then moulded to any desired form, the decoration being imparted in the process.

The Victoria and Albert Museum is very rich in fine examples, and a description of some of the typical pieces there may serve as a guide to collectors hopeful of including some objects moulded by this process among their household relics.

The work was carried on at Cordova and other places for a long period, some of the museum examples dating back to the fifteenth century. There are cases for holding what were then rare books and manuscripts, and a remarkable scribe's case with a red cover has loops on either side to which a cord was attached. The scribe was an important personage in commercial and private correspondence in the days when even rudimentary education was by no means general.

In the same collection is a leather box for holding a knife and fork; on the outer case is a medallion, in the centre of which is a representation of the two spies returning from Canaan with a large bunch of grapes. There are also cases which have once held wine bottles, some ornamented in colours; indeed, the stamped, cut, and embossed designs of the cuir boulli work were frequently enriched by the addition of red, yellow, and gold.

There are some specially interesting examples of Italian work, representing a period covering nearly the whole of the Renaissance. In this connection there are pilgrim bottles of yellow glass encased in wonderful leather covers, cut and embossed. There are leather snuff boxes with trellis-work ornament and scroll borders, one very interesting piece being varnished to imitate tortoiseshell. There are also some attractive toilet objects, evidently antique presentation pieces. One is a most elaborately cut and incised comb case, on the exterior of which is the motto or legend: "DE BOEN AMORE." In the same collection there is a fine leather case for a cup or tankard. Such cup cases are not uncommon, many being the receptacles for treasured heirlooms. Perhaps one of the most noted examples of the use of embossed and decorative leather work is the ancient case of stamped leather intricately foliated, a highly decorative work of art in which is enclosed that remarkable goblet of legendary fame known as "The Luck of Eden Hall."

Tapestry and Upholstery.

Stamped and embossed leather work is very conspicuous in domestic upholstery. In very early times the leather work, hung upon the wall in panels, took the place of more modern wall-coverings, and it was truly lasting. Much of the Cordovan leather is still very fresh in appearance, although several centuries old. Some of the panels hanging on the walls at South Kensington look remarkably fresh, and, richly decorated in colours, many of them are very effective. A special branch of this work was that devoted to the decoration of chair backs; stamped leather work for upholstery has been used in this country to a large extent, and some of the large oak chairs are still upholstered in the original ornamental leather produced by boiling the hides by a special process, so that the material could be readily moulded. In more modern times, however, the decoration is effected by embossing and stamping, supplementing such ornament by the use of an immense quantity of small brass nails, which are arranged in geometrical patterns or straight lines, oftentimes names and dates being included in the design.

In this connection also are screens of painted and gilt leather, chiefly of eighteenth-century manufacture. There is a good deal of this leather work to be found in old houses still, and much of it is capable of improvement by properly cleaning and touching up here and there so as to revive the old colours. Here and there hung up as wall decorations may be seen leather-covered boxes which were specially made to hold deeds; in the older examples there is a large circular piece below the narrow box, arranged so that the seal could hang in its proper position from the end of the deed; they were, of course, in common use before the days of safes and other methods of preserving parchments and property deeds. One in the Victoria and Albert Museum is stamped on the exterior with the description of the deed it originally contained, the inscription commencing thus: "THE GRAUNT OF HEN: THE 5 TO THE ABBOT OF RADING."

Chests and Coffers.

Before modern travelling requisites were known and in the days when journeys were few, the leather-covered coffer contained the whole travelling outfit of perhaps some noble lord and his household. There were also large coffers covered with leather used as permanent receptacles of clothing, covered with ornamental embossed leather work, some very decorative. There were smaller coffers, too; possibly they were jewel caskets in their day. There are others which may have been presentation cases, for their decoration is especially elaborate. In making these continental craftsmen seem to have excelled. In the Victoria and Albert Museum there is a curious German casket of wood covered with leather, strongly bound with iron, having three immense hasps from which locks once hung, altogether too massive for the little casket. One would think such precautions were of not much avail against theft, for the box itself could be removed readily! There is another charming little casket, with a circular or dome-shaped top, decorated and banded, a veritable prototype of the tin trunks generally in use a quarter of a century ago. There is also a remarkable piece, a wood box covered over with leather embossed by the cuir boulli process. The chief design takes the form of two armed horsemen, surrounded by grotesque ornament on the top, on the sides being hunting scenes, episodes of the chase. This curious example of the work of seventeenth-century artists in leather measures 16 1/2 in. in length by 12 1/2 in. in width. Another typical piece, of a highly decorative allegorical character, is a rectangular coffret with arched lid, the ornament being in colours and gilt. On the front is a knight and a lady, on the lid two paladins mounted on griffins, two savages with clubs and shields, and two images of the sun, these typifying the story of the delivery of a captured lady by a knight.

