1-8 GARDEN CRAFT IN EUROPE 



orchard surrounded by a high embattled wall, walking in procession to the 

 accompaniment of minstrels. 



Although the use of statuary was so general in Roman gardens, it does 

 not seem to have been known at all, as a form of garden ornamentation, 

 during the middle ages. Wherever statues appear, they belong either to 

 the house itself or to some purely architectural feature, such as a fountain, 

 a wall, or a bridge. 



Plants in pots are often seen in representations of mediaeval gardens, 

 and, as rare foreign plants were one of the earhest luxuries of garden lovers, 

 the use of ornamental pots was frequently resorted to and these were them- 

 selves made objects of beauty. A French illumination in the Bibliotheque de 

 r Arsenal, entitled ^he instruction of a young 'prince, shows a round vase 

 containing a curiously cut shrub. Other mediaeval drawings show gardens 

 embellished with flowering plants in low pots either of metal or earthenware 

 and painted blue and white. The Grimani breviary illustrates several pots 

 of this character. 



Water in a variety of forms was introduced into the garden as often as 

 possible. The fountain was the central and most ornamental feature ; it was 

 generally gilt and decorated in brilliant colours, and its design gave scope 

 for many different forms of architectural treatment. From the fountain 

 little channelled ways branched off in several directions, leading the water to 

 pools scattered about the garden. 



The fish ponds and pools were planned away from the castle and were 

 often very extensive ; they were generally encircled by a wall or by a con- 

 tinuous arbour extending round the four sides. In the manuscript Les tres 

 riches Heures du Due de Berry preserved in the Museum at Chantilly 

 such a delightful little water garden is represented, encircled by an arbour 

 and having a parterre divided off by low wattled screens. 



Little or no garden furniture is to be found in representations of 

 mediaeval gardens ; people sat on the lawns or upon the resting-places round 

 the boundary walls. These consisted either of brick seats cushioned with turf^ 

 or earth banked up round a tree and kept in position by wattled reeds ; such 

 seats were about two feet wide and eighteen inches above the ground, and 

 sometimes, instead of the grass seat there were beds of roses, camomile, 

 and. other plants. A Dutch painting of the fourteenth century in the Rijks 

 Museum at Amsterdam shows a large U-shaped seat, with grass upon brick- 



