May. 1913 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



XXlll 



colors this alternate varnishing and polish- 

 ing- constitutes the finish. Various decora- 

 tions are applied in different ways. In 

 mother-of-pearl inlay work, for example, 

 the mother-of-pearl is cut in the desired 

 figures in thin shell and the pieces are 

 placed in position on the undried surface 

 soon after the application of one of the 

 early coats of varnish, and are then var- 

 nished over, polished as the rest of the 

 surface, revarnished. and so on, becoming 

 embedded in the enamel and polished and 

 repolished. 



Lacquer is mixed with various substances 

 and raised figures are made and applied to 

 the surface in the same way and are ground 

 and revarnished in the same way for relief 

 work. The process is the same, with varied 

 manner of work, for articles of the most 

 intricate design. 



PLASTIC ART OF PREHISTORIC 



MAN 



GRADUALLY our knowledge of our 

 remote ancestor, prehistoric man, is in- 

 creasing. And with our expanding infor- 

 mation, we see ourselves forced now and 

 again to materially change our point of 

 view. There is a general tendency to credit 

 some of the early inhabitants of our globe 

 with much more advanced faculties than 

 had formerly been supposed. And recent 

 finds seem to indicate that in physical de- 

 velopment, too, one type at least of very 

 ancient man comes much nearer to his mod- 

 ern descendant than was hitherto believed. 



Public attention has frequently been 

 drawn to a discovery in the caverns at Tuc 

 d'Audubert, Department of Ariege, France, 

 which throws into the limelight the remark- 

 able work of the prehistoric artist. The 

 carvings, often very clever, of prehistoric 

 man have long been known, and recently 

 descriptions have been given of the won- 

 derful mural paintings of Altamira, in the 

 Spanish Pyrenees. But more remarkable, 

 perhaps, than any of these, are the clay- 

 modeled figures of bisons discovered by 

 Count Begouen in the cave of Tuc d'Audu- 

 bert. 



Some time ago the count had found in 

 this cavern prehistoric mural paintings of 

 animals. In his further explorations, last 

 October, he broke a way through a mass 

 of stalactites, and, at the end of a gallery, 

 over two thousand feet back from the en- 

 trance, he came upon clay figures repre- 

 senting a male and a female bison, in a 

 most wonderful and satisfactory state of 

 preservation. The two figurines lean against 

 a bolder of rock which has fallen from the 

 vault to the floor of the cavern. The fore- 

 most figure, a female, is thirty-two inches 

 long, and measures eleven inches across the 

 deepest part of the body. The correspond- 

 ing dimensions in the male figure are each 

 about one inch greater. The side of the 

 body lying against the boulder has been left 

 in the rough unmodeled. While the cavern 

 is fairly dry, and the clay is transversed by 

 numerous cracks, by great good fortune the 

 figures have been left otherwise almost in- 

 tact. The only damage is that one horn 

 and the tail of the female are broken off — 

 the latter having been found in the floor of 

 the cave. The surface of the figure has evi- 

 dently been smoothed by the artist's hand, 

 whose marks can still be distinguished. The 

 eye of the female is made out of a clay-ball, 

 with the pupil marked by a pit. giving it a 

 very lifelike appearance. The male has 

 merely a round, and somewhat lifeless eye. 

 The beard is drawn in bold lines, evidently 

 with a sharp stick or bone, while for the 

 wooly mane the artist used his thumb, 

 whose imprint can ~till be clearly distin- 

 guished. 



For the Home of Refinement — 



the hardware of quality. The key hole in 



the knob and the fine mechanical features 



suit the man who knows. The appearance, 



the security and the little key please the 



housewife. The ease of application pleases the workman. 



P. & F. CORBIN 



Division 



The American Hardware Corporation 

 NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT 



P. & F. Corfain 

 of Chicago 



P. & F. Corbin 

 of New York 



P. & F. Corbin Division 

 Philadelphia 



STANDING SEAM 

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Berger Bros. Co. 



PHILADELPHIA 



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