Principles of Decorative Design Part 14

More will be said upon the subject of form when speaking of gla.s.s vessels and of silversmiths' work; and when considering these subjects we shall also give the law which governs the application of handles and spouts to vessels; and it is of the utmost importance that they be correctly placed in order that the vessel may be used with convenience (see page 140). A word must now be said respecting the decoration of earthen vessels, but on this subject our remarks must be brief.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 114.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 115.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 116.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 117.]

The object to which the decoration is applied must determine the nature of the ornament to be employed. In the case of a vessel which is to be in part hidden when in use, great simplicity of treatment should be adopted, and the ornament may with advantage consist of repeated parts. In the case of a plate, little or no ornament should be placed in the centre; but if there is a central ornament it should be a small, regular, radiating figure, consisting of like parts (Figs.

114 and 115). The border should also consist of simple members repeated, for it will then look well if portions are covered; and these remarks will apply equally to all kinds of plates, whether intended for use at dinner or dessert.

No plate should have a landscape painted upon it, nor a figure, nor a group of flowers. Whatever has a right and wrong way upwards is inappropriate in such a position, as whatever ornament a plate bears should be in all positions as fully right way upwards to the beholder as it can be. Besides, landscapes, groups of flowers, and figures are spoiled if in part hidden, provided they are satisfactory when the whole is seen.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 118.]

Plates may have a white ground, for it is desirable that those articles on which food is presented should manifest the utmost cleanliness, yet to a cream tint there can be no objection. I should, however, prefer white plates, with a rather deep blue, Indian red, maroon, or brown pattern upon them, and a pale buff table-cloth for them to rest upon.

In the case of cups and saucers the treatment should be similar to that of the plate. The saucer may have a simple border ornament, consisting of parts repeated, and little or no ornament in the central portion on which the cup rests. The cup may have an external border ornament, and a double narrow line of colour around the upper portion of the interior, but no other ornament is here required.

Whatever ornament is placed around a cup, or vase, or any tall object must be such as will not suffer by perspective, for there is scarcely any portion of the ornament that can be seen otherwise than foreshortened (Figs. 103 and 111). Let simplicity be the ruling principle in the decoration of all rounded objects, and ever remember that a line which is straight on a flat surface becomes a curve on a round surface (see page 110).

I have given what is a correct decoration for a plate and cup and saucer, but there are other methods of treatment than those just named. The j.a.panese are very fond of placing little circular groups of flowers on plates, saucers, and bowls (Figs. 116 and 117). The Greeks had various methods of enriching their tazzas and vases with ornament, and the Egyptians were partial to the plan of rendering a cup as a lotus-flower (Fig. 100). But when they formed a cup thus, they were careful to draw the flower conventionally and ornamentally, and never produced an imitative work (see page 24). The Chinese treat the flower of the sacred bean in the same way (Fig. 118).

What I have said has been addressed to the student. The remarks, however, made respecting the form chosen being that which is most suitable to the end proposed, and the conditions to which I shall make reference as governing the application of handle and spout to any object, are binding upon all who would produce satisfactory works; but to the genius who has power to produce beautiful and vigorous ornament, and whose taste has, by years of study and cultivation, become refined and judicious, I can give no rules, his own taste being his best guide.

DIVISION II.

When speaking of earthenware, I insisted upon the desirability of using every material in the easiest and most natural manner, and I ill.u.s.trated my meaning by saying that gla.s.s has a molten condition as well as a solid state, and that while in the molten condition it can be "blown" into forms of exquisite beauty. Gla.s.s-blowing is an operation of skill, and an operation in which natural laws come to our aid, and I cannot too strongly repeat my statement that every material should be "worked" in the most simple and befitting manner; and I think that our consideration of the formation of gla.s.s vessels will render the reasonableness of my demand apparent.

Let a portion of molten gla.s.s be gathered upon the end of a metal pipe, and blown into a bubble while the pipe drops vertically from the mouth of the operator, and a flask is formed such as is used for the conveyance of olive oil (Fig. 119); and what vessel could be more beautiful than such a flask? Its grace of form is obvious; the delicate curvature of its sides, the gentle swelling of the bulb, and the exquisitely rounded base, all manifest beauty.

Here we get a vessel formed for us almost wholly by Nature. It is the attraction of gravitation which converts what would be a mere bubble, or hollow sphere of gla.s.s, into a gracefully elongated and delicately-shaped flask. This may be taken as a principle, that whenever a material is capable of being "worked" in a manner which will so secure the operation of natural laws as to modify the shapes of the objects into which it is formed, it is very desirable that we avail ourselves of such a means of formation, for the operation of gravitation and similar forces upon plastic matter is calculated to give beauty of form.

When clay is worked upon the potter's wheel, it is shaped by the operator's skill, and is sufficiently stiff to retain the shape given to it to a very considerable extent; yet the operation of gravitation upon it, so long as it has any plasticity whatever, is calculated to secure delicacy of form. This rule should ever be remembered by the art-student--that a curve is beautiful just as its origin is difficult to detect (see Chap. I., page 23). In the formation of vases, bottles, etc., knowledge of this law is very important, and the operation of gravity upon hollow plastic vessels is calculated to give to their curves subtlety (intricate beauty) of character. Having arranged that the material shall be worked in the manner most befitting its nature, we must next consider what purpose the object to be formed is intended to serve.

