January, 1919 
1^7 
about it.” Unfortunately the good gen¬ 
tleman did not live to carry out his inten¬ 
tion. Later I conceived the notion of 
writing an article about straw marque- 
terie and I thought it would lend interest 
to it to include illustrations of pieces in 
the Hodgkin collection. However, my 
intention was, for the time, blighted on 
receiving a reply to my request which ex¬ 
pressed a hope that I would leave the field 
completely clear for his projected mono¬ 
graph, appending the suggestion that he 
would be much troubled if I did not. To 
be amiable is not always a collector’s 
privilege, but in this instance I embraced 
mine and hastened to assure the dean of 
antiquarians that I withdrew from com¬ 
petition with his inexhaustible plans for 
writing about everything on the face of the 
earth. 
Now that he is no more, what is said of straw 
marqueterie and objects of art made by prison¬ 
ers of war cannot challenge hostility in a spirit 
whose eagerness was often misjudged, whereas 
it ought to have been measured, as I measured 
it, by its extraordinary capacity as a genius 
among collectors who ought to have been given 
the first chance to tell all he knew before others 
took a hand at telling it. His interesting vol¬ 
umes under the title of Rariora are, unfortu¬ 
nately, out of print. In one of these he did re¬ 
produce some of the specimens of straw mar¬ 
queterie in his own extensive collection, and as 
I am not privileged to reproduce these here, 1 
will refer the reader who wishes further to in¬ 
terest himself in the subject, to the pages of 
those erudite tomes which he may be fortunate 
enough to find on the shelves of some of the 
more important art libraries in America. 
The Variety of Prison Wares 
From times immemorial, I suppose, war pris¬ 
oners who have not been enslaved by their cap- 
tors but have been treated without barbarity 
have sought to enlighten their tedi¬ 
um by various sorts of handicraft, 
exerting to the utmost their inge¬ 
nuity in the matter of tools and ma¬ 
terials. To-day the subject is one 
of immediate interest to us. Al¬ 
ready have art objects made by 
prisoners of war interned in Hol¬ 
land and in Switzerland reached us. 
In time they will come to be as 
treasured as the antiques made by 
Both the above trays are 19th Century Japanese 
straw marqueterie. Vari-colored straws are glued in 
a design on a wooden base 
Cut paper has always been a 
favorite diversion of war pris¬ 
oners 
I8th Century straw marque¬ 
terie ball made by Italian 
prisoners 
Straw marqueterie basket made 
by a French prisoner of war 
long ago 
the prisoners of war of the Napoleonic 
period and of earlier times. To cata¬ 
logue the variety of such things would re¬ 
quire page after page. Naturally nearly 
all such objects are “handy” in size and 
one does not look for particularly large 
specimens of war prisoners’ art work. 
One begins to realize, after visiting the 
convalescents’ ward of a military hospital, 
what a blessing to the soldier some knowl¬ 
edge of an art handicraft may be. I have 
seen several marvelous things whittled out 
of wood by prisoners of war, bone carv¬ 
ings, beadwork, jewelry that indicate the 
godsend the work must be to the soldier 
prisoner detained in the enemy’s camp. 
But of all these objects I know of none 
that are more beautiful than those of 
straw marqueterie. 
I do not know where the art originated. Mr. 
Hodgkin confessed to a like hiatus in his 
knowledge of the subject. However, I have no 
doubt but that artistic straw inlaying was prac¬ 
ticed in the Orient at a very early date. Thence 
it may have been brought into Europe. I feel 
sure that it was known and practiced during 
the period of the Renaissance in Italy, and I 
consider the old Italian examples of this craft 
to be the earliest European ones. 
Straw Marqueterie 
This early Italian straw marqueterie is dis¬ 
tinguished by its rich golden and golden 
browns of various shades, suggesting the rich¬ 
ness of Venetian pictures. The objects to be 
covered by the artist in straw were of various 
materials, such as wood, paper, papier-mache, 
cloth and occasionally glass, metal or bone. 
The design, pattern or picture was worked out 
by pasting filaments and little sections of straw 
(stained to various colors) on the surfaces of 
he objects to be covered, and then varnished. 
The minuteness of some of this straw work is 
extraordinary. It would seem to have necessi¬ 
tated the use of a glass of high 
magnifying power as well as to 
have required almost superhuman 
patience and ingenuity to put it to¬ 
gether. Moreover, these early pieces 
in straw marqueterie were so faith¬ 
fully fabricated that they have come 
down to us in excellent condition. 
I imagine the French learned the 
art of straw marqueterie from their 
{Continued on page 46) 
A straw marqueterie box made by an l&th Century French prisoner 
of war. The details of color and line in the flowers must have re¬ 
quired infinite patience 
An elaborate miniature coffer in straw marqueterie done in the early 
19th Century by a French prisoner of war. The design is worked 
out in soft colors 
