238 
ranging in date of style from the Norman Conquest down 
to the latest cry from Germany. 
Leaving out of consideration the imported antiques 
painted with rare skill and prohibitive in price, we may 
confine ourselves to two or three styles that seem to be 
specially suited to our conditions. To begin with, the 
painted furniture in Adam, Heppelwhite and Sheraton pat- 
terns is worth close attention. Asa rule the form is good 
and the color and decoration pleasing. In the latter re- 
spects there is almost unlimited scope for variety of treat- 
ment. However, one word of caution is necessary. In 
purchasing such furniture it is better for several reasons to 
take modern reproductions, which are usually faithfully and 
well copied. The genuine antiques in this style are often 
so battered as to necessitate endless touching up at great 
expense and the initial cost is apt to be out of all proportion 
to intrinsic worth. Furniture of this sort is particularly 
suitable for bedrooms and drawing-rooms in Summer homes 
by reason of its lightness and cheerful coloring. Painted 
satinwood chairs, tables, sideboards and cabinets are always 
charming and suitable for any place where they will not be 
subjected to severe usage. Lacquered work after Queen 
Anne designs is deservedly coming more into vogue. ‘The 
shapes are excellent while the coloring and decoration are 
extremely attractive, the gilt ornament of Chinese land- 
scapes being applied on a groundwork of dark blue, red, 
black or green. Much of this furniture is imported from 
England, but a good deal is made and decorated in America 
and very well made, too. 
It is a far cry, perhaps, from the courtly furniture just 
considered to the homemade contrivances of Bavarian and 
Hungarian peasants, but the quaint style of decoration em- 
ployed opens up a field so pregnant with delightful possi- 
bilities for us that we should be great losers by ignoring it. 
The peasant furniture of Eastern Europe, whether the mak- 
ers be Magyar, Teutonic or Slav, is naive in decoration, 
full of vital originality in design, elemental vigor. of.color 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
An exceptionally fine satinwood settee from a private collection in Philadelphia 
July, 1912 
and unweakened by over refinement. Colorings, pattern 
and construction of this painted furniture are traditional 
and instinct with national spirit. The wood commonly used 
is pine and the lines simple and direct. Often his own 
craftsman, the peasant chose easily fashioned pine as the 
most suitable material to work in and, prompted to indulge 
in gorgeous decoration both by the bareness of the wood 
and his own innate love of brilliant color, he fully availed 
himself of the free range afforded for play of fresh, un- 
fettered imagination. In design and execution the Hun- 
garian pieces are, perhaps, a trifle more angular and as- 
sertive than the Bavarian work. Decoration of this type is 
especially suitable for chests, boxes, presses and cupboards. 
It matters not if they are as plain as “Plain Jane” and made 
of mean wood, Bavarian painted ornament will help them 
mightily in nine cases out of ten. If we go into a strange 
room and discover a cupboard or chest of this kind, it may 
strike us at first as crude, but by and by we find our eye 
wandering back to it and we realize its growing charm. Its 
straightforward naiveté lays strong hold upon us and we 
should feel its removal a positive loss. ‘To be sure, we 
cannot always get these pieces from their native source, but 
our craftsmen can faithfully reproduce them in color, design 
and feeling, and though they may not have the patina of 
age they create the same ingenuous atmosphere of homely 
comfort and cheer as the originals. 
The Bavarian bride’s dower chest shown in the illustra- 
tion is a replica of one in the National Museum in Munich. 
It is two and a half feet long, a foot wide and a foot and a 
half high, including the base. On a cream colored ground 
the bright-hued flowers, figures and bands stand out vividly. 
The body of the chest is free of depressions or projections 
of any kind. Wide yellow decorative bands divide the front 
into three panels. In the two side panels stiff sprays of 
flowers and leaves spring primly from vases; in the central 
panel is a bunch of four plums. A comical little man with a 
_ (Continued on page 261) 
