136 
House Garden 
The Spirit of the Hearth and hospitality is 
in this quaint, artistic, useful basket. 
Made entirely by hand, of selected willows, 
it is a perfect specimen of our famous 
craftsmanship. Graceful, strong—it lends 
itself to use for autumn leaves, berries, etc. 
as well as firewood—adding a touch of 
distinction to your home. 
Our line, in wide variety, described in il¬ 
lustrated catalog. Write for it. 
Price, postpaid, size 24 inches in standard 
colors, woodsy brown, meadow green, drift¬ 
wood grey or holly red. $7.00. 
MADISON BASKETCRAFT CO. 
404-N. Third St., Burlington, la. 
Early Colonial 
The Covert Franklin Fireplaces are 
quaintly charming in their early 
period design and are capable of radi¬ 
ating far more heat and cheer than the 
usual open fireplace. They are easily 
installed wherever a chimney is avail¬ 
able, and are equipped with grate for 
coal or andirons for wood. 
$35io$6s 
Illustrated Leaflet G on request 
THE H. W. COVERT COMPANY 
137 East 46 th Street, New York 
bird-baths, sundials, benches, vases, flower- 
boves and other interesting garden orna¬ 
ments (many also suitable for interior use) 
will be found on exhibition in our studios. 
Illustrated Catalogue Sent on Request 
The Erkins Studios 
Established iqoo 
240 Lexington Avenue at 31-th Street 
New York (aly 
Did Not Dream A Course 
Could Be So Wonderful'' 
T his voluntary tribute to the Arts 
& Decoration Practical Home 
Study Course in Interior Decora¬ 
tion is typical of the appreciation of the 
enrolled students. 
They are enthusiastic over its artistic and prac¬ 
tical usefulness, in telling what to do and how to 
do it, and the great saving in money it makes 
possible in the beautifying of homes. 
The course of 24 lessons with more than 500 
illustrations covers every phase of interior decora¬ 
tion—Fixed Background, Walls, Floors and 
Ceilings, Lighting, Curtains, Hangings and Dec¬ 
orative Textiles, Choice and arrangement of Fur¬ 
niture, Composition, and how to know and to use 
Period Styles and Period Furniture. 
The knowledge it gives you is essential to a cul¬ 
tural education, a necessity in making homes beautiful, and it lays the foundation 
for a profitable career in a fascinating profession. 
Directors: Harold Donaldson Eberlein and Nancy V. McClelland 
An illuslrated booklet will be sent you on request 
ARTS & DECORATION 48 West 47th St., New York 
SERVICE TABLE WAGON 
Saves Thousands of Steps 
(1) Has lar£:e EroacI Table Top (20x30 in.) 
(2) TWO Undershelves (to transport 
ALL the table dishes in ONE TRIP.) 
(3) Large center pull-out Drawer. 
(4) Double End Guiding Handles. 
(5) Equipped with four (4) Rubber Tired 
^‘Scientifically Silent’^ Swivel Wheels. 
(6) A beautiful extra glass Serving Tray. 
Write for descriptive pamphlet 
and dealer’s name. 
THE COMBINATION STUDIOS 
.304-V Cunard Bldg., Chicago, Ill. 
B! Dl RECTORYo/ DECORATION S FI N E ARTS 
A typical dwarf cabinet of the period, 
which has bookshelves above, is made of 
rosewood and finely inlaid with scroll 
and leaf design in brass 
THE STORY of REGENCY FURNITURE 
(Continued from page 77) 
acquiring on account of the beautiful 
wood and the flawless excellency of the 
cabinet work. But as time goes on they 
deteriorated and the good points were lost 
and overwhelmed in the shoddy version 
of Louis Quatorze and Rococo that 
became the rage. 
There is, indeed, an aroma about the 
pure Regency that no imitation recap¬ 
tures. An authentic piece, one that has 
not been restored, French polished, or 
touched by the Philistine, needs only 
dusting and a little beeswax to restore the 
quiet opulence that best describes its 
quality. The old gilding must on no 
account be regilt; the ormolu should be 
left, as Mr. Thomas Hope says, “to 
exhibit its own green patina”. 
Rosewood, often dark to blackness, was 
beginning to replace mahogany. Con¬ 
temporary authority now decreed that 
“this wood when used in houses of conse¬ 
quence, should be confined to the parlor 
and bed-chamber floors and avoided as 
least proper to elegant drawing rooms”. 
We must suppose, then, that the houses 
of less consequence remained faithful 
to mahogany, and that the parlors and 
bed chambers were lavishly provided, 
since a very considerable proportion of 
the existing Regency furniture is made in 
that wood. East and West India satin- 
wood, amboyna, tulip-wood, and cala- 
mander were all popular. 
Pieces in calamander (or more correctly, 
coromandel-wood) are of special interest, 
since the tree that produced it has 
practically become an extinct branch of 
the Diospyros ebony family to which it 
belongs. Quantities were imported from 
the south-east of India and Ceylon early 
in the 19 th Century, but even then it had 
been “so prodigally felled, first by the 
Dutch and afterwards by the English, 
without any precautions for planting or 
production, that it has at last become ex¬ 
ceedingly rare”. Heavy and dense, and 
of unusual and charming figure, it pro¬ 
vided an ideal wood for veneering and 
took an exquisite polish; on its delicate 
fawn-colored ground, the uneven waving 
lines and blotches of the figure stood out 
in sharp contrast almost ebony black on 
the pale ground. When supplies ran short 
imitations of Coromandel were sometimes 
painted on the commoner materials. 
It was, indeed, frankly, an age of 
shams—if the paradox may pass. We 
must remember, in extenuation, that 
while Regency in England was based on 
the prodigal extravagance of Napoleon’s 
Empire style in France, the imitators 
could not always run to the costliness of 
their model; yet the appearance of 
splendor, without which the style col¬ 
lapsed, had to be maintained. Beechwood 
was carved and “japanned” into the 
semblance of bronze, or dyed and treated 
to represent ebony. Whole suites were 
made in beech or pearwood coated thinly 
over with plaster and gilt. There was a 
good deal of painted furniture; white 
and gold for extreme elegance; light stone 
tints for ever 3 -day use. Red and green 
veined porphyry, marble and even 
granite were counterfeited by cleverly 
treated wood. Mr. Thomas Hope—the 
high priest of Regency—came back from 
Rome full of enthusiasm for the interior 
decorations he had seen there, especially 
did he commend the marble architraves 
(Continued on page 138) 
A stool of ebon- 
ized wood, with 
carved and gilt 
enrichments and 
leopard’s head or¬ 
naments on its 
terminals 