Leather Bottles and Drinking Vessels.

Several interesting specialistic collections of leather bottles and drinking vessels have been got together, showing the varied forms of the almost imperishable vessels, so suitable as liquor carriers and drinking cups in olden time. In the Guildhall Museum are several different types of bottles, black jacks, and silver-rimmed cups. Until comparatively recent times many old inns were famous for their leather drinking cups, but as the coaching days came to an end such vessels were gradually dispersed. Now that motor-cars have popularized the road once more, and old inns are again frequented, the collector seeks in vain for what were once quite common. In another noted collection there is a drinking cup or bottle moulded like a negro's head, and there are what are called pilgrim bottles, some of which are of ornamental type. The so-called pots have sometimes lids and loosely fitting covers; the black jacks, however, are chiefly open, ill-shaped vessels. Some of the black jacks were very large, one in the Taunton Museum measuring 19 in. in height. It was originally used in the servants' hall at Montacute House, which is one of the finest old buildings in Somerset. This famous jack was in olden time filled with beer every morning and placed on the servants' breakfast table. Those smaller cups with silver mounts and shields, on which are often engraved crests or initials of their former owners, are of the rarer type, but they are not infrequently found among the relics of an old family. There is a fine collection in the Hull Museum, and in other places where they are found in excellent condition, proving the truth of the rhyme published in Westminster Drollery in the seventeenth century in praise of the black jack, which runs as follows:—

"No tankard, flagon, bottle, or jug Are half so good, or so well can hold tug; For when they are broken or full of cracks, Then must they fly to the brave black jacks."

Leather Curios.

Some very fine pieces of leather work have been modelled as curios and ornaments. Some of the most notable are models of old warships and fully rigged galleons made of leather. Leather pictures were made some years ago; a little later leather modelling of baskets of flowers, and the making of picture frames of leather was a popular amusement, some of the ornamental brackets made of leather being specially effective. The surrounds of picture frames made of leather cut to shape, carved and modelled, had a very similar effect to the beautiful carved wood work of an earlier period. Some of the powder flasks of leather which were used a century or two ago are valued curios, as well as the leather cases stamped and embossed so decorative and appropriate to the pistols and knives they were made to contain. Of the finer objects there are small curios like leather snuff boxes and trinket cases.

Of the more utilitarian leather work there is the wearing apparel of former days, the leather clothing of Cromwellian times and the leather boots. In the Victoria and Albert Museum there is a remarkably interesting case of leather shoes showing the evolution in style and appearance. There are some very pointed shoes worn in the fourteenth century, a slightly different shape in the fifteenth, both contrasting with the change in fashion which had come about in the sixteenth century, when the boots were square and some of the shoes very rounded. The Wellington boots of a later period are not yet much valued; there may come a time, however, when they will be regarded as museum curios. Leather gloves date back many centuries, and some of the old specimens with gauntlets and decorative cuffs are interesting antiques, as well as leather wallets, purses, and girdles.

Shoes.

Among sundry Eastern curios quaintly shaped and sometimes beautifully embroidered shoes are met with, such as those which have been brought over to this country from China and Eastern lands. Most of the shoes worn in the East are slipped off easily, and, like Persian and Turkish slippers, are made of red leather beautifully embroidered, silk, satin, and velvet being overlaid and embroidered with silver and sequins. The old practice of compressing the feet of young girls in China is dying out, but some of the curious little shoes which gave such pain to their wearers are seen as museum curios on account of their curious decoration. Indian shoes are met with at times, especially those embroidered with silver thread, and with green and other coloured silks. A curious ceremony is associated with the marriage of a Turkish bride, who wears a pair of clogs carved all over, sometimes with symbolical significance, on her way to her prescribed ceremonial visit to the bath. At one time it was customary for a Jewish bridegroom to present his bride with a shoe at the conclusion of the wedding ceremony, this custom being not far removed from that of throwing an old shoe after a newly married couple for luck.

Horn Work.

Art in horn work was practised more a century ago than it is to-day, the material being then a favourite one for drinking cups and a variety of ornamental work. Old snuff boxes were frequently made of horn impressed or stamped with beautiful designs, such as hunting scenes and mythological figures. Horn can either be cut, moulded, or turned, its natural elasticity making it very durable and difficult to break. Its source of supply is chiefly from the horned cattle, the buffalo and the bison, the horns of these beasts in their natural state frequently being mounted on shields just as in later years the horns of smaller animals, such as the South African varieties of the ibex, springbok, and similar horned sheep and cattle, are brought over to this country and mounted as ornaments. It is said that the old art of impressing or stamping horn and tortoiseshell has long been discarded, and is only retained for stamping buttons. Fancy hair ornaments were frequently so moulded, the horn or tortoiseshell being afterwards decorated with inlaid silver and gold.

