January, 1917 
45 
prescribed two imposing vases or urns 
at the ends of the mantel, in the middle 
a clock or a hit of sculpture in bronze 
or marble, and a mirror background, or 
else at each end mantel lamps with 
pendent prisms and, in the middle, 
either a double lamp of the same de¬ 
scription, a clock or a sufficiently expen¬ 
sive and substantial piece of bric-a-brac, 
the background being either a mirror or 
a gilt-framed portrait. 
So narrow, for a time, was the con¬ 
ception of mantel treatment that a man¬ 
tel garnished otherwise in any well reg¬ 
ulated household would have been 
deemed scarcely decorous or even de¬ 
cent. Yet all this has changed. 
The Classical Mantels 
Our present catholic and eclectic ten¬ 
dencies in decoration have burst the 
fetters of all such rigid views and left 
us free to do as we list, so long as we 
do it in a spirit of reasonable compliance 
with constructive principles, all of 
which will be set forth in order directly 
we have noted the prevailing types of 
mantels that must serve as the back¬ 
grounds for our decorative creations. 
Incidentally, we will point to some fresh 
and not generally used methods of 
mantel treatment by way of relief from 
various estimable but somewhat hack¬ 
neyed modes familiar to all. 
In enumerating the types of mantels 
we are most likely to encounter, it will 
be just as well to hold to historical se¬ 
quence, first noting the 
Tudor or Stuart fireplace 
with elaborately paneled 
or pillared and carved 
overmantel ordinarily 
found in oak paneled 
rooms. Akin to it in spirit, 
but sharply contrasting in 
form and quantity of en¬ 
richment, is the chaste 
and unpretentious stone 
mantel in a simplified 
Tudor or Stuart room 
with rough plaster walls 
and leaded casement win¬ 
dows. In such a room the 
overmantel is often mere¬ 
ly a projecting jamb with¬ 
out specific emphasis of 
architectural detail. 
Next in succession we 
have the ornately moulded 
and paneled, and ofttimes 
carved, overmantel o f 
William and Mary and 
Queen Anne times, not 
seldom an epitome of con¬ 
temporary architecture in 
itself. The early Geor¬ 
gian mantel was nearly 
related to it in type until 
S i r William Chambers 
and his followers aban¬ 
doned the towering over¬ 
mantel and adopted a 
massive but lower struc¬ 
ture with a free over¬ 
mantel space. 
The delicacy of the 
Adam mantel and the 
buxom opulence of the 
Hassic Revival type, both 
of them devoid of struc¬ 
tural overmantel features, 
The unusual combination of late Empire fluid 
lamps with a Chinese painting on glass makes 
an attractive garniture. For the panel might 
he used Japanese or Chinese hangings 
Woodville S: Co., Decorators 
Wilson Eyre & Mcllvaine, Architects 
In the Florentine painting insert, this Italian Renaissance mantel finds its 
perfect complement. The copy of any old Dutch or Italian picture would 
give a mantel of this tiipe a complete and striking character 
need no comment, neither does the hy¬ 
brid 19th Century type with which we 
are all too painfully acquainted. 
Louis Quinze and Louis Seize styles 
presuppose more or less overmantel 
paneling, while some of the French 
Renaissance overmantels are so richly 
wrought that any further attempt at 
movable decoration would be an im¬ 
pertinence. On the other hand, some of 
the simpler French Renaissance man¬ 
tels,with a splayed,hood-like jamb,leave 
room for restrained but emphatic treat¬ 
ment, as do also many of the Italian 
Renaissance mantels of allied design. 
Last in our list are the Italian fire¬ 
places that have merely a moulding to 
surround them or else to relieve their 
severity, set a few inches above the top 
of their opening with a plain wall space 
above. Their merit is in simplicity. 
A hasty mental survey of these types 
shows that some have such pronounced 
and assertive individuality that the 
range of possible treatment is somewhat 
circumscribed, while others are much 
less exacting and admit of almost un¬ 
limited latitude in decoration. 
Seven Rules of Garnituke 
In applying the principles about to be 
discussed, it must be remembered that 
they refer both to the objects placed 
upon the mantel shelf itself and to what¬ 
ever is placed on the wall or chimney 
j amb above the mantel. These safeguard¬ 
ing principles of universal application in 
dealing with mantels of all 
the foregoing types are 
(1) Observance of Scale: 
(2) Suitability, from 
which follows Dignity as 
a corollary; (3) Symmet¬ 
ry; (4) Formality; (5) 
Restraint; (6) Concen¬ 
tration, and (7) Contrast. 
Observance of Scale 
means that a relative bal¬ 
ance is to be maintained 
between the size of the 
mantel and the size of the 
objects that are placed 
upon it or above it. In 
other words, upon a large 
mantel do not put small 
candlesticks, vases or the 
like, nor above it hang a 
small and insufficient mir¬ 
ror or picture. In extreme 
violations of the scale 
principle, whatever merit 
the individual pieces of 
decoration may have in 
themselves is wholly lost 
and the dignity of the 
mantel is destroyed. Con¬ 
versely, do not overpower 
a small mantel with things 
too large for it. 
In following the prin¬ 
ciple of Suitability, the 
element of good taste 
comes strongly into play 
and has broad leeway to 
work in. Good taste, for 
example, will forbid Louis 
Quinze ormolu candelabra 
upon an early Georgian 
mantel with its severe¬ 
ly architectural o v e r- 
{Continned on page 64) 
