46 
House & Garden 
A late \Uh Century 
bed table light screen 
with an embroidered 
basket on white silk 
with tiny red glass cur¬ 
rants 
A COLLECTION of FLOWER BASKETS 
Dating from the 16th Century to the Present and 
Made of Many Materials 
GRACE WOOD 
E ver since I can remember I 
have loved flower baskets. 
As a very young girl I found my¬ 
self bringing home baskets from 
wherever I chanced to find them. 
So my collection is really a natural 
and spontaneous expression of my 
own vivid interest. 
As I was very fond of handicraft, 
it was natural for me to turn to 
these flowery old pictures, which 
represented so much time and 
painstaking care through past 
years. They awoke within me an 
artistic as well as a romantic, not 
to say sentimental, interest. Into 
them were frequently woven many 
of the most tender sentiments. 
They were nearly always made as a 
deep expression of affection for a 
loved one, and in consequence have 
that peculiarly intimate quality 
which is lacking in most collections. 
Quaint Inscriptions 
Such inscriptions as “Donne 
d’amitie,” or “A la Meilleure des 
Meres” are a whole story in them¬ 
selves. Children loved the basket 
design. It made a special appeal 
to them, as you will see in many of 
the old samplers worked by patient 
little fingers. 
Then there was the fascination 
of discovering the design in fab¬ 
rics. Among the very first weav¬ 
ings of the Egyptian, the Coptic 
blankets used in the ceremonial 
burial of the dead show a basket 
design. Some of these are in the 
a 
irv -"i 
Cooper Museum, New York City. 
The basket design was ram¬ 
pant, however, at the time of 
Louis XV and XVI, as many 
of the beautiful fabrics of that 
era conclusively prove. Damasks 
and brocade in color combinations 
of compelling beauty were used to 
cover the fauteuils of the time or 
made into the entrancing robes 
which the art of Watteau and 
Fragonard have made immortal. 
Among the many interesting de¬ 
signs of Meissonier of this period, 
the basket with its decorative ar¬ 
rangement of fantastic flowers was 
in evidence. Over-doors painted 
in delicate color tones of canvas 
were extensively used, while many 
of these Panier Fleuri of Meis¬ 
sonier were reproduced in etch¬ 
ings, so characteristic were they 
of the flowery grace of the Court 
of Louis XV. 
Old Examples 
At the time of the Renaissance, 
the design may be found in 
architecture, especially at the 
tops of columns. It also oc¬ 
curs on the old tombstones in 
Rome, and may be seen in the 
many ecclesiastical embroideries 
in gold and silver of the 16th 
and 17th Centuries. The em¬ 
broideries were made with the 
infinite care and patience which 
characterized the work of the 
nuns. Many of the convents of 
both France and Spain have also 
An early lith Century walnut cabi¬ 
net contains rare bits of old silver, 
Venetian skewers, old Italian book 
clasps and rings, pottery, lustre, old 
door-knobs, embroidered fans and 
fire screens 
An early American flower pic¬ 
ture, rather crude but very 
amusing, is of gaudy colored 
tinsel on a black glass ground 
A delicately embroidered bit 
of early 19th Century Italian 
work—silk and chenille design 
on a white silk ground 
