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The horn is probably the most ancient of all wind instruments. It was used at the Jewish feast of the Atonement, and the Romans used it for signalling purposes, their infantry carrying circular bronze horns. There is an interesting popular fable that horns were first introduced into Western Europe by the Crusaders; but that is incorrect, in that bronze horns have been found in prehistoric barrows. The horn was commonly used for summoning the folk mote in Saxon times, and in quite early days horns sounded in English homes on the arrival of guests. The hunting horn was found in every house of importance in mediaeval times, and in the sixteenth century it had become semicircular. Great composers testify to the value of the horn in instrumental music, Handel and Mozart writing pieces specially adapted for its use.
Some very quaint old flutes are found among household instruments, the origin of the primitive pipe or flute being lost in the mists of antiquity. Among household curios old flutes beautifully inlaid stowed away in antique leather cases are interesting relics of former days.
Violins and Harps.
To many the chief charm of old instruments is found in the delicious tones and notes produced by an old violin, which, if the work of a well-known maker, commands a fancy price; among the most valuable being an authentic Stradivarius. Many old English violins were made in Soho in the eighteenth century, for that was the centre of the trade, although in still earlier days violin makers worked in Piccadilly. In Soho, too, horns, trumpets, drums, and guitars were made. The guitar, but in slightly altered form, was the popular home instrument played upon by Greek and Roman maidens. Many of the earlier European lutes were in reality guitars. Some beautifully inlaid specimens are occasionally met with. Of these there are many varieties in the Victoria and Albert Museum; among them there is a guitar lyre, on which is a mask of Apollo, an exact imitation of the lyre of the Ancients, which was formerly used by a member of the Prince Regent's Band at the Royal Aquarium, Brighton.
There is one other instrument which ranks high among the musical instruments of olden time found in British homes. It is the harp, heard to perfection in the drawing-room and the concert hall—an instrument upon which such beautiful melodies can be produced. There are many pretty legends about the harp heard with such delight and yet superstitious awe by the Vikings, who, on their return from Britain, told of the mysterious shores where mermaids of great beauty were said to rise from the seas, and, sitting upon the foam-lashed rocks, played upon their harps music of sweetest sound. American collectors to-day pay large sums for genuine Irish harps, which differ somewhat in size and form from those upon which Welsh maidens played. There are still a few such ancient instruments to be met with in Ireland and Wales.
Of minor instruments there is not much to say—all are intensely interesting when they carry with them memories of former owners, for they are veritable mementoes of home amusements, pleasures, and delights.
XVI
PLAY AND SPORT
CHAPTER XVI
PLAY AND SPORT
Dolls—Toys—Old games—Outdoor amusements—Relics of sport.
It would appear that there have been amusements at all periods of the world's history, and that everywhere work and play have gone hand in hand together. The occupations of the nursery have been an intermixture of lessons and play; amusements, although not always of an elevating or educative character, have for the most part tended to develop and form the mind, as well as strengthen the body. Recreation has played an important part in the upbringing of child and man, and when absent the advance has been retarded. The youth of all ages has found time for games and sports, which have enlivened the duties of manhood and womanhood by physical and mental pleasures. Even as age creeps on, men and women lessen the monotony of daily toil by indulging in indoor games and outside sports, suitable to their age and inclinations. As few games can be played or sport engaged in without accessories, it is not surprising that many relics of the play and sport of past generations are to be met with.
Some of the appliances and apparatus which were acquired in the pursuit of these pleasures have become of antiquarian value, for many of them are curious and represent amusements almost forgotten. Others tell of the steady survival of the oldest games and amusements, but show the developments and alterations which have gone on in the methods of playing or in the appliances which have been invented to enhance the interest in those delights. These changes are seen more especially in sports and games of skill. As an instance, we may take one of the great manly sports, that of hunting game, a custom surviving from days when this England of ours was a wild and uncultivated forest and swamp, full of strange birds and many wild animals roamed therein. The flint-pointed arrow of primitive man was but the beginning in the evolution of arms. In the relics of these former plays and sports there is much to admire, and many objects to collect.
There is something very pathetic about the household relics of the playroom and the nursery. Many little articles of clothing and valueless toys and trinkets are retained by a fond mother years after her offspring has grown up. They remind her of her early married life, and very often of children who have played in the nursery but who never lived to grow up. These pathetic relics have been carefully preserved for at least one generation. Then their associations have been forgotten, and those into whose hands they fall probably know nothing of their origin; to them they are merely curios. A sympathetic feeling may have induced a new owner to retain them for a little while longer, although of no great intrinsic value; but oftener than not they have been kept as connecting links between the old and the new, and thus they have been handed on until their age alone would make them collectable curios in this day of reverence for all things old!
There has been a remarkable sequence in the toys of children of all generations, and of races far apart. The same games have been played, and the same toys used. Now and then a child more careful than usual preserves his or her toys when grown to man's or woman's estate; but such collections are rare. There are some noted collections, however, which have passed into the range of museum curios, grouped together as representative of the period when they were played with—authentic records of the playthings of that day. In Fig. 91 there is a remarkable old toy now in the diversified collection of household curios and antique furniture of Mr. Phillips, of the Manor House, Hitchin.
Dolls.
