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THE Cn^IL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[March, 



the Second graiUed a licfiicc ki (.'usmo Genlilis ul'six pieces of tapestiy, nt 

 a gi-ecn pi'ound, powcicrpd ^vith roses, which tlie king sent as a present to 

 the Pope. However, the art seems in the reign of Henry tlie Eiglitli to 

 h.ive been brmisht to a perfection it liad not before attained, and the great 

 Holbein is snpi)osed to have fnrnislied various designs for it. 



About this time the \ise of tapestries was not confined to the nobility, 

 bnt it was not uncommon to see abundance of arras, rich li:ingings of tapes- 

 try, silver vessels, &c. iir Die houses of persons of much meaner quality. 



In the reign of James the First, a very extensive manufactory of hose 

 tapestry was est.nblished at Mortlake, in Surrey, by .Sir Francis Crane, 

 wliich was niunilicently ])atronised by that king and his son Charles the 

 First, who praiileil an ,'inuuily id' Jt'iUUO towards the niainlcnanee of the 

 undertaking. Francis Cleyn, a painter of considerable reputation ill the 

 .senicc of the king of Denmark, recommended by .Sir Henry W'otton, w as 

 employed in this manufactory, and ga\e designs in both liistory and gro- 

 tesque. Indeed, the beautiful hangings which then adorned the British 

 palaces were much admired by Ibreigners of distinction, who visited this 

 country, and the maunfacture was held in high repute abroad. The civil 

 wars, however, mined this large manufactory to which I have just alluded, 

 and it does not appear to have been again carried on to any extent. 



A Monsieur Pariport, in I7'2l), made a spirited attempt to compete with 

 the celebrated Gobelins at Paris, and founded a considerable manufactory 

 at Fulhain. in which he Avas nobly encouraged by the then Uuke of Cum- 

 berland, who assisted him with a gift of £G000, but this scion failed ; and 

 in 17;)9 a set id' designs for tapestry, painted by Znchandli, and executed 

 by Paul Saunders for the Kavl id' Fgremimf, fur a house he built in Picca- 

 dilly, were the last made in this cnuntry. 



Connected with tapestry are the silk and satin damasks and the ri<-li 

 figured velvets ; and another material much employed in this country for 

 hangings and other purposes was the stamped and jiainted gilt leather, on 

 which was represented sometimes in relief divers kinds of grotesques, re- 

 lieved with gold and silver, vermilion and other coloiU'S. Many suppose it 

 to have been invented by the Spaniards, and by them communicated to the 

 Flemings. v\ho excelled in it, and introduccil here about the time of Heinv 

 the Eiglnh. 



The writers in the Frencli Encyclopedia confess, even in 17G2, that though 

 the stamped leather of France equalled that from Flanders and Holland, 

 yet that that made in Venice and England was superior in both beauty of 

 design and d\u'ability. This manufacture so much resembles that of paper- 

 h,ingings, that I conclude it must have given the idea for the invention of, 

 at any rate, one branch of the subject now under consideration. 



Paper hangings may be divided into three separate branches; the flock, 

 the metal, and tlie coloured ; and each of these seems to have been invented 

 at a difl'ercnt time, as an imitation of a distinct material — the Hock to imi- 

 tate the tapestries and iigured velvets, tlie metal in iinitalion of the gilt 

 leather, and the culoured as a cheap substitute fur painted decorations. 

