House and Garden 
Italian ornaments are beautiful; 
so are Chinese, and the latter 
have the charm of freshness, so 
far as American gardens go. It 
may be said that the spirit of out¬ 
door decoration in this country 
does not favor closeness of detail, 
and that the monochromatic style 
is preferable. But the best of 
these old Chinese porcelains and 
potteries are carefully attuned, as 
it were, each to a dominating note 
of color, with which all the com¬ 
ponents of the chord, or color 
scheme, are in harmony. At a 
distance the effect is of one simple 
hue. As one draws near, the 
masses begin to separate them¬ 
selves, and the details come out, 
but in none of the good specimens is the 
sonority of the general effect weakened by 
too many colors, or by fretfulness of decora¬ 
tive pattern. 
Moreover, for the purposes of this article, 
the formal garden, whose adornment is 
under consideration, is to be taken as any 
arrangement of outdoor factors resulting in 
harmony and good balance. It need not be 
a completely developed example of Italian 
or French or English design; it will, on the 
other hand, include the numerous instances 
around cities like Philadelphia and Boston 
of small gardens laid out with a heed for 
vistas and for the best employment of the 
natural beauties of the site. “ House and 
Garden” has described and illustrated 
enough of these modest yet personal gar¬ 
dens to make the type familiar, and it is in 
them that Chinese porcelain or pottery 
ought to find a special welcome. There is 
OLD CHINESE GARDEN SEATS 
Period , XV Century Of the Kea-King Period , ijgy-1820 
From the Art House of Mr. Thomas B. Clarke 
no advocacy here of heterodoxy for its own 
sake, no thought of foisting an Oriental 
style of garden adornment upon house and 
grounds arranged in the grand manner of a 
Latin nation. But not every garden builder 
has the privilege of working on a great scale. 
Oftener than not a style more intimate than 
monumental is easily preferable. For small 
country places, for grounds in which a dis¬ 
tinctively American freedom is discernible, 
Chinese porcelains or pottery might often 
replace Italian ware—the dwelling need not 
be a pagoda to keep them in countenance. 
Chinese garden seats, especially, are useful 
as well as decorative. The old ones, of 
course, are best in shape and color, but the 
modern products are not without attractive¬ 
ness. H ardly ought one to expect today, 
however, such quiet potency of design as 
relics of the Ming period, covering fifteenth 
and sixteenth century pieces, can show. One 
may fairly revel in the unity and di¬ 
rectness of specimens at the art rooms 
of I homas B. Clarke in New York. 
The keg-shaped garden seat with the 
peacock as the chief motive of its 
pierced or reticulated middle sec¬ 
tion—the architectural rule of base¬ 
ment, principal mass and cap holds 
good here—is full of significant de¬ 
tail, which subordinates itself to the 
total effect, and its plain, bluish black 
ends seem as interesting, almost, as 
the masterly middle portion. And 
OLD PEKIN POTTERY 
With green body and yellow splash gla%e With green body and yellow leafforms 
From the Art House of Mr. Thomas B. Clarke 