Probably the commonest toy is the doll, which children have ever regarded as the ideal plaything. The maternal instinct is strong in the youngest girl, and dolls are often looked upon as something more than mere toys. They are talked to, played with, and treated as if they were human beings. Their realism, at first imagined, seems to have grown up with their long use until a personality surrounds each one of the dolls in the nursery. Now and then a quaint doll is treasured as having been the plaything of more than one generation, especially so the old wooden Dutch dolls, strong and lasting, which have in some instances been handed on as playthings, almost as family heirlooms.
The most famous collection of dolls played with by one child, and yet dressed to cover almost every period of English history—a veritable history of costume—is that famous collection in the London Museum, consisting of dolls dressed by and for the late Queen Victoria, who, doubtless, had unique opportunities of copying correctly the costumes of the Court, and of others less high in social status, during the reigns of the English sovereigns who had preceded her.
Few, if any, can hope to possess such a representative collection; there are many who can find, however, curiously dressed dolls which are very helpful in learning something of local costumes and useful instructors in research after the habits and occupations of people who may have lived in places and districts little known to the present generation.
Some children's toys are much older than they appear at first sight to be, for many very similar playthings were found in the playrooms of boys and girls who lived two thousand years ago. There are the dolls and quaint little figures played with by Greek and Roman children. Among the more familiar objects were little wooden tortoises, ducks, and pigs. Some were cleverly carved out of wood, and the arms and legs of dolls moved, much the same as the Dutch dolls of later days. Those children had chariots and horses of metal much the same as children have leaden soldiers now. They trundled hoops of bronze, in some of them bells being placed in the centre, ringing as they ran along. Some of the toys of these little Roman and Greek maidens and youths were very elaborate, and must have belonged to the children of the wealthy, who, like modern parents, gave presents to them on "name" days.
Toys have always served the double purpose of amusement and education. Years before kindergarten methods were adopted—although unknown, probably, to parents—scientific and philosophic toys were doing good work, and driving home elementary truths. There were curious cylindrical mirrors, the inevitable kaleidoscope, and the water imps, an amusing toy, for the imps, inserted in a bowl or bottle of water, bobbed about in a curious way when the india-rubber cap which covered the neck was pressed and manipulated by the fingers. The modern picture theatre, with all its attractions to grown-up folks, was foreshadowed in the very primitive magic lantern, which threw a cloudy disc and an almost undiscernible picture, by the aid of an evil-smelling oil lamp, on an old sheet hung up in the nursery.
Old Games.
There are many curios reminding us of indoor games and winter amusements now obsolete, and of the change which has gone on in games still played. When we recall the number of new games which have been introduced during the last quarter of a century, it is surprising how few have survived. New games come and go, and their accessories are discarded as but toys of the moment. Most of the popular games are those which have been handed down throughout the ages, many of them of great antiquity, especially scientific games and games of skill. Among these games, or rather the apparatus for playing them, are often curios, for they are quite different to and often more decorative than those used in playing similar games to-day. We are accustomed to plain leather or wood chess and draught boards and the regulation patterns of the men nowadays, but formerly much time was expended in decorating and enriching chess boards and men. The boards often served other purposes too, many being beautifully inlaid and reversible; thus the older game boards were fitted with slides for backgammon, provision being made for chess, merelles, and fox and geese, the oak of which they were often made being relieved with rich marqueterie (tarsia) of ebony, ivory, and silver.
It is not often that a collection of old chessmen is found among household curios, although it was not uncommon to discover among sundry ivory carvings a few odd pieces which had been secured on account of their beautiful carving. In India and China some very remarkable chessmen have been produced. The origin of the game is lost in antiquity, although it was played in the East at a very early period. It is said to have been introduced into Spain from Arabia, and to have been played by the Hindus more than a thousand years ago. It was certainly known in this country before the Norman Conquest. Some few years ago a very remarkable collection of chessmen, such as may be seen in isolated sets or still more frequently represented by single pieces in cabinets of old ivories, was dispersed under the hammer in a London saleroom. There were Chinese sets in red and white, wonderful figures standing upon concentric balls; antique Persian sets in cream-coloured ivory decorated in colours and gold, kings and queens on elephants, knights on horses, and bishops on camels; Burmese sets with royal personages seated on chairs of state; and some very remarkable English porcelain, Wedgwood ware, and Minton pottery sets.
Several finds of Scandinavian chessmen, made, probably, in the twelfth century, have been made in the island of Lewis. From these and other sets met with in other places much has been learned about the evolution in the game.
The queen does not appear to have been introduced into the game until the eleventh century. The castle has undergone many changes; its older name of "rook" was derived from the Persian word rokh, a hero. No doubt all the pieces were then carved personalities, well understood from king to pawn. In the modern forms of Staunton and London Club patterns the knight alone retains its semblance in the horse's head—a poor substitute for the beautifully carved warrior on horseback seen in some of the older sets.
Draughts, or dames, is also a game of antiquity; and in the British Museum there is a set said to date back to the Saxon period. Some of the old boards are interesting relics, and the sets of carved draughtsmen, now scarce, are beautiful works of art.
Backgammon is one of the older kindred games, frequently played on the interior of the chess board which was for that purpose marked with twelve points or fleches in alternate colours. In this game dice were used, and some of the old dice cups are very prettily decorated.
