Curvese Furniture, A Series of Examples from Collections in France. With an Introduction by Herbert Cescinsky. With 54 Collotype Plates and 20 Half-tones. Benn Brothers. 50s. net.
The interest in Chinese art, particularly in its simpler and more austere aspects, in really growing, and there is need of reliable treatise on Chinese furniture, the department which has|- most recently attracted the notice of connoisseurs and collectors. An exhaustive work cannot be looked for as yet—probably not for some years—but the present monograph, with its well-chosen and well-produced illustrations and sugges tive introduction by Mr. Herbert Cescinsky, a well-known authority, will help to fill the gap. Even those who possess fine examples of Oriental _lacquer-work can seldom distinguish between Chinese and Japanese furniture, and do not know that many of the so-called Chinese cabinets really come from Japan. The first broad distinction between Chinese and Japanese furniture arises from the fact that the Chinese sit on a chaie or stool, the Japanese on the floor—90 that, for the latter, every art ich, is dwarfed in proportion. Again. there are differences in the lacquer-work of the two peoples, which can only be fully appreciated after a long and varied experience. These differences are less easily perceived the older the lacquer is for the result of centuries of gentle handling and friction is to give a subdued tone and evenness of surface (of., the "patine' of rly English oak), which did not ori; ally exist. The Ohinese lac, generally speaking, has not the mechanical perfection of the Japanese, and the surface of the form is often so crazed as to seem an intentional effect, a second coating having been deliberately applied before the first was dry. But China, as we are beginning to see, is the more artistic country, and the artistic spirit of lacquerwork from that source out-values_ the Japanese mechanical perfection. It is impossible for European artificers to vie with the Oriental artists in the application of lacquer grounds (1) because the former are handicapped by a damp, chilly climate, and (2) owing to the far higher cost of living, cannot give the infinite time and patience bestowed by the Oriental on his work—even the work which is only of commercial value, being sometimes intended for the Western market. The Chinese artificer, however, has not been too conservative-minded to be influenced by Western fashions. That European Pieces were sent to China to be copied or finished, we know from many of the East India Company's bills of lading, and we have many examples of lacquered furniture where the construction is European and the decoration Chinese. Articles of furniture are to be found, principally in French collections, where everything is Chinese except the designing inspiration, and is unmistakably English, Dutch, or French. The pictures and explanations in this stately monograph will enable the amateur to realise how all these factors work out in the actual craftsmanship, and his artistic outlook will be broadened and refined, even if he does not fall a willing victim to to the noble craze of collecting.—"Morning Post."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.