THK ART OF TRKILLAGK. 



165 



If there is any distinction between trellis and treillage, it would seem to be that the latter implies a 

 combination of posts and rails tunning an architectural design, while the former is appropriate to the 

 mere lattice-work filling. The reason why trellis-work does not suggest the same meaning to the mind 

 as the word treillage is that usually it docs not presuppose the existence of design of an architectural 

 character, which is invariably present in good French examples. Porticoes for the decoration of the ends 

 of vistas and niches for statues and busts, pavilions and summer-houses were built of treillage, and 

 sometimes the entrances to the mazes and small groves which were part of all the larger French gardens 

 of the eighteenth century. A licrcattt was either a long gallery of trellis-work, occasionally combined! 

 with a garden-house, or else a shaded walk loriued ol small clipped trees with pleached branches. 



In a paper on &quot; Treillage,&quot; written manv years ago, Mr. John Belcher, R.A., pointed out that it 

 has a poetical and romantic as well as a useful side. Such a medium,&quot; he says, &quot; may be to the 

 Architect what clay is to the Sculptor : 

 in it he may venture to give shape 

 to some poetic dream ol ethereal 

 architecture which has visited his 

 brain, or at any rate (if this seem 

 loo large a (light of lancy) he may 

 realise, il only temporarily, some 

 playful lancy lor his own satisfaction 

 in work, which lioiu the very nature 

 of its material cannot be taken 

 seriously, or raise great expectations. 

 It is the case and facility with which 

 daring experiments can be made which 

 vender il valuable. It can be altered 

 and shilted at pleasure until the 

 desired effect is obtained in a way 

 which more solid and valuable mate- 

 lials prohibit. And it thus affords 

 opportunities for judging effects which 

 may subsequently be translated into 

 stone or brick.&quot; 



That the use of trellis is 

 extremely ancient is proved by the 

 frescoes that have been discovered in 

 Rome, and many of those found at 

 Pompeii have supplemented the not 

 too abundant knowledge of ancient 

 gardens contained in passages among 

 the classical poets and litterateurs. 

 These wall paintings have proved 

 quite a mine of information concerning 

 the flowers grown in ancient gardens, 

 and more than three-score ornamental 

 trees, shrubs and flowers thus repre 

 sented have been already identified. 

 Both at Herculanenm and Pompeii 

 complete schemes of trellis-work made 

 of intertwined reeds and canes are 

 represented : fountains, nympluea, 

 shrines, aviaries, summer-houses and 

 other varieties of ephemeral struc 

 tures. In the peristyle of the House 

 of Sallust is an excellent representa 

 tion of an ancient garden, with 

 small circular trellis niches and bnbblin 



l8jj. TREILLAGC. DESIGNED BY I.E PAUTRE. 



water-jets. China and Japan have each their characteiistic 

 treatment worked out with wonderful elaboration and finish. Examine a willow-pattern plate, and see 

 how trellis enters into the garden design, the palisading, the bridge and the varied patterns suggested 

 in the margin. The familiar lattice-work of Cairo seems to be another variety of the same thing and, 

 no doubt, is a direct descendant of the Egyptian trellis so often represented in ancient paintings. Of 

 late years much of the best Arab woodwork has left the country, and, indeed, a few years ago it was 