Cribbage played with cards and a board is said to be essentially an English game. Some very remarkable cribbage boards were made many years ago, many of metal, others of wood and ivory; one exceptionally interesting piece, a brass cribbage board, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is engraved: "MR. CHRISTR ELLIOTT AT WINBORROW GREEN, SUSSEX 1768."
Cards, of which there are so many curious types among the old examples found in many homes, were introduced into the West of Europe from the East about the fourteenth century. At first they were hand drawn and coloured, then printed from wood blocks, being subsequently printed from blocks and plates engraved on the types which were gradually standardized. Some very interesting collections of old cards have been made, one of the most complete being that of Lady Charlotte Schreiber, now in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum.
In the days when card playing was at its height many fine brass counter trays and curious card trays were fashioned in brass and copper. Some of these may very well be collected, and are suitable receptacles for old metal counters, of which there are many varieties. Some of these counters were made by the diesinkers who helped tradesmen to provide themselves with token change, and they bear a striking resemblance to the contemporary metallic currency. Others were chiefly hand engraved, and often sold in small metal and silver boxes, those dating from the time of Queen Anne being the most interesting. The most popular card counters in the early days of the nineteenth century were brass copies of the spade-ace gold guinea, which they closely resembled, and it is feared, when gilt, were not infrequently palmed off as genuine gold.
Outdoor Amusements.
The outdoor games practised when household curios were being fashioned necessitated fewer accessories than such games do to-day, and many of them were crude and obviously the work of amateurs. Yet the same games were being played and possibly enjoyed as much, although the sport was rougher!
When we think of winter amusements in the past somehow we conjure up pictures of hard frosts and crisp snow, although rain, damp, and fog were probably frequent visitors in Old England. Some of the games can be traced back to very early days—such, for instance, as skating, many ancient skates having been found. There is a remarkable contrast between the beautifully made skates now used on the comparatively rare occasions when the ice bears and the roller skates used all the year round, to those curious bone skates, so very primitive in their construction, examples of which are to be found in several local museums. In the Hull Museum, among the Market Weighton antiquities, there is a choice collection from East Yorkshire; one, made from the cannon bone of a horse, is smooth and well polished, having seen some active use, evidently belonging to some skater in the fifteenth or sixteenth century.
The bone skates were fastened on to the feet much the same as metal skates, but they had no cutting edges, and consequently the skater carried a stick shod with an iron point, and by its aid propelled himself forward. Fitzstephen, writing in the time of Edward II, describes the ponds at Moorfields where the citizens of London skated. The ponds have long been dried up and built over; it is there, however, where, during excavations, some very fine examples of the old bone skates have been found.
Relics of Old Sport.
Among the relics of old sport met with are the curious and often beautifully embroidered hoods of white leather used in the days of hawking. These pretty little hoods, which were placed over the head of the hawk when carried on the wrist to the hunting field, were often embroidered in panels and furnished with braces for tying round the hawk's head. In the British Museum there is a curious silver lock-ring for a hawk engraved with arms and owner's name, apparently of seventeenth-century workmanship. No doubt the real purport of such curios is often overlooked, for not infrequently hawks' hoods have been found amongst old dolls' clothing, having been given to children in later years as playthings.
Guns, Pistols, and Flasks.
Eastern weapons have been brought over to this country in large numbers, some of them very ancient. It is said that among some of the Arab tribes it is no uncommon thing to meet with swords and daggers of antique form, richly damascened, and sometimes with jewelled hilts, made a thousand years or more ago, and a few years ago Crusaders' relics could be met with in the East. Many of these knives have silica blades, some of the handles being of jade. Those of grey jade are often pique with gold, others, of ivory, being inlaid with jewels.
There is not very much to interest in old guns of English make, for few found in houses date back beyond the commencement of the nineteenth century. Among them, however, are flint-locks and here and there an old wheel-lock. The pistols met with among household curios are often handsome and have been preserved in leather cases, carefully stowed away. Some of them record the days of duelling, others the dangers of the road, when highway robbers lurked in every wood, and many a family coach was waylaid and its occupants robbed of their jewels and their purses of gold. To those interested in sporting, and familiar with the breech-loading guns of the present day, much interest attaches to the old powder flasks which were once necessary accompaniments of sportsmen. There are many beautifully engraved, embossed, and decorated flasks in museums, some of the early seventeenth-century specimens being made of boxwood, others of ivory, frequently ornamented with hunting scenes. In Fig. 92 is shown a curious flint-lock powder tester, then also regarded as one of the essential accessories of the sportsman's outfit. The copper powder flask illustrated in Fig. 93 is now in the Hull Museum. It is specially interesting in that the plain copper work is engraved in the centre with its original owner's monogram—"W R" in script. This flask, made about the year 1750, was evidently a keepsake, for engraved round the circular disc is the legend "Keep this for Joseph's sake."
In the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington there are some more elaborate specimens, two of which are illustrated in Fig. 94. They are magnificent examples of metal repousse work—a favourite decoration in the eighteenth century, copied in more inexpensive forms in the nineteenth century by makers of sporting accessories, who stamped them from dies and reproduced some of the old hunting scenes.
A review of the outdoor sports and relics of former days would scarcely be complete without some mention of swords and rapiers, which were once commonly worn, along with pistols, alas! too frequently in use when a hasty word called forth a challenge to a duel. Many of these old swords are rusty, but they frequently show marks of former use. They are needed no longer by civilians in this country, and take their places in trophies of arms, forming important features in the decorative curios of the household.