 Professor Bi'ckman says, that the former of these, the liock, was lirst 

 manufactured in England, and invented by Jerome Langcr, who carried on 

 the art in London, in the reign of Cliarles the First, and obtained a patent 

 lor his discovery, dated May 1st, 16.3d. Various French and German 

 author.s give us the credit of this invention, yet it is disputed by a French- 

 man, M. Tierce, who in the .lournal /Economique says, that a man named 

 FraiiQois carried on this art at Rouen so early as the year 1620 and 1680, 

 and affirms that the wooden blocks employed are still preserved with the 

 before.mentioncd dates inscribed on them. Fraufjois was succeeded by liis 

 son, who followed the business with success for lifty years, and died at 

 Rouen in 1718 (?) M. Savan', in his Dictionnaire de Commerce, tints de- 

 scribes the manner in which the Frcncli manufactured their tonture de 

 laine, or Hock hangings: — The artist having joepared his design, drew on 

 the cloth, with a fat oil or varnish, the subject intended to be represented ; 

 and then the fiocker, from a tray containing the difl'erent tints of flocks, 

 arranged in divisions, took the colours he required, and sprinkled them in a 

 peculiar manner with his linger ami thumb, so that the various shadow ands 

 colours werepropcrly blended, and an imitation of the wove tapestry jiroduced. 



Of the second branch, the metal papers. I do not tind much mentioned 

 liy the older writers ; and of the coloured papers, I almost despaired of 

 linding any early account, till, in an old French dictionary of commerce, 

 printed in 172.3, under the head of Dominoterie. I discovered an account 

 which seems to give tlie origin of the present system of paperstainiiig. 

 Dominoterie is an ancient l''riaich name for marble paper, such as used by 

 bookbinders; and the early French paperstaiuers were associated witii 

 the makers of that article, as a class called Dominotiei's. The manufacture 

 is thus described : — 



The design having been drawn in outline, on paper pasted together of 

 the size required, the paper was then divided into parts of a suitable size, 

 and given to the carver or wood engraver, to cut the designs on blocks of 

 pear tree, much in the same manner as at present. The outline thus cut 

 was printed in ink with a press, resembling that then used by the letter- 

 press printers, on separate sheets of paper. When dry, they were then 

 painted and relieved with dift'erent colours in distemper, and aftenvards 

 joined together, so as to form the required design. The autlior then adds, 

 that grotesques and p.anels in which are iiilenuinglcd flowers, fruits, ani- 

 mals, and small figures, have up to this time succx-eded better than imita- 

 tions of landscapes, or other tapestry hangings, which are sometimes 

 attempted, and refers to article 61 iif the French laws in 1686, which con- 

 linns the statutes published in 1580, 1618, and 1619, in which rules are 

 given as to what kind of presses, &c., are to be used by the dominotiers, 

 and prohibiting them vuidei heavy penalties from piintiiig witli types. 



llecurring to the subject as connected with this country; in the year 

 1704, a Mr. .Jackson, a manufacturer o!' paperhangings at Battersca, pub- 

 lished a work on the invention id" printing in Chiaro Oscuro. and the appli- 

 cation of it to the making of pajierhangings, illusti-aled with prints IH 

 proper colours. This book is a sort of advertisement of the kinds of papers 

 made, and the mode of manufacture employed by him. He adopted a 

 style of paper hangings executed witli blocks in Chiaro Oscuro, in imita- 

 tion of the most celebrated classic subjects. 



To use his words, •' The person who cannot purchase the statues them- 

 sehes, may have these prints in their places, and thus eft'ectually show his 

 taste. 'Tis the choice and not the price which discovers the true taste of 

 the posses.sor ; and thus the Apollo helvedere, the Mediecan Venus, or the 

 Dying Gladiator, may be disposed of in niches, or surrounded with a 

 mosaic work in imitation of frames, or with festoons and garlands of 

 flowers, with great taste and elegance; or. if jireferred, landscapes after the 

 most famous masters, may be introduced into the paper. That it need not 

 be mentioned to any person of taste how much this way of tinishing with 

 colours, soltening into one another with harmony and repose, exceeds every 

 either kind of paperhanging hitherto known, though it has none of the gay, 

 giaiiug colours in patches of red, green, yellow, and blue, &c. which are to 

 pass for flowers and other objects in the common papers." 