Some of the pressed work is extremely beautiful and has every appearance of being done by hand, but much cheaper, of course, as the patterns could be multiplied to any extent after the dies had been cut. Thin plates of horn were formerly used in lanterns, and a similar piece of horn was used as a protector over the ancient alphabet and child's spelling tablet that gave it the name of the horn book. Among household curios are drinking horns elaborately etched, and frequently turned in a lathe. They were popular in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and the turned patterns then so common were copied by the silversmiths, who made silver tankards and drinking cups on the same models. The cornucopia or horn of abundance figures frequently in sculpture, paintings, and works of art. The horn is one of the early instruments of music (see Chapter XV), and has long been associated with sports. It has sounded the "Tally Ho" of the fox hunt, and played an important part in coaching days. In some old houses veritable horns are found hung in conspicuous places as relics of the past, but the coaching horns just referred to are for the most part of metal.

The Worshipful Company of Horners is still in evidence at City feasts. The work of the craft in olden time, as recorded by the chaplain of the Company in a little book he has prepared, giving the history of the Horners, was practised in the days of King Alfred. At least two hundred and fifty years before the Norman Conquest many of the patens and chalices used in churches were made by horners, and at one time cups, plates, and other vessels made of that useful material were in daily use in English homes.



IX

THE TOILET TABLE



CHAPTER IX

THE TOILET TABLE

The table and its secrets—Combs—Patch boxes—Enamelled objects—Perfume boxes and holders—Dressing cases—Scratchbacks—Toilet chatelaines—Locks of hair—Jewel cabinets.

The mysteries of the toilet table are sometimes revealed in the curious furnishings of the dressing-room. The numerous accessories which are purchased from the beauty specialist, and as the result of speciously worded and attractively illustrated advertisements, in the present day, indicate that it is not at all unlikely that the fashions of all ages have demanded a plentiful supply of toilet requisites in order that the Society beauty might vie with her nearest rival. The curio collector is not so much concerned with the cosmetics, salves, pomades, and hair washes and dyes, the use of which has called forth receptacles for them, as with the choice boxes, cases, and implements of the tonsorial art which their use involved.

To search for such things and to secure some hitherto unknown instrument or receptacle is ever the ambition of the energetic curio hunter. The field is large enough, for such curios are found in the tombs of the prehistoric dead, and among the household gods of the primitive savage in the few remaining unexplored inhabited countries to-day. Such objects may with a fair prospect of success be looked for among the relics of Assyrian and Egyptian races, and among the bronze curios of Ancient Greece and Rome; and excavations reveal relics of Saxon and mediaeval England among the ruins which have been covered up for centuries.

Coming down the ages, the mysteries of the toilet table, as pictured in the not always refined engravings of the copper-plate artists of a century or so ago, tell of habits and conditions prevailing among the ladies of Society then which would hardly be deemed polite and refined now.

Ladies who used patches and cosmetics and dressed their hair in such a mode that it was rarely let down and brushed, needed many accessories now obsolete. Moreover, the gradual change which passed over Society, and the privacy of the modern toilet as compared with the days when much that is now deemed curious and antique was in common use, has brought about a new order of things, and made other trinkets than patch, powder, and salve boxes acceptable gifts between lovers; hence we scarcely realize the sentiment that induced the donors of toilet requisites to bestow them on the ladies of their choice, or the recipients to welcome some of the curios obviously given from sentimental motives.

The illustrations in books published many years ago incidentally recorded the use of some of the curios then in the making. The artists certainly were not over-modest, and far from bashful in the lucid way in which they pictured or caricatured the toilet table, and the maiden who in those days was acquainted with the uses of the little relics of her day which are now among the household curios appropriately grouped under the heading of this chapter.

The Table and its Secrets.

It is before the looking glass, the central object on, or forming a part of, the toilet table, that the chief mysteries of the toilet are performed. It is obvious, therefore, that the table, to be in accord with the use its name suggests, should be the grand receptacle for all the minor preparations and their boxes or covers, as well as for the brushes and combs and mirrors and sundries a Society beauty may require.

It is scarcely necessary to tax the mental faculties in imagining what may have been the equivalent to brushes and combs with which the prehistoric woman of thousands of years ago brushed and combed her tangled tresses. She was ingenious enough to break off and trim sharp prickly thorns, and to use them as pins to fasten her scanty home-made garments, no doubt; and she would probably find in Nature's supply what served her when making her toilet, and viewing herself in clear pool or stream. Artists have pictured such toilets, and poets have told of the toilet and the bath of Greek and Roman maidens of olden time.