XVII
MISCELLANEOUS
CHAPTER XVII
MISCELLANEOUS
Dower chests—Medicine chests—Old lacquer—The tool chest—Egyptian curios—Ancient spectacles—Curious chinaware—Garden curios—The mounting of curios—Obsolete household names.
There are many household curios which cannot be classified under the headings of the foregoing chapters. They represent well-known features in every home, and yet each little group has an individuality of its own. Some may say that the main features of house-furnishing have been left out of consideration, and that they are the most interesting household curios when age and disuse have come upon them. Household furniture, however, has been fully dealt with in the "Chats" series in the two volumes entitled "Chats on Old English Furniture," and "Chats on Cottage and Farmhouse Furniture," to which books those interested in the curiosities of cabinet-making and village carpentry are referred. Yet notwithstanding the completeness of those works there are a few objects which have so entirely passed into the range of household curios, and their uses were so entirely apart from present-day furniture, that some of them are specially noted in the following paragraphs, together with a few other isolated antiques.
Dower Chests.
If there is one piece of furniture above another that is surrounded with a halo of romance, surely it is the dower chest! We can picture the incoming of the coffer in all the newness of hand polish, fresh from the hands of the village carpenter or the retainer who had wrought the gnarled old oak grown on the estate for a favourite daughter of his lord—that chest which was to be packed full of fragrant linen, between which was laid sweet lavender, and richly embroidered garments for the bride, who, with her personal belongings stowed away therein, was to pass from the parental home to her newly wedded and unknown life. There are ancient chests full of historic memories, such as those in which the wealth of monarchs has been stored, like that in Knaresborough Castle, which, according to legend and some reference in old deeds, came over with William the Conqueror. In the Castle Museum there is another chest made for Queen Philippa in 1333—a veritable dower chest.
Some of the older chests have had loops for poles by which they could be carried about; but such were more correctly treasure chests. The dower chests usually remained in the home of the bride, and in time became her receptacle for bedding and other household stores, the little tray or corner box for jewels and trinkets being disused and eventually done away with altogether. The evolution of the chest until it became a cabinet or a chest of drawers is a story for the lover of old furniture to tell, but the dower chest in its earlier forms is a curio rich in legend and folklore. It may interest American readers to record that many of the oldest specimens in the States were first used as packing cases of unusual strength, gifts from the old folks at home, when colonists in Jacobean days crossed the Atlantic. Curiously enough, American craftsmen copied them and maintained the purity of the old English style long after the makers of English dower chests had been influenced by Dutch and French design and inlay.
Medicine Chests.
Some of the early English medicine chests, the foundation of which is of wood, are covered with tapestry, others with green satin, sometimes ornamented with floral devices made of puffed satin, overlaid and outlined with gold thread. Medicine chests varied in size, but few households were "furnished" without a fitting receptacle for home-made recipes for simple ailments, such as were much resorted to in the past. The chests were usually well fitted with bottles and phials, and with glass stoppers or silver or pewter tops. Many of the medicines had been prescribed by local practitioners, and were regarded as sovereign remedies to be used on all occasions; others were family recipes held in high repute. In such chests there was often a drawer or compartment containing bleeding cups and lancet—a remedy often resorted to when an illness could not be diagnosed.
Old Lacquer.
The beautiful red lacquer work is getting scarce, although it has had a long run, for it is more than twelve hundred years since the Japanese learned the secret of making it from the Coreans, who in their turn had it from the Chinese. The secret of producing in China and Japan lacquer which cannot be imitated in other countries lies in the rhus vernificifera which flourishes in those localities. It is the gum of that tree commonly called the lacquer-tree, which when taken fresh and applied to the object it is intended to lacquer turns jet-black on exposure to the sun, drying with great hardness. It will thus be seen that although French and English lacquers have been very popular, the imitation lacquer applied can have neither the effect nor the durability of the natural gum which sets so hard, and in the larger and more important objects can be applied again and again until quite a depth of lacquer is obtained, sometimes encrusted over with jewels and other materials embedded in it.
The best English lacquer was made in this country between the years 1670 and 1710, and was a very successful imitation of the Oriental. At that time and during the following century very many tea caddies, trays, screens, trinket boxes, and even furniture, were imported; and it was those which English workmen copied, gradually increasing the variety of household goods for which that material was so suitable.
Old English lacquer differed from the more modern papier-mache in that instead of the pulp being composed entirely of paper, glued together and pressed, it was composed of a basis of wood, covered over with a black lacquer, on which the design was painted in colours. It was made under considerable difficulties, in that it had to compete with the imported Oriental wares which were made in China and Japan under more favourable natural conditions.
The art of japanning was revived in England late in the eighteenth century, and some remarkable pieces appear to have been the work of amateurs who painted and gilded so-called lacquer work, tea caddies, and jewelled caskets. It must be remembered that the art of japanning was looked upon at one time as an accomplishment, for about the year 1700 many gentlewomen were taught the art.
French artists took up the Oriental style, and produced some very successful lacquer work, striking out in an entirely distinct style, which, as Vernis Martin decoration, became famous. The varnish or lacquer forming the foundation for those delightful little pictures was not unlike in effect the Oriental lacquer which to some extent it was intended to imitate.
