January, 1906 AMERICAN 
That marvelous development of sculpture in Greece which 
no subsequent period has quite equaled was preceded by 
wood carving, as we know from descriptions of wooden 
statues of the gods now perished. The architecture of Greece, 
as well as Egypt, shows plainly enough its origininwood, and 
if its beginnings are studied carefully we shall find that the 
development of Gothic architecture in its specific originality 
sprang from carvers of wood rather than of stone. Not that 
the architects of the Seine Valley in the eleventh and twelfth 
centuries imitated directly the trees in trunk and branch; but 
the foliage and figures in capitals of columns, the grotesque 
on balustrades, the long, slim forms of saints and kings and 
warriors below decorated canopies, and the crockets climb- 
ing pinnacles were wrought by men who carved in wood be- 
fore they handled more enduring stone. We see the direct 
transition in Gothic architecture from wood to stone in the 
gargoyles or water spouts, whose shapes continue the re- 
semblance of logs perforated to carry off the rain-water; 
they are carved near the spout into animal forms which 
adapt themselves to the outline of the log. 
In the low, and one may also say practical, relief found on 
An Alms-Box Carved by 
Miss L. Redfield 
the old Norse relics—practical because there are no salient 
portions which might easily be broken off in use—one finds 
a correspondence with the carving of paddles by South Sea 
Islanders, objects which were for daily use, though beautiful 
and artistic things. So with the wooden netsukes of the 
Japanese, little buttons that hold inros suspended from the 
belt. Though a simple, useful article, the highest art went 
to their carving, and care was taken that no sharp edges or 
protuberances should interfere with their practical efficiency. 
In their wooden masks, both life size and in miniature, the 
Japanese put expression. It is, however, in the carvings 
about the choirs of Gothic churches in France and Spain that 
the wood carver has given rein to his fancy. Some of the 
choir seats in cathedral and church are decorated inside and 
out with elaborate scenes from Scripture, so that this com- 
paratively unimportant part of the edifice may often be so 
rich that in order to examine it properly one needs the better 
part of a day. 
The modern world has too many different outlets for its 
stored and unstored energy to waste much time on the choir 
stalls of churches, but the demand is still good for the dec- 
HOMES 
End View of a Carved Seat. 
Specimen of the Wood Carver’s Art 
AND GARDENS 41 
oration of houses with wood. ‘There is a revival here and 
there of a liking for decorated wainscot and dado, wooden 
frieze and doors, such as existed in France under Louis XIV. 
and Louis XV. The graceful, airy rhythms of Boiseries 
belonging to these reigns, found in French chateaus, has had 
much to do with the appearance of that art nouveau which 
has enlivened the decorative arts of late. 
how eager the collectors prove when such inner decorations 
are sold at auction. As far back as the Third Empire the 
Empress Eugénie disputed with noted collectors the wooden 
spoils from such palaces as the dismantled Chateau de Bercy, 
and when she won employed them in the imperial palaces. 
In the United States, collectors like Senator Clarke have not 
failed to see the beauty of such decorations and have picked 
them up whenever they could. For her own house at Wind- 
sor, Vt., Miss Emily Slade has copied, in her own handi- 
work, the winding stairs which is preserved at the Cluny 
Museum. These are stairs showing that the current is setting 
toward the crafts. Mrs. H. Durant Cheever has accom- 
plished in the Rydingsvard school a fine piece of Scandi- 
navian cabinet work in a large table, elaborately carved on 
It is noteworthy 
PM ee Ce 
oa sat Ri 
A Splendid A Chair, Simple in Design, Artistic 
in Effect 
legs and sides, the whole piece hewn from timber and 
mortised together without metal pin or bolt. 
In special favor as wedding presents are cassones, or bridal 
chests, carved and sometimes painted or stained by the givers. 
These are not only beautiful and also convenient as re- 
ceptacles for articles of value, but they testify to the affection 
of the donor as nothing bought in shops could. Miss Ward 
has carved a cassone with Babylonian designs taken from 
cylinder seals in her brother’s collection; others follow By- 
zantine precedents and adapt their carvings to the interior 
for which the bookcase or desk, table or clothes chest, is in- 
tended. 
Hitherto the wood carver’s craft has never risen to any 
importance in America. Figureheads for ships and statues 
for tobacco shops have sometimes engaged carvers a slight 
degree above mediocrity. But the change that is coming over 
the arts and crafts affects wood carving, and in time a knowl- 
edge of and taste for the best will lessen the demand for 
the spurious and imitative carving, for modeled mass carved 
with gilding, for reliefs stuck on with glue instead of being 
carved from the solid block, for the various cheap surrogates 
