49 
September, 19 2 2 
TAPESTRIES IN THE DECORATIVE SCHEME 
Used Either As Background or Decoration They Invariably 
Enrich Any Interior With Their Color and Design 
PHYLLIS ACKERMANN 
T APESTRY is an ambiguous decora¬ 
tion. It plays several roles in the 
furnishing of a room so that it is often 
something of a problem to know which is its 
proper part. In the first place, it may be 
counted just a woven mate¬ 
rial, more elaborate to be 
sure, but still on a par with 
the simpler wools and silks 
that have long been used for 
curtains and upholstery. 
Or it may be considered in 
a class with the leathers and 
the heavier damasks and 
brocades that have from 
time to time been used as 
wall coverings, permanent 
parts of the finish of a 
room. Or, finally, it may be regarded less 
as decorated fabric than as decoration pure 
and simple, step sister to murals and 
painted panels. 
If it is to be used as drapery, we hang it 
in full folds to cover wall or door or win¬ 
dow. But when a wall space is to be cov¬ 
ered, it becomes an aristocratic w r all paper 
and we stretch it tight and fast in panels, 
or even in continuous surfaces. Or if it is 
a fabricated mural that w r e 
have in mind, it is hung in 
an architectural setting, and 
used as a kind of indirectly 
painted picture. 
Tapestry, at different 
times, has been all three of 
these things, drape, wall 
covering, woven painting. 
Gothic tapestries were of 
two sorts, the decorative and 
the ecclesiastical. Decora- 
(Continued on page 94) 
Here a characteristic 11th 
Century Flemish tapes¬ 
try serves purely as dec¬ 
oration. From the col¬ 
lection of H. S. Firestone 
Colorful Renaissance 
tapestry hung in soft 
folds makes a dignified 
background for the fine 
old Jacobean table 