In the early nineteenth century lacquering as an art fell into disrepute, and such decorations were largely associated with the commoner metal wares, stoved and lacquered by the so-called japanning process carried out in Birmingham and other places, although there is now some admiration shown by collectors for small trays, bread baskets, candle boxes, and snuffer trays of metal, japanned and decorated by hand in colours and much fine gold pencilling.
The Tool Chest.
There have been amateur mechanics in all ages, and among the household curios are many old tools suggestive of having been made when the carpenter had plenty of time on his hands to decorate his tools with carvings, and frequently to make up his own kit. Thus old planes and braces were evidently the work of men who possessed some humour and skill, too, for some of the carved decoration is quite grotesque. There is a fine collection of old tools made and used in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries on view in one of our museums. There is a carpenter's plough, dated 1750, moulding planes and skew-mouthed fillisters of beechwood, and a router plane of carved hornbeam. The modern hand brace becomes more realistic, and its origin understood at a glance when we examine the old hand brace of turned and carved boxwood, dated 1642, in that collection. The part where the bit is fitted is literally a hand, carved out of solid wood, and the curious crank indicates an imaginary twist in the arm, perhaps suggested by some carpenter who was able to manipulate his tools in a way not commonly understood, thus giving to future carpenters a most useful tool.
Egyptian Curios.
Among the collectable curios of old households are many antiquities from foreign lands. Perhaps the most interesting, in that they afford us examples of the prototypes of household antiques as they were known to a nation possessing an early civilization, polish, and refinement, are those which have been discovered recently in Egyptian tombs. Some representative examples may be seen in the British Museum. There are toilet requisites including mirrors, combs, and even wigs and wig boxes, as well as a glass tube for stibium or eye paint. There are ivory pillows or head rests, models of the ghostly boats of the underworld, and a vast variety of children's toys, including wooden dolls with strings of mud beads to represent hair, porcelain elephants, and wooden cats; and there are children's balls made of blue glazed porcelain, and of leather stuffed with chopped straw. There are many games and amusements, such as stone draught boards, and draughtsmen in porcelain and wood. There are bells of bronze and some remarkable musical instruments like a harp, the body of which is in the form of a woman; and there are reed flutes and whistles and cymbals such as were carried by priestesses. There are curious ivory amulets, quaintly carved spoons, ivory boxes, and even theatre tickets. Necklaces and pendants and other articles of adornment are plentiful, for the Egyptian maidens possessed much jewellery—bracelets, rings, and necklaces. One very exceptionally fine relic of this far-off age is a toilet box complete with vases of unguents, eye paint, comb, and bronze shell on which to mix unguents, and other trinkets. Many such antiquities find their way into museums and private collections of household curios, and are useful and interesting for purposes of comparison, telling of customs which change not, and of the many connecting links which exist between the past and the present.
Ancient Spectacles.
It is truly astonishing how many ancient spectacles, which to collectors of such things would be veritable treasures, lie neglected and allowed to "knock about" until broken or otherwise damaged. Those mostly discovered are the heavy brass and silver-rimmed spectacles of about one hundred years ago, some very interesting specimens of which are to be seen in several of the larger local museums.
Spectacles are of very respectable age, although they cannot be traced back to the ancient peoples, for the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, notwithstanding that they polished glass and rock crystal and possessed much scientific lore, were ignorant of their use as aids to sight.
It is said that the credit of the discovery of how to make use of artificial aids to defective sight must be accorded to Roger Bacon, who in his book Opus Majus, published in the thirteenth century, mentioned magnifying glasses as being useful to old people to make them see better. True spectacles are said to have been fashioned in 1317 by Salvino degli Armati, a Florentine nobleman. At first they were convex; indeed, no mention of concave glasses for shortsighted persons was made until towards the middle of the sixteenth century. From that time onward there were developments, and among the household curios are to be found silver, brass, and tortoiseshell rims, and glasses of more or less utility.
Curious China Ware.
Old china and pottery have been fully dealt with by many specialist writers, but there are some household curios made of porcelain, china, and earthenware which cannot be omitted from this survey of household curios. Foremost among these are the now scarce Toby jugs, made at so many of the famous potteries. In a large collection the variations are at once recognized; yet the same idea seems to have run through the minds of the artists in fashioning these jugs, so essentially typical of the age in which they were made and used. Among the Sunderland jugs are many variations both in size and colouring; they were rich in colours, too, and look exceedingly well on an old cabinet.
The posset cups of silver were supplemented by tygs and posset cups and many-handled drinking cups of early Staffordshire make. The brown and yellow slip decoration of this ware is a striking characteristic. All the early seventeenth-century ale drinking cups like the tygs had handles, and in those days of conviviality the double or multiplied handle served a useful purpose, for the vessels were in use when it was the custom of the ale-house for several friends to drink out of one vessel, just as in more polite society and on public occasions the loving cup was passed round.
Some of the so-called portrait busts and statuettes of the eighteenth century are especially interesting to collectors. There are figures to suit all; musicians may delight in that of Handel; others in the busts of Wesley and Whitfield; explorers in the statue of Benjamin Franklin made about 1770, and some in that of John Wilks seated near an old column of a still earlier date. There is also a cleverly modelled figure of Geoffrey Chaucer. One of the best known groups is that of the "Vicar and Moses," made by Wood, of Burslem.
Garden Curios.
