726

SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT ON DESIGN.

[Class XXX.

signer, since it will be long before he has a public suffi- Iciently educated to relish the amount of plainness which 'is absolutely necessary to give the true value to eachpart enriched.

Grates .—Grates rank among the principal works inhardware to which ornamental design is applied, at leaston the English side, and there by far the best specimensboth as to design and workmanship are to be found: thiswas to be expected from the general necessity for warmthin our cold and variable climate; an Englishman’s lovefor his fireside having passed into a proverb. It is grati-fying also to see that the design and decoration of thesegoods have greatly improved in the last few years.Some works of great merit are to be found among thoseexhibited, while the workmanship generally is excellent.There is, however, an evident tendency to do too much,and it is incumbent on designers for such goods carefullyto avoid this, and to endeavour to restrain manufacturersfrom such treatments of the metals as lead to gaudinessand glare, and by which, at the same time, the grateitself is rendered less useful. The great secret, afterconstructive use has been considered, consists in the pro-per and judicious treatment of the materials, which offer ;

I great advantages for contrast, either with or without theintroduction of bronze or or-molu. True excellence willbe found to be closely allied to simplicity—a moderateuse of ornament and of the burnisher, and the contrastof broad flat masses of plain metal with ornamented orburnished mouldings, with inlays of brass, or with bronzeand or-molu ornaments. The arched form which hasgenerally been adopted for grate-fronts is architecturallysuitable and agreeable in outline, giving ample oppor-tunity for ornament in the mouldings of the arch, as wellas in the spandrels, besides having sufficient surface ofmetal to contrast with; moreover, it is not likely tointerfere with the architectural arrangement of themantel-piece to which it may have to be fitted. Messrs.Robson and Hoole (Class XXII., p. 609) exhibit severalgrates designed by Mr. A. Steevens, highly decorative incharacter, and of great general merit; two especially,fronting on the Central Avenue, designed in theRenaissance style, evince great artistic ability. The oneengraved, however, which is exhibited by them, is moreconstructively simple, and sufficiently ornamented for itsoffice as an article of furniture, while it displays most; judicious use of the material. The face is of ground

/■I i ; ' i i

cast metal, the ornamented moulding of pale bronze,with the leafage of brass, and the figure bronzed, whilesome semi-burnished lines about the fire give a verychaste and tasteful effect; the fender is also of bronzeand brass, with the leading lines burnished. Much moreornament than this would raise the grate out of its rightplace in the scale of furniture, and draw undue attentionto it; its sober simplicity is more to be commended thanmany of the very highly ornamented grates around it.Messrs. Sti'art and Smith (p. 603) have also some meri-torious works as to design, but from the excessive intro-duction of burnished surfaces the grates look too fine foruse. Messrs. Ilooles have avoided this by a large intro-duction of the ground metal, which contrasts excellentlywith either burnished or brass ornaments , and adds totheir beauty by its own repose and sobriety. It cannever be too much insisted on, that ornament loses itsvalue when it overloads a work, and that large unorna-mented spaces are required to enhance and give zest totiie decorated parts. As we descend to grates designedby inferior artists, we find excess substituted for excel-lence, and works of such brilliant gaudiness of surface

• as to be quite unfitted for their intended use; indeed,

: the process of keeping them in order would seem to; require that a whitesmith formed part of our establish-1 ment, or that the housemaid should have a practicaleducation to enable her to take to pieces the elaborateconstructions which would come under her care, inde-pendently of the skill required to clean them. Messrs.Stuart and Smith have made attempts at the combinationof materials with some success, and have also somecleverly designed metallic inlays for hearths.

It is' tiresome to repeat what has so often before beensaid, that use ought to be considered before ornament;yet no section of furniture suffers more from neglect ofthis rule than that comprised under hardware, not onlyin the works exhibited in the British, but in all parts ofthe Exhibition. In some cases this shows itself in apply-ing a form or construction suited for one use, to anotherfor which it is quite inapplicable. Thus some chandeliersin the Frencli Court, which at first sight seem cleverlydesigned, and a skilful treatment of the metal, on exami-nation are found to consist of a large central lamp, whichalone is intended to give light, surrounded by a circle of