It is said that the toilet of a Roman lady occupied much of her time. After she had risen and taken her bath she placed herself in the hands of the cosmotes, slaves who possessed the secrets of preserving and beautifying the complexion of the skin. She frequently wore a medicated mask and went through what would to-day be considered very painful operations. Her skin was rubbed with pumice stone, and superfluous hairs were removed with a pair of tweezers. Grecian slaves were adepts at colouring eyelashes and eyebrows and treating the lips with red pomade. The mirror was in frequent use. Many of the polished metal mirrors of those days were adorned with precious stones and had handles of mother-o'-pearl; and silver and gold were common in the fashioning of the framework. Hair appointments, including combs, were very decorative, frequently being made of ivory, and many beautiful carved specimens are to be seen in our museums.

The dressing table as we understand it to-day was of later days, for many centuries elapsed between the toilet of the ladies just mentioned and that of English dames whose odds and ends are to be found in most houses to-day—for few are without family relics of the toilet.

The toilet or dressing table was originally quite small, and made solely for the purpose named. It opened very much like a small desk or bureau, and was seldom more than 18 in. or 20 in. in width. The desk-like flap served the purpose of a table; behind it was a number of tiny drawers in which the secret mysteries of the toilet were hidden. There, too, were the lady's trinkets and jewellery, safely housed in the depths of those curious recesses. Such a table was surmounted by a looking glass of the type now spoken of in a generic sense as Sheraton. In line with the more elaborately fitted tables were independent glasses fitted with a small drawer—a poor substitute, however, for the toilet table and glass, combined or used in conjunction, in front of which the ladies of the eighteenth century performed their toilets.

In Fig. 64 is illustrated a very beautiful glass of the Oriental style of japanned decoration. The slide supports of the desk-like flap are on the principle adopted in the construction of contemporary bureaux. There is also a drawer, full of compartments, which draws out and discloses their covers and some of the instruments and articles of the toilet they contain.

Combs.

The combs of olden time were much more elaborate affairs than they are to-day. It would appear that the comb which must so frequently have been viewed by the fair user was considered the most appropriate toilet requisite on which to expend care and to lavish costly labour in order to make it truly a thing of beauty, to be retained and even jealously guarded.

The precious metals and ivory were used as well as hard woods. Alas! like the fate of modern combs, the teeth—coarse and fine—snapped one by one, and oftentimes a rare and beautiful back, between the two rows of teeth that once were, is nearly all that is left of the once perfect comb. Many combs of ivory, however, carved all over with exquisite miniatures, have been preserved, and the scenes upon them have been incidents of the chase, classic love scenes, and sometimes reproductions in picture form of well-known biblical scenes, not always of the most delicately chosen subjects.

Not long ago a very remarkable gold comb of first-century workmanship was found near the village of Znamenka, in Southern Russia, where excavations in a burial mound had brought to light the tomb of a Scythian king, whose head was adorned with this beautiful comb. The upper portion represented a combat between three warriors, one mounted on a charger. That comb, however, should be classed among "dress" combs rather than dressing combs.

The ivory combs for combing the hair vary in size and in the strength of their teeth. Sometimes a comb made of boxwood was inlaid with ivory, and delicately pierced panels were inserted in the centre of the comb. In some instances a small mirror is found instead of a carved panel; especially is that the case with the smaller combs carried in a reticule or bag.

Inscriptions were common, such, for instance, as those which breathed the sentiment on a boxwood comb in the British Museum, which is inscribed in French: "Accept with goodwill this little gift"; it is a pretty piece of early work, dating probably from the middle of the sixteenth century.



Patch Boxes.

The accessories of the toilet table—useful and ornamental—are many. It has ever been so, and in the change going on many odds and ends are left behind and become relics of former practices. Perhaps among the most interesting of these curios are the little boxes of porcelain, enamelled wares, and wood, which were once used as "patch" boxes, and as receptacles for the pigments employed when gumming patches upon the cheeks and forehead was the height of fashion, and when painting the face was the rule rather than the exception.

It may be contended by some that these mysteries of the toilet are not unknown in the present day, but as yet the modern accessories of the toilet table do not come within the ken of the curio hunter. It was at the Court of Louis XV of France that the practice of gumming small pieces of black taffeta on the cheeks originated, the patches soon afterwards becoming common in this country. From simple circular discs were evolved stars, crescents, and other curious forms; then, as in so many other instances, extremes of fashion brought the practice into disrepute, for so extravagant became the style that the "coach and horses" patch and others as absurd came into favour. The famous Sam Pepys recorded in his Diary the first time he saw his wife wearing a black patch; apparently it caught his fancy, for he wrote: "My wife seemed very pretty to-day, it being the first time I had given her lief to wear a black patch." Incidentally it may be noted that the famous Pepys controlled even his wife's toilet, and that she was obedient to him even in the mysteries of the dressing table!