INGENUITY AND LUXURY 



carving could be done in duplicate by skilled workmen 

 carving that could not be distinguished from hand- 

 work except by the expert. And when a few finishing 

 touches of hand- work were given, the deception was 

 complete. The result was that the market was soon 

 flooded with well-carved furniture at a price within the 

 reach of many besides the opulent. 



All this, of course, was disastrous to the art of wood- 

 carving. The older carvers could not compete by 

 hand with such machinery, and apprentices hesitated 

 to adopt a calling that promised so little for the future. 

 The position of the wood-carver was thus made analo- 

 gous to the position of the wood-engraver, the 

 mechanical carving-machine throwing the one out 

 of employment, just as the process of photographic 

 reproduction of pictures had done in the case of the 

 other. 



It should not be understood, however, that fine 

 hand-carving has entirely disappeared any more than 

 has fine wood-engraving. There is still a restricted 

 market for both, and will be in all probability for all 

 time to come. The aggregate amount of hand-tool 

 work, however, is only a small fractional part of the 

 total amount of carved wood produced every year. 

 But even this kind of hand-carving is not followed 

 along exactly the same lines as formerly. The hand- 

 carver, even of high-class carving, now hastens his work 

 with certain mechanical cutting implements, modi- 

 fications of the kind used on the pantographic machines 

 just referred to, or by some of the marvellous lathes 

 now made. By this compromise the cost of fine wood- 



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