Class XYX.]

SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT ON DESIGN.

737

in the precious metals, and in the affiliated manufactureof plated and Sheffield •wares.

While it is not possible, therefore, in works in the pre-cious metals, entirely to separate the artist from theornamentist, still for the purposes of description theirseparation is marked with sufficient distinctness. A greatcause of the faults exhibited in these works seems to be,that they have received their design rather from the artistthan the ornamenhst; thus we have figures having no con-structive connexion with the work ornamented, but ratherof the nature of statuettes perched wherever a ledge orshelf offers accommodation for them; these are generally asimitatively treated as the material used and the powers ofthe artist permit, and are applied to inkstands, candelabra,and works of the like kind requiring a purely ornamentalconsideration. Many centre-pieces, racing-cups, andtestimonials are treated merely as groups would be by thesculptor, although the lowest style of his art has buttoo frequently been adopted, and imitations of textures,chain and plate mail, and such laborious littlenesses,made a point of, rather than that nobler view of art,which, discarding miniature and strictly imitative details,seeks by grandeur of form and largeness of manner, tomake us forget the scale of the work in the dignifiedstyle of its treatment. Now, if it is proper that theseworks should be consigned to the hands of the artist, heis bound to treat them according to the laws of his ownart, not only by a noble style, but also by making them asgroups truly statuesque, combining the parts so that theyform an agreeable whole in all possible directions of view.Above all, the thoughts which, as works of art, they serveto embody, should be such as are worthy of being illus-trated on metals of great value, which enriched by trueart are enhanced in worth a hundredfold.

If we contemplate some of the inventions of the artists,and some of the thoughts which they have wrought out,we shall be indeed surprised that such puerilities could hedwelt on long enough to execute them as works of art,and still more that manufacturers, so shrewd as theygenerally are, should be found to engage in their produc-tion, were it not sufficiently evident that there is a largeand wealthy public whose taste does not rise above suchart, proved by its becoming patrons and purchasers.What can justify the employment of the precious metals,and what ought to be the more precious labours of artists,upon huntsmen and ploughboys, to render them with allthe coarseness of their garments and the texture of theirhose ? or who, but the givers of a testimonial, relyingon the known taste of its receiver, would require art tobe degraded into the mere imitation of a hedge-row oc-currence on a hunting-day when the sport was successful;knee-breeches and top-boots being as important items inthe groups as the hounds, horses, and the portraits of theindividuals whose good fellowship it commemorates?It is such art in the more precious metals, employed onsuch thoughts, that leads, in the imitative manufac-tures, to the many paltry inventions which are found toprevail therein. Rachel at a well in a rock under animitative palm-tree draw's—not water, but ink: Burns’shepherdess would find the same black fluid in the form-less well by her side; a grotto of oyster-shells withchildren beside it, contains, not a light, but an ink-vessel;the milk-pail on a maiden’s head contains, not goat’smilk, as the animal by her side would lead you to sup-pose, but a taper. Such works are akin to dpergnes withthe hippopotamus and his keeper; or Paul and Virginiaunder a palm-tree that upholds the glass for flowers onits top ; or Apollo dancing, supporting at the same timea glass epergne twice his own size ; and inventions ofequal or greater novelty wrought out with great wasteof skill and labour. Even when we arrive at reallyartistic works in this style, of which happily there aremany, it is more than doubtful whether the ornamentistwould not be more suitably employed upon them, and anornamental and architectural construction first obtained,ere art was called in to aid in their completion. It is notpleasant to add, that the above strictures more especiallyrefer to English productions. It is true that such workshave often a local significance or an individual importance,causing their exhibition here, and making it less likely

such should be exhibited by the foreigner than plate of aspecific use, or ornamental works whose characteristicsare more general; but it is impossible to deny that thetaste of the class who purchase or commission theseworks abroad must be higher than our own.

In France , for instance, we find testimonials and prizestaking the shape of art rather than of massive metal.The President of the Republic, in contributing a prize tothe winner of the Chantilly races, presents a shield, onwhich are four reliefs, illustrating racing in various agesof the world; and when the workmen of Montlucon andthe inhabitants of Lot desire severally to present testi-monials to Generals Changarnier and Cavaignac , theweight of silver is of far less importance in their eyes thanthe rare beauty of the art-workman ship. These worksare exhibited by M. Froment-Meurice; and the two latter,two beautiful swords, are choice examples of design andchasing. Moreover, it is worthy of notice that in suchworks the artist does not consider his vocation a separateone, but regards the utility while he perfects the art. Inboth the above sword-hilts, the ornament (group offigures) has been so thoroughly adapted and composed forits purpose as a handle, that it is perfectly accommodatedto the grasp ; which is the case also with a beautiful shortsword, ornamented with the history of St. Hubert, exe-cuted by M. Marc.et, and exhibited by Marrel Brothers(France , 331) in the same department.

When the amount of those works exhibited by the goldand silver smiths of Great Britain is regarded, an amountwhose value is to be estimated by its weight in tons, itmust be owned that there seems ample encouragement formore skilled labour ; but the slightest glance will serve tosho-w how largely the mere weight of metal enters intothe estimate of value by the possessors of plate here; and,on the contrary, how little fine art is considered to add toits -worth. And yet art would give a more real and perma-nent value than mere material, and tend at the same timeto separate the precious metals from the plated substituteswhich ape their richness, but which would never engagethe hand of the artist in such rare and costly efforts ofskill; indeed, it is a curious fact, observable in theimitative manufactures, more especially in those wherethe production is very easy, and the sale likely to beextended from the cheapness this induces, that, insteadof being employed on art, of the best character, in thefirst type, it is often of the most wretched description,notwithstanding one might suppose that the cost of thefirst model, even if high in itself, would be trifling dis-persed over a multitude of copies ; but it is probable thatthe style of the work in such cases is suitable to thegeneral taste of the purchaser. Thus the electrotypeprocess, by which means the rarest specimens of art canbe, and have been, reproduced, applied to general manu-facture, or where original works have been attempted, hasbeen too often used on the worst art and the most puerileornament. The same is observable in works formed bystamping in dies, and even, though in a less degree, inthose east in moulds, and afterwards chased; and it isonly when the same man’s mind invents the work whichhis hand executes, that the highest skill is seen conjoinedwith the most beautiful art.

It must be owned, however, that our countrymen aregreatly deficient in the treatment of the precious metalsas the medium of art. The truth seems to be, that hereone artist designs the work, and perhaps makes the mode.,whilst another is employed to produce it in the metal.Thus we find works designed with great ability, andmodelled with much knowledge, and evidently by artistsof great professional excellence, yet these works arecompleted in the metal with every’ possible littleness ofimitation, serving only to degrade and vulgarise the artit is emploved upon; and this frequently is caused by thesurface treatment and the mode of execution, whereinimitation has taken the place of art. Thus the trueartist does not produce the texture of the fur of animalshair by hair, but gives its general expression by someconventional rendering, by the indications at the partswhere the skin folds, or by tooling to emulate the lustreof its gloss. In the same way true art does not imitatethe materials of our dress by the threads of its manu-

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