138 
House b" Garden 
For Oil, Gas or 
Electricity 
16y2 in. High — 
Shade 13 in. 
Diameter 
A jury of eleven artists— 
sculptors, craftsmen, pain¬ 
ters and critics—picked 
this, the design of Miss 
Mary Bishop, as the lamp 
combining the most beau¬ 
tiful proportions, harmo¬ 
nious tones and practica¬ 
ble design of all those at 
the Art Alliance of Amer¬ 
ica’s exhibition of 1923. 
The base is cast in medallium, of 
rich, statuary bronze finish, 
which not only allows the ar¬ 
tist’s delicately refined contours 
and gracefully proportioned 
masses to be faithfully pre¬ 
served in their charming sim¬ 
plicity, but also insures their 
permanency. The shade, de¬ 
signed as a unit with the lamp, 
is in tones of grey-gold-brown 
graded into ivory brown—chos¬ 
en by Miss Bishop to carry her 
scheme of color harmony— 
with deep, rich, brown stripes 
toward the bottom of the flare, 
and edges bound with strips of 
dull brass. 
Why the Decorative Arts League 
Paid $2,500 for this Lamp in order 
to Sell Replicas of it for only $5,90 
W W ^EARIED with the drab commonplaces offered by 
M/W/ lamp manufacturers, with their ill-proportioned, un- 
r r balanced designs and garish colors—particularly with 
those few poor specimens adapted for burning oil—the Decora¬ 
tive Arts League determined to procure, for reproduction, the 
most beautifully designed, harmoniously colored table Lamp, . 
adaptable for either oil or gas, as well as electricity, that the 
best artistic talent in America could produce, cost what it 
would. 
The assistance of the Art Alliance of Amer¬ 
ica was enlisted and a great national com¬ 
petition arranged. 
Cash awards of $1,300 were offered, and 
eleven eminent artists and critics selected Ly ; 
the Art Alliance to act as jury. Over 250 ar- | 
tists entered the competition, from 26 differ- ^ 
ent states and provinces. 307 different de¬ 
signs were submitted. Though all were 
beautiful, many of them surpassingly so, 
the final verdict went unanimously to the 
lamp of Miss Mary Bishop (illustrated 
above), and she received the Blue Ribbon 
and Grand Prize of $600.00. 
S2,5J0 For One Lamp 
Thus was secured for the League, at a total , 
expense of something over $2,500, the one i 
design for a table lamp unmistakably su¬ 
preme for its purpose. And this, the Blue 
Ribbon Lamp, each one bearing the artist’s 
signature, is now offered for a limited time 
by the League to those who appreciate the 
possession of such artistic things. 
Price—the Most Amazing 
Point of All 
The price of the Mary Bishop Lamp, like 
that of all articles offered by the League, is 
actually less than is asked in stores for even 
the commonplace factory designs of similar 
type. It is $5.90. Look about you in the 
stores and see how pitiably little you can get 
for even twice or three times that amount 
and then think that now through the , 
League’s plan, you can for merely $5.SO ! 
have for your home the lamp on which a [ 
jury of the most discriminating judges of art 
conferred the Blue Ribbon. 
That is the League’s purpose—to prove 
that the most substantial and artistic 
things need cost no more than drab com¬ 
monplaces if the right methods of produc¬ 
tion and distribution are used. 
Most of the League’s offerings are never 
advertised to the public, but are offered pri¬ 
vately to corresponding members. (Such 
membership costs nothing—it merely regis¬ 
ters your name as wanting to be informed of 
the League’s offetings and given the mem¬ 
bers’ prices on them in case you ever wish 
to buy. See Coupon below.) On.y a few 
times a year some especially great triumph 
like Aurora, or this Mary Bishop Prize 
Lamp, is publicly announced, and then 
only for the purpose of widening the corre¬ 
sponding membership to include a few more 
discerning people. 
Sent You on Approval 
All League products are sold strictly sub¬ 
ject to the purchaser’s approval. All you 
need to do is to sign and mail the coupon. 
When the lamp comes you pay the Postman 
$5.90 plus the postage. You then take five 
days to see the lamp lighted, to study its 
effect. If by that time you have not decided 
that you never before made so good a pur¬ 
chase, you return the lamp to us and all your 
money will be refunded in full. That is the 
League’s way of doing business. Send the 
coupon now for it might be months, or 
years, before you see another announcement 
of the League. So sign and mail this coupon 
now—without risk. 
DECORATIVE ARTS LEAGUE, Gallery at 505 Fifth Avenue, New York, N 
You may enter my name as a “Corresponding Member” of the 
Decorative Arts League, it being distinctly understood that such 
membership is to cost me nothing, either now or later, and it is to 
entail no obligation of any kind. It simply registers me as one inter¬ 
ested in hearing of really artistic new things for home decoration 
and use. 
You may send me, at the members’ special price, a Mary 
Bishop Prize Lamp, and I will pay the postman $5.90, plus the 
postage, when delivered. If not satisfactory I can return the lamp 
within five days of receipt and you are to refund my money in full. 
Y. 
