File:American homes and gardens (1911) (17531060274).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar81911newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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February, 1911 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 67 porcelain; the chimney-pieces were supplied with a multi- tude of little shelves, each one holding a cup, bowl, bottle, or vase; the hearth itself, in the summer time, was loaded with big vases and bowls artistically massed; and chinaware occupied every available nook and corner and perched all along the cornices and over the doors. In one of Marot's designs for a chimney-piece we may count three hundred pieces of porcelain of various shapes and sizes. A Dutch poet of the day sings of a "Porcelain Room" : "His whole house, even his small parlor, shone like a diamond; a thou- sand small cups decorated this parlor. How many Japanese figures and curios of amber, sea coral and pink mother-of- pearl filled also the great room!" The Dutch e x - ported thousands of their home manufac- tured panels to the East to be Japanned, and supplied the pat- terns with which they required the Oriental workmen to decorate the surfaces. The complaints of the native workmen were loud and bitter. In 1700 a petition recites that the man- ufactured cab i n e t - work of the East In- dies had of late years arrived at such a grade of perfection as to exceed all Eu- rope. T he guilds complain further that the importers had sent to the East Indies patterns and models of all forms of cabinet goods and had annually r e - ceived such vast quantities of cabinet wares, manufactured after the home fash- ions that the native workmen were ap- proaching a condi- tion of utter ruin. The same bitter cry went up in England, where one complaint states that in 1672, several artificers were sent over by the East India Company with a great quantity of English patterns, to teach the Indians how to manufacture goods so as to make them vendible in England and the rest of the European markets. The bills of lading of the ships in 1700 alone represented the following amounts in pounds sterling: Lacquered sticks for fans £13,470 ($65,330) Lacquered trunks, escritoires, bowls, cups, dishes 10,500 ( 50,925) Lacquered inlaid tables 189 ( 917) Lacquered panels, in frames, painted and carved for rooms 47 ( 228) Lacquered boards 178 ( 863) Lacquered brushes 3,°99 ( lS^°3°) Lacquered tables (not inlaid) 277 ( 1,343)
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Fig. 9—A buffet Lacquered bellows 174 ( 843 J Lacquered boards for screens 54 ( 262) It is therefore evident that the paneling of a room a la chinois was, as a rule, imported and set up by native work- men. The tall clocks, of which the Dutch were so fond, were now nearly all Japanned, as were also many of the sconces, trays and other metal ware. We must not forget another striking beauty of the opu- lent Dutch home—the marquetry work—native woods in- laid with beautiful exotic wood of various colors making life-like imitations of flowers, fruits, birds, etc. In a typical well-to-do Dutch house of the Seventeenth Century, the first apartment entered from the front door was the front-room. ™ or voorhuis, where visitors were form- ally received. This was a sort of hall and was somewhat coldly furnished, with chairs, a table and a clock. A stairway led to the second floor, where the "show-rooms" were situated. In many houses these were kept for exhibition and were opened only to be cleaned and on great occa- sions. The most im- portant of these was furnished according to the means or class of the owner. The walls were paneled, tiled, or hung with tapestry, or gilded leather, and adorned with paintings and rich mirrors. The chairs were hand- somely upholstered, or supplied with lux- urious cushions and the cupboards and cabinets were carved, or of marquetry, and contained rare por- celains and rich speci- mens of plate and many curios. The kitchen was frequently e n t ered from this r o o m. Here the tiles shone like glass, the pewter and silver gleamed from the racks and dressers, the china closets and shelves were gay with Oriental and Delft plates, cups, dishes and teapots, and the rose-red table and the yellow framed rush-bottomed chairs contributed to the general cheerful- ness. But was cooking ever allowed to desecrate this kitchen? No. All the food for the family was prepared in a small cooking-shed, called "siuti-cer," built for this pur- pose back of the kitchen. Passing upstairs to the bedroom of the master and mis- tress, we find that the floor is of highly polished wood and that family portraits adorn the walls. The furniture con- sists of chairs with tall backs and low seats, a carved table with a rug over it, a large oak cupboard, or kas, a cabinet, a treasure chest, a wash-buffet and a toilet table. A heavy

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