SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT ON DESIGN.

TClass XXX.

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Those designers who unreservedly adopt the ornamentof past times must, of course, apply it to their workswithout any peculiar significance or connected idea, butmerely for its beautiful forms, elegance, grace, or rich-ness. Where, however, any significant allusion, senti-ment, or happy idea can be embodied in the ornament,uniting it with the use and intent of the work on whichit is to be placed, it will have a charm which the otherswant. Not that this want is peculiar to the applicationof traditional ornament, since the designer in the naturalor imitative manner seldom attempts any connexion be-tween his decoration and the work to which it is to beapplied. There seems no fitness, for instance, in sur-rounding the frame of a pier-glass with dead birds, game,shell-fish, nets, &c., although they may be excellentspecimens of carving; nor is it clear why eagles should

support a sideboard, or dogs form the arms of an elbow-chair ; nor, again, why swans should make their nestsunder a table, at the risk of having their necks brokenby every one seated at it: indeed, in most cases, as suchimitative forms cannot in the strict sense be called orna-ment, they almost challenge inquiry as to why they havebeen adopted, and disappoint us when we find it has beenwithout motive; this is not the case with traditional orna-ment, which, like the current coin, is accepted at oncewithout inquiry.

The sideboard, carved in walnut, as here show n, andwhich is exhibited in the French Court, by Foukdixois(France , 1231, p. 1230), is an apt illustration of ornamenthaving a just and characteristic significance. This pieceof furniture is of rare excellence and merit in design, andof skilful and artistic execution as to carving, and,

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although of a highly decorative character, is fitted forthe purpose for which it is intended. Six dogs, emble-matical of the chace, resting on a floor of inlaid wood,support the slab, which has a simple carved mouldingalong its front, and is inlaid in geometric forms. Thedogs are not merely imitative, but are treated as a partof an ornamented bracket or console, thus composedarchitecturally for bearing and support. Above the slab,standing on four pedestals, are female figures, gracefullydesigned as emblems of the four quarters of the world,each bearing the most useful production of their climateas contributions to the feast. Thus Europe has wine;Asia, tea; Africa, coffee; and America , the sugar-cane.In the central space between the pedestals, which is ratherthe widest of the three, the products of the chace arepoured out on the very board, and above this the space isfilled with a framed picture of rare fruits, giving an op-portunity to enliven the work by the addition of colour,without militating against good taste; above the figures,

which are treated as statues, the cornice is bracketed,and supports boys with the implements of the vineyardand of agriculture. It rises into a pediment in thecentre ; this is broken in the manner of the Kenaissance,and decorated with a figure of Plenty crowning the group.The upright line of the back is gracefully varied at thesides, and constructively strengthened by carved brackets,above which are terminal figures bearing the implementsof fishery on the one side and of the chace on the other.The panels of the pedestals and of the side compartmentsbelow are filled with carvings formed of the fruits ofvarious countries, grouped with the instruments of horti-culture and agriculture. Two brackets on the side com-partments between the figures give an opportunity forplacing silver plate in a position for display. The orna-mental parts of this piece of furniture are carved through-out in a masterly manner, and in a bold and free style;it is consistent as a whole, and free from puerilities, and,while it is thoroughly fitted for its purpose as a sideboard,