By the account of this gentleman we llnd that paperhangings were then 

 in common use, and had reached a certain degree of perfection, for that even 

 arabesques \\ ere executed ; and J therefore concei\ e that the art disco- 

 vered bv Lanyer had been conlinuetl from his time to the present ; parti- 

 cularly as in the year 1712, the 10th of Queen .\nne, a duty of IJd. per 

 square yard is imposed on this manutiuture. In the reign uf that queen 

 the Chinese paperh.angings were very much employed, and have continueil 

 in fashion to the present day. These hangings, though parts of them may be 

 executed by blocks orstencils, are almost wholly painted by hand. Cotempo- 

 rary with "Jackson. 1 have learned that a Mr. Taylor, the grandfather of 

 one of our present most eminent innnufacturers, carried on this business to 

 a Considerable extent, and accumulated a large fortune. He was succeeded 

 by his son, who. I .am informed, visited France, and was enabled to give 

 the m.anufaciurcrs there considerable information. He said, on his return, 

 that he foiuid the French paperhangings very inferior to our own, both as 

 to execution ;ind beauty (d' design. In those days we had an extensive 

 export trade in this material to America and other foreign parts, but we 

 are now driven out cd' this market by the French. The paperhangings at 

 that date, about 1770, were manufactured nearly in the same maimer as at 

 present ; I liave indeed seen a flock pajier of a large rich damask pattern, 

 more than 100 years old, which resembles in every way the modern mate- 

 rial ; it is singular that this art of Hocking was disused and almost lost dur- 

 ing a period of twenty years, and revived only about forty years ago ; a 

 mode of decorating papers was also liirmerly employed, which is now never 

 adopted. I ha\e seen papers ornamented with a substance commonly 

 called frost, a species of talc. 



In the year 1786 there was estiiblished at Chelsea a manufactory for 

 paperhangings (if a superior description, conducted by Messi-s. George and 

 Frederick Echardts, gentlemen of considerable taste and spirit. The mode 

 of manufacture was difl'erent to that in general use ; for, besides the usual 

 printing blocks, copper plates, on which were engraved designs of great 

 linisli and beauty, were likewise employed, and they not only printed on 

 paper but also on silk and linen ; and by an underground uf silver or gold, 

 they obtained very beautiful eflects of colour'. 



Only part of the design was given by printing; it was finished by .artists 

 constantly retaini'd by the nianutacturers, men of considerable talent, 

 who again were assisted in the inferior parts by young girls, of whom more 

 than fifty were employed ; and liad this undertaking been supported by the 

 government, it would, I do think, have been more a\aiUible as a school for 

 our rising artists, and of infinitely gi-eater service than our present school of 

 design, for it would have been a -wnrking school, and no other, 1 am con- 

 vinced, will be of any use in forming a talented race of decorative artists in 

 this country. 'I'here was also about this time .another establishment similar 

 to the former, conducted by Mr. Sheruighani, in Marlburough-street. 



From this time the French began to excel in this superior branch of the 

 art, which with tis had fallen on suidi barren ground. Their manufacturers 

 were encouraged in every way by their government and the Emperor Napo- 

 leon, to attempt that perfection which they have now so successfully 

 attained. 



Having now slightly sketched the liistory of this art up to the present 

 time, I propose on some future occasion, if agi'eeable to the society, to 

 explain to the best of my power the dUlerent processes employed in the 

 manufacture. 



[The continuation of this interesting paper, which was read at a subse- 

 quent meeting, we shall publish in the next Journal.] 



DESCRIPTION OF THE PATENT CEMENT OF MR. R. MARTIN, 

 OF DERBY, 



Reail III Ihe Roijal Iiislilult of llriUsh Archilrcls, Ftbnicnj 18, 1839. 



The composition of my cement consists of a solution of peaiiash and 

 sulphuric acid, mixed to the cx.act point of neutralization with powder of 

 gypsum, and the whole calcined together. 



In calcination every particle of crystallized water and native acid is 

 driven from the gypsum, and their place supplied with the alkali and acid 

 made sulphate of potash as above described. 



Tliis change of solidifying substances creates pviqiertics altogether new 



