§35. ONE OBJECT FOR ANOTHER. 231 



moral and artistic point of view. Of a similar kind is a bed- 

 candlestick, made of two shells, with a branch of coral tor- 

 tured into a handle ; or a golden boot, with bootjack, intended 

 to decorate a lady's writing table, and to perform the duty of 



(16.) 



Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 



a box of lucifers ; and as Eomans sinned in designing for a 

 lamp a human sandalled foot of bronze, the same is adopted 

 by us for some other equally irrelevant purpose. Thus de- 

 ciplt exemplar vitiis imitabile.~\ In like manner, an ink- 

 stand in the form of a boat, or a porcelain vase converted 

 into a clock, are far from commendable ; a suitable design 

 should have been made for each ; and the old fashioned case- 

 clocks, which were not ashamed of their office, were far 

 better than our modern whimsically travestied ones disguised 

 under a false shape. But to represent a subject in bas-relief 

 on a piece of furniture, or any ornamental object, whether of 

 metal, stone, or wood, is perfectly consistent with good taste, 

 even though that subject may not in any way have reference 

 to its use. It is making one object serve for another of a 

 totally different character that is objectionable; and the same 

 applies to a mixture of designs, as when chairs and other 

 pieces of furniture are half composed of scrolls, or of architec- 

 tural details. Bronze vases, having stags' heads for handles, 

 with wreaths of flowers festooned at the sides, are another 

 kind of heterogeneous compound, showing an utter want of 

 compatibility. It is a union of parts quite at variance with 

 each other. But such-like anomalies abound. 



[Nor are we alone in this inconsistency. The combination 

 of incongruous objects is not wanting in France. Thus a 



q -t 