It is said that garden craft, like most other forms of art, came from the East; that the cultivation of gardens commenced in Egypt, Persia, and Assyria, travelling westward through Greece and Rome; and in some of the early English gardens which horticulturists are so fond of copying to-day there are traces of Eastern influence still remaining.
Although the garden is the place where we expect to find flowers, foliage, and perhaps fruit and vegetables, it has always been associated with home life, and some of the charms of domestic comradeship owe their greatness to the garden and pleasance.
It has always been the aim of the professional and the amateur gardener to furnish the lawn and flower-beds with appropriate settings, some of which have become very quaint in the eyes of twentieth-century horticulturists.
The Egyptians had their trellised bowers, and their tiny pools of clear water. The Greeks, however, were fortunate in having undulated and even hilly ground to cultivate, and their gardens were much more picturesque than the level ground of Egypt, although the Orientals built terraces, and by artificial means enhanced the beauty of their gardens. The adornment of gardens with statuary comes to us from Greece, and many modern reproductions of ancient Greek statues are regarded as the curios of the modern garden. Delightful, indeed, are some of the statuettes in stone and lead representing Aphrodite and the Graces. The Roman gardens were magnificent in their miniature temples, replicas of which are found in the old Georgian summer-houses, such as may be seen at Kew, and in many private grounds, dating from that period. The Romans were lovers of roses, and had many charming rose bowers, curiously and cunningly formed.
The dawn of gardening on some approved plan, and then ornamenting the portions not covered with greenery, began in monastic days. The oldest of the occupations of civilized man, it was long held in high repute, and many worthy men have posed as amateurs. Indeed, there have been Royal gardeners, among the most familiar being Edward I and Queen Elizabeth. From Tudor times onward the once waste land in the immediate vicinity of castles and palaces was cultivated, and the gardens of the nobility along the Strand in London were full of beautiful stonework and statuettes. A writer in the sixteenth century, describing an English garden of his day, wrote: "Every garden of account hath its fish pond, its maze, and its sundials."
Many fine old fountains or miniature fishponds remain, and sundials are among the curios associated with the outdoor life of the home. The garden houses of the eighteenth century included a bowling green or court, viewed from the terrace; and towards the end of that period many leaden figures were cast, the favourite being replicas of Roman statuary dedicated to such deities as Bacchus, Venus, Neptune, and Minerva. These lead statues have been collected by dealers during the last few years. Some of them are really very beautifully formed, although in many instances the wear and tear of a couple of centuries has covered them over with scratches and indentations. A few years ago lead statues received little consideration from their owners, and the children made them targets for stone-throwing. They are thought more of now, and at several recent sales lead statuettes and vases have sold for considerable sums.
Sometimes ancient lead cisterns are seen outside old houses; many of these and even rain-water spout heads, beautifully moulded and cast, are among the household curios for which there is some call among collectors.
The Mounting of Curios.
A miscellaneous assortment of curios displayed without any regard to their proper setting has just the same effect as a badly framed picture, or a painting with an inappropriate frame. Sundry curios may be made to look charming when properly shown in a glass-topped table or a suitable case, their value as home ornaments being materially increased. Indeed, there are many beautiful objects which look nothing unless properly framed. The Wedgwood cameo gems so varied and so very minutely tooled require proper display; according to their colours so should they be arranged on a velvet or cloth background with an ample margin to separate them. A group of miniatures looks nothing unless in suitable setting or mount. Much of the beauty of old china is lost because it is simply laid out without a colour scheme. A cup and saucer look very much better when shown on a stand, so that the saucer can be seen and every detail of the cup examined, the richness of the colouring inside or out, as the case may be, being thrown up by the ebonized stand on which it is placed. Carved ivories should certainly be shown with a dark setting. In a similar way Oriental plaques and even smaller plates with light backgrounds are set off to the best advantage when shown in dark ebony frames. The Orientals know the value of framework perhaps more than any other people, and among the curios they have sent over to this country are appropriately carved frames and stands. The almost priceless ginger jars when placed upon carved-wood stands, for which the Chinese are so famous, are beautiful indeed, the contrast of the black and blue against the black base being very striking. Indeed, much of the carved furniture of the Orientals has been specially designed as a framework for mother-o'-pearl and gem ornaments. The rare jade carvings in black ebony screens, and the marvellous carving of the larger screens are but appropriate settings to the painted and needlework pictures so rich in colours and gold. In Fig. 57 we illustrate a very remarkable piece in which the artist has expended his wonderful skill in providing a suitable stand or frame for a very beautiful early porcelain plate. Every detail of the carving is worthy of close inspection. This beautiful piece was included in a collection of jade, cloisonne enamels, and carved furniture gathered together in Java some years ago by a well-known collector of Chinese and Oriental curios. Now and then such pieces are to be seen in the shops of West End dealers. But it would be difficult indeed to find one so characteristic of the Chinese carver's art as the one shown.
Obsolete Household Names.
