PEWTER AND THE REVIVAL OF ITS USE. 7ll 



Its "motifs," tlio priiiiilivo nrt of :ill savii^o r;u-os, to wliicli (lie Iiigliost mechani 

 cal iHTfocliou is foiiiid j,mvoii in tlK> art of anciont Egypt and in much of the ritual 

 art of modorn Japan, wiiich Celtic art all but toucliod with spiritual perfection, 

 and which in our time has been brought into vogue by the marvelous black and 

 white drawings of Aubrey Reardsley, a man of undoubted genius, but who, it 

 should always be remembered, received his artistic training as an arcbitectural 

 draftsman, and again by the sechu-tive jewelry of Lalique and cameo cut glass 

 of (Jalle. But at its best it is not of true artistic inspiration, but an intel- 

 lectually conceived and calculated mannerism, foredoomed in the hands of 

 mediocrities to the fate of all mechanical imitations. Truly artistic deconition 

 in its whole scheme and in every detail is ever as spontaneous and free as tlie 

 beauty and grace and sweetness of the " all a-blowin', all a-growiu' " flowers of 

 the Thames side meadows of a morning in May. 