Take a common hock-bottle (Fig. 120) and consider it. What is wanted is a vessel such as will stand, in which wine can be stored. It must have a strong neck, so that a cork may be driven in without splitting it, and must be formed of a material that is not absorbent. Gla.s.s, as a material, admirably answers the want, and this bottle is capable of storing wine; it will stand, and has a rim around the neck such as gives to it strength. But, besides serving the requirements named, it is both easily formed and is beautiful. The designer must be a utilitarian, but he must be an artist also. We must have useful vessels, but the objects with which we are to surround ourselves must likewise be beautiful; and unless they are beautiful, our delicacy of feeling and power to appreciate Nature, which is full of beauties, will be impaired. A hock-bottle is a mere elongated bubble, with the bottom portion pressed in so that it may stand, and the neck thickened by a rim of gla.s.s being placed around it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 119.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 120.]

Here we have a bottle shaped by natural agency; it is formed of heavy gla.s.s, and the bubble was thick at its lower part, hence its elongated form; but if length is required in any bubble, and the gla.s.s is even light, it can always be given by swinging the bubble round from the centre, so that centrifugal force may be brought into play in the direction of its length; or if it has to be widened, this can as easily be done by giving to it a rotatory motion, whereby the centrifugal force is caused to act from the axis of the vessel outwards, and not from the apex to the base, as in the former instance. In either case a certain amount of beauty would appear in the shape produced, for Nature here works for us. (Compare the short, dumpy, yet beautiful bottle, in which we receive curacao, with the hock-bottle, when the two natural modes of forming bottles will be ill.u.s.trated.) Our wine-bottles are moulded, hence their ugliness. We work without Nature's a.s.sistance, and we reap ugliness as the reward.

Let us now consider what a decanter should be. In many respects, the wants which a decanter is intended to meet are similar to those which are met by the bottle, as just enumerated, but here is a great difference--a bottle is only _intended_ to be filled once, whereas a decanter will have to be filled many times; and a bottle is made so that it can travel, while a decanter is not meant to be the subject of long journeys. It is true that a bottle may be refilled many times, but it is not intended that it should, as the fact that we use a funnel when we wish to fill it clearly shows, and without a funnel the vessel is not complete. All objects which are meant to be refilled many times should have a funnel-shaped mouth (see my remarks on the Greek water-vessel, page 121), but if a bottle had a distended orifice it would not be well adapted for transport. A decanter should have capacity for containing liquid; it should stand securely, and have a double funnel--a funnel to collect the fluid and conduct it into the bottle, and a funnel to collect it and conduct it out of the bottle.

It must also be convenient to use and hold, and the upper funnel should be of such a character that it will guide the liquid in a proper direction when poured from the decanter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 121.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 122.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 123.]

If we take a flask and flatten its base, and extend the upper portion of the neck slightly into the form of a funnel, we have all that is required of a decanter, with the exception of a permanent cork, which is a stopper (Fig. 121).

But as most decanters are intended to hold wine, the brilliancy of which is not readily apparent when that portion of the vessel which contains the liquid rests immediately upon the table, it is desirable to give to the vessel a foot, or, in other words, raise the body of the decanter so that light may surround it as fully as possible (Figs.

122 and 123).

In Figs. 124 to 135 I give a number of shapes of decanters and jugs, such as may be seen in our best shop-windows, and such as I consider desirable forms for such vessels; and in considering-the shape of such vessels, the character of the upper portion of the neck (the lip) must be regarded, as well as that of the body and base. Notice also whether the centre of gravity is high or low, and the position and character of the handle; but respecting the application of handles to vessels I will speak when considering silversmiths' work (see page 140).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 124.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 125.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 126.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 127.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 128.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 129.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 130.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 131.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 132.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 133.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 134.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 135.]

Besides decanters and bottles, gla.s.s is formed into tumblers, wine-gla.s.ses, flower-holders, and many other things; but the principles which we have already laid down will apply equally to all, for if the objects formed result from the easiest mode of working the material, and are such as perfectly answer the end proposed by their formation, and are beautiful, nothing more can be expected of them.

Many objects of fancy shape have been produced as mere feats of gla.s.s-blowing, and with some of these efforts I sympathise. Wherever the work produced is truly adapted to use, or where an artistic effect is achieved, the gla.s.s-blower has my warm sympathy; but if the effort is made at the production of novelty merely, the result gained is sure to be unsatisfactory. Much of the Venetian gla.s.s will ill.u.s.trate these last remarks.

Fig. 136 is a very excellent and picturesque spirit-bottle; it is easy to hold, and quaint in appearance.[27] Figs. 137, 138, and 139 are Venetian gla.s.s vessels, wrought entirely at the furnace-mouth, and neither cut nor engraved--they are artistic, and of interesting appearance; while Fig. 140 is a work of Roman gla.s.s, in which the upper distension is useful if the liquid contains a sediment which it is not desirable to pour out with the liquid.

[27] In order that the nature of this bottle be better understood, I give a section of it at A as seen when cut through the central part.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 136.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Section of Fig. 136 at A.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 137.]