Most household goods and both useful and ornamental home appointments used at the present time are the outcome of progress and development, and their names have changed but little. The change has been in style, material, and manufacture rather than in newness of purpose. It is true that in modern household economy some of the present-day household utensils are the outcome of modern invention, having no similarity in form to the simpler primitive contrivances which they have superseded. Thus, for instance, the vacuum cleaner has little in its appearance to associate it with the old-fashioned carpet brush, neither has the modern knife cleaner much in common with the old knife board. There are some articles, however, which have become quite obsolete, and their names are fast disappearing from inventories of household goods, and, like the older antiquarian relics, are likely soon to be forgotten. In the foregoing chapters mention has been made of the collectable objects of household use, dating from the period of bronze to modern times, and no doubt there are many other articles which have entirely disappeared on account of their perishable nature, or from their very character, there being nothing to suggest their retention. It may be useful for purposes of reference to note the following articles of furniture, kitchen utensils, and mechanical contrivances, which were mentioned in a book published about one hundred years ago—house furnishings, about the ancient uses of which we hear nothing at the present time.
AMPLE—An ointment box, formerly carried by a medical man.
APPLE-GRATE—A sixteenth-century cradle of iron in which to roast apples.
BOMBARD—A large leathern bottle for carrying beer; a term also applied to ancient ale-barrels.
CANISTER—The ancient canister was a pannier or basket, the name being appropriated to its modern use when tea came into the market.
CHAFING-DISH—The name appropriated to modern cooking vessels was originally applied to a dish upon which perfumes were burnt, and in Roman times was an ensign of honour.
COMFIT BOXES—Boxes divided into compartments in which were rare spices, handed round with dessert.
FINGER-GUARD—Horn finger-guards were formerly used by writing masters to protect their nails when nibbing pens.
FIRE-SCREEN—Fire-screens are noted as early as the fourteenth century, long before they were filled with needlework; they were made of wicker, described by a sixteenth-century writer as "a little wicker skrene sett in a frame of walnut tree."
SCRIP—Scrips were hung from girdles, and differed, among the chief varieties being the shepherd's scrip, the pilgrim's scrip, and the traveller's scrip, a kind of purse or wallet.
STANDISH—The old name for an ink horn or vessel, afterwards applied to the stand or dish, or, as we call it now, inkstand, which contained the box or vessel for ink, and another for blotting powder.
TRENCHER—A wooden platter, a term more particularly applied to the beautiful hand-painted circular boards for sweetmeats or cakes.
In conclusion, in the foregoing pages most of the best-known household curios—regarded as such by the collector—have been passed in review. The list is, however, by no means exhausted, for as search is made among the relics of former days many little-known objects come to light, and as isolated examples find their way into public and private collections.
INDEX
Ale tubes, 178
Almanacs, 259-262
American museums, 49
Ample, 355
Andirons, 42, 44, 47
Apple-grate, 355
Apple-scoops, 138, 141
Arms of Cutlers' Company, 80
Banner screens, 165
Basting spoons, 133
Battersea enamels, 91, 183, 212
Beakers, 104
Bellows, 57
Bellows blower, 129
Bells, 311
Bilston enamel, 183
Bodkins, 239
Bohemian glass, 154
Boilers, 133
Bombards, 355
Boule, Charles, 29
Bow cupids, 112, 113
Bristol glass, 176
British glass, 96
British Museum exhibits, 92, 138, 141, 165, 208, 246, 278, 331, 347
Bronze pots, 133
Buhl work, 29
Caddies, 112
Candle boxes, 65, 66
Candle moulds, 65
Candles, 65-67
Candlesticks, 67
Canisters, 355
Carving-knives, 85
Caskets, 192
Caudle cups, 99
Chafing dishes, 355
Chantilly porcelain, 91
Chatelaines, 216
Chelsea cupids, 112, 113
Chessmen, 328
Chestnut roasters, 142
Chests, 191
Chimney ornaments, 150
China, 349
Chinese influence, 100
Chinese lacquer, 29
Chippendale influence, 101, 162
Clocks, 298, 299
Clog almanacs, 259
Cloisonne enamel, 183
Coaching horns, 197
Cocoanut cups, 103
Cocoanut flagons, 103
Coffers, 191
Combs, 206-208
Comfit boxes, 355
Continental gridirons, 137
Cooking vessels, 138, 141
Copper urns, 117
Cordova leather, 187, 188
Couvre de feu, 39
Cream jugs, 108, 111
Cribbage boards, 330
Cruet stands, 96, 97
Cuir boulli work, 84, 90, 188, 190, 192
Cupids, Chelsea and Bow, 112, 113
Cups, 99, 100
Curio hunting, 24
Cutlers' Company, 80
Cutlery, 80-95, 239, 240
Damascened steel, 90
Derbyshire spar, 154, 157, 158
Dolls, 325, 326
Domesday Book, 23
Dower chests, 340, 341
Draughts, 329, 357
Dressing cases, 215
Dutch influence on art, 30
Dutch ovens, 130
Egyptian curios, 347
Egyptian influence, 153
Enamelled wares, 212
Enamels, 182-184
Fenders, 53, 54
Finger guards, 355
Fire-dogs, 47
Fire drills, 39
Fireirons, 53
Fire-making appliances, 36-39
Fireplace, the, 41-44
Fireploughs, 39
Fire screens, 356
Flesh hooks, 138
Floor candlesticks, 67
Fluor spar, 157
Flutes, 314
Food-boxes, 141
Forks, 85
French art, 26
French influence, 153
Gallybawk, 134
Games, 327-330
Garden curios, 350, 351
German wall warming stove, 50
Glass and enamels, 175-184
Glass beads, 235
Glass curios, 290-293
Glass ornaments, 178, 181
Glass pictures, 181
Glass rolling pins, 235
Gourd cups, 104
Grandfather clocks, 301
Gridirons, 137, 138
Grills, 137, 138
Guildhall Museum exhibits, 85, 99, 193
Guns, 333
Hair ornaments, 196
Hampton Court fireplaces, 48
Hawk hoods, 332
Home ornaments, 149-170
Horn books, 197
Horners, Worshipful Company, 197
Horns, 313, 314
Horn work, 196, 197
Hull Museum exhibits, 193, 229, 332, 334
Inkstands, 263
Irish curios, 67
Ivories, 166, 169
Jack knives, 83
Jade, 158, 161
Japanned trays, 101
Jewel caskets, 220, 221
Kentish ironmasters, 50
Kettles and stands, 108, 133
Kettles, miniature, 169
Kitchen grates, 129-133
Kitchen, the, 125-145
Knife-boxes, 117
Lace bobbins, 232, 236
Lantern clocks, 298
Lanterns, 72-75
Leather and horn, 187-197
Leather bottles, 192-194
Leather flasks, 194
Leather pictures, 194
Leather ships, 194
Lights of former days, 61-75
Lille enamels, 212
Limoges enamels, 182-183
Links extinguishers, 68
Locks of hair, 219
London Cutlers' Company, 84
Love spoons, 235, 240, 289
Love tokens, 283-293
Lucky cups, 190
Lucky emblems, 283-293
Mantelpieces, 41, 42
Marking of time, 297-307
Marqueterie designs, 30
Matches, early types, 41
Medicine chests, 341
Meissen porcelain, 91
Met-soex or eating knives, 83
Miniature curios, 169
Monochord, 312
Mosaics, 157
Mother-o'-pearl, 107
Mounting curios, 353
Musical instruments, 311-317
Nailsea glass, 177
National Museum of Wales, 129, 141, 280
National Museum of Naples, 45
Needles of wood, 240
Needlework, 246
Nutcrackers, 113-117
Oak settles, 162
Obsolete names, 355, 356
Oil lamps, 71, 72
Old gilt, 165, 166
Old lacquer, 342
Ormolu, 150
Pastrycooks' knives, 138
Pastry wheels, 138
Patch boxes, 204, 211, 213
Peg tankards, 100, 103
Pens, 264, 267
Perfume boxes, 213
Pianofortes, 312
Piggins, 141
Pipe racks, 273
Pipes, 271, 272
Pistol tinder boxes, 40
Pistols, 333
Play and sport, 321-334
Playing cards, 330
Pomander boxes, 214
Pontypool wares, 106
Porridge bowls, 141
Porringers, 99, 100
Pounce boxes, 263
Priming flasks, 334
Punch bowls, 98
Punch ladles, 97
Puzzle cups, 100
Queen Anne style, 100
Roasting cages, 130
Roasting jacks, 125
Rolling pins, 177
Roman influence, 153
Rushlights, 62-65
Russian customs, 92
Salt cellars, 95, 96
Sand boxes, 263
Saucepans, 125, 126
Scrap books, 255, 256
Scratchbacks, 215
Sheraton influence, 112, 162
Ships of glass, 182
Shoes, 195
Shovels, 53
Skates, 332
Skimmers, 133
Smokers' cabinet, 271-280
Smokers' tongs, 277
Snuff boxes, 196, 279, 280
Snuffer extinguishers, 68
Snuffers, 67-71
Snuff rasps, 279
Spectacles, 348
Spice boxes, 213
Spinning wheels, 226-231
Spits, 125, 129
Spleen stone, 158
Spoons, 86, 89, 117
Staffordshire figures, 150
Staffordshire wares, 97
Stained glass, 181
Standishes, 356
Straw-work, 232
Style, influence of, 26
Sugar nippers, 111
Sugar tongs, 111, 112
Sussex backs, 42, 47, 50
Sussex foundries, 50
Table appointments, 79-118
Tapestry, 190, 191
Tapestry factories, 26
Taunton Castle Museum exhibits, 177, 193, 246, 278, 293
Teapots, 107
Teatable, the, 107, 108
Thimbles, 239
Tickets, benefit, ball, etc., 256
Tinder boxes, 39-41
Tobacco boxes, 274, 277
Tobacco pipes, 271, 272
Tobacco pipes (glass), 177
Tobacco stoppers, 277, 278
Toddy ladles, 97
Toilet table, the, 203-221
Tools, ancient, 346
Tower of London exhibits, 95
Trays, 105-107
Trenchers, 141, 356
Trencher salts, 96
Trivets, 54-57
Turnspits, 130
Vases, 153, 154
Venetian glass, 91, 178
Vernis Martin varnishes, 29
Victoria and Albert Museum exhibits, 48, 57, 86, 89, 90, 142, 188, 191, 192, 215, 231, 241, 279, 312, 317, 330, 334
Vinaigrettes, 214
Violins, 314
Virginals, 312
Walking sticks (glass), 177
Wallace collection, 29
Wallets, 195
Warming pans, 142, 145
Watches, 302, 305
Watch keys, 305, 306
Watch papers, 259
Watch stands, 307
Waterford glass, 176
Wedgwood cameos, 170, 280
Whistles, 312, 313
Wood carvings, 161-165
Wooden cups, 104
Woodware, 117
Work boxes, 225-250
Writing cases, 262
Writing tables, 262
* * * * *
UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON
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