Check whether 
Gas - - - □ 
Oil 
- - - □ 
Electricity 
HG 3 
□ 
Signed 
Street or R. F. D. 
City. 
State . 
THE STORY of REGENCY FURNITURE 
{Continued from page 136) 
of the doors. “A representation of some 
such marble”, he observes, “might tvell 
be introduced as frames for the doors at 
home.” It is amusing to think that much 
the same ideas are finding favor today and 
that marbling is being relearnt. 
The Regency men were past-masters 
in that art; the few pieces that have sur¬ 
vived the cultured fury of the eighties, 
are miracles of intelligence and skUl. 
Occasionally in old houses a slate or 
wooden chimney piece may be found with 
the original imitation of Sienna, red 
porphyry or malachite, still intact; such 
repays study, and should be carefully 
preserved. 
Mirrors of many kinds played an im¬ 
portant part in the decorative scheme, 
and helped out, when necessary, its decep¬ 
tive glories. Tall pier glasses stood on the 
pier table between each window, and very 
often a piece of looking glass was placed 
underneath the table as well. Others were 
artfully arranged so as to increase the 
perspectives and thus convey a mis¬ 
leading impression of space. Most curious 
of all was the idea of framing large pieces 
of mirror in carved and gilt frames, and 
hanging them by cords on the Wull as if 
they were works of art, with the placing 
so contrived that each became “an 
animated picture” as the reflections 
passed and repassed. The convex giran¬ 
dole in its round frame is one of the most 
engaging pieces of the time; usually it was 
crested by the Napoleonic eagle, wings 
outstretched, and holding in its beak 
crystal chains which hung festooned over 
the glass, with candle sconces on either 
side. Some lovely cheval and wall glasses 
were produced in the Regency style, but 
the majority have already been “col¬ 
lected”. 
The great candelabra of the period 
were the natural and fitting accompani¬ 
ment to all this glitter and pomp. They 
were movable and stood about on the 
floor and were used much as the standard 
lamp was used in the nineties. At first 
they were severely classical, and towered 
and tapered up from a tripod foot in 
Greek simplicity, later, as the craze 
spread, they became extravagant and 
freakish. Hope, himself, designed one of 
the worst—“composed of a lotus flower 
rising from a bunch of ostrich feathers”— 
a quaint enough compromise between his 
loyalty to Prinze Florizel and to the 
Greek ideal. 
A book of designs by Bridges, which 
came out after Hope’s had appeared, was 
entitled “Furniture with Candelabra”; 
this proves to what length the craze had 
gone. In addition to these, grand 
chandeliers of crystal were hung in the 
fine houses, and lesser lights—lusters 
they were called, were placed symmetri¬ 
cally about the rooms. 
PICTURES and their BACKGROUND 
A. THORSTEN 
T here was a time when pictures 
were arranged about the house ac¬ 
cording to rule: water colors and steel 
engravings for drawing room and bou¬ 
doir, oils and ancestors for the dining 
room, Landseers for the hall, sporting 
prints for billiard and smoking room, 
“The Soul’s Awakening” for bedrooms, 
and Christmas colored supplements for 
the nursery. A pictureless room was 
looked upon as “unfinished”, and you 
bought your pictures in pairs, if you 
had none, and hung them, at a slight 
tilt, in their proper order. These rules 
have been banished long since, discred¬ 
ited, but how convenient the sense of 
their correctness must have been. Un¬ 
questionably pictures are a troublesome 
proposition to deal with in the average 
house or flat, and haphazard enough is 
the treatment they get. They are still 
put up to give a furnished look to bare 
walls, or because the frames are good, or 
for sentimental rather than decorative 
reasons, or because—since pictures are 
such impossible things to store—they 
must be put somewhere. They deserve 
better treatment. 
The commonest mistake is that of 
choosing the wall papers apart from, and 
independent of, the pictures; these can 
never look right unless the wall is re¬ 
garded as their background, and suitably 
treated to that end. Beautiful and satis¬ 
factory as many modern wall papers are 
in themselves, the best is not equal to a 
good painting; and anything assertive in 
color or design is wrong as a background. 
.\s a general rule it may be taken that the 
patternless paper is safest in this connec¬ 
tion, and one with a texture is better 
than one that is all smooth and plain. 
Where a pattern may kill, texture en¬ 
hances the decorative value and interest 
of a painting. A texture, slightly rough¬ 
ened, that suggests canvas, or matting, or 
rough casting, etc., gives atmosphere: 
light and shade are reflected unevenly on 
the broken surface, the tone has depth, 
the light is never staring as from a sur¬ 
face perfectly even and flat. For example, 
a gold canvas paper is an admirable back¬ 
ground, but one of flat, shiny gold would 
only dazzle and distract the eye. Al¬ 
though a patternless background is a safe 
choice, it is not the only one. Besides the 
small overall designs, there are certain 
wall papers which are in keeping with 
certain types of pictures, and the two 
blended will produce a charmingly apt 
impression if well and wisely chosen. 
Japanese color prints on a paper of orien¬ 
tal suggestion; ancient portraits on a 
background that recalls old Italian da¬ 
mask; .Arundel prints on one with a stiff 
ecