THE NEW-YOKK EXHIBITION ILLUSTRATED.

gracefully disposed. The American shield and eagle havenot been neglected. It is upholstered with green goat-skin. The name of the French artist who executed thecarving we have not ascertained.

Messrs. Morant & Boyd, of London, exhibit a Cabinetwhich the foregoing illustration represents. The surfaceis enamelled, and the decorative portions are gilt.

The large engraving which fills this page represents

one of the patent Axminster Carpets, from the extensivemanufactory of Messrs. James Templeton & Co., of Glas-gow. These carpets are woven on the loom, and nottufted to the warp as was formerly done; in this waythe worsted is thrown on one side, and a smoother sur-face is obtained.

The decoration invites a brief comment upon its cha-racter. It will be seen that the carpet is divided into

compartments which are surrounded, and in part filledwith arabesque scrolls, <fcc., some of which were inventedto ornament furniture, while others were undoubtedlydesigned for architectural uses—mural ornaments, andcarved and gilded cornices. The flowers and fruitswhich constitute the remainder of the design are directimitations of nature. Like the scrolls, they seem to standout in high relief, and to have been strewn upon the sur-

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face rather than to form an integral part of it. One isalmost afraid to walk here, lest his inadvertent foot shouldcrush the delicate beauty of the roses, or tread out thepurple juices of the grapes. We submit that this is notappropriate. Good taste forbids the confused and indis-criminate intermingling of the ornaments of differentarts. We do not strew bouquets or pile fruit upon ourparlor floors to decorate them, nor should we find it con-

venient to walk over oronze scrolls, or carved panels andmouldings; and common sense should teach that the pic-tures of these things are in the same places equally in-appropriate. Indeed the impropriety increases as theimitation becomes more deceptive and exact. Bothmakers and buyers of carpets may profitably refer tothe practice of those eastern countries where carpets hadtheir origin. There a strict mosaic principle prevails

throughout, and no fac-simile or relievo ornaments beingemployed, the carpet is smooth and flat in appearance aswell as in reality. Turks, Persians, and Hindoos, arecommonly classed among barbarous, or at least half-civilised nations, but in the matter of decorating carpetsthey exhibit a refined taste and correct perception of thefitness of things, such as is rarely seen in the manufac-tures of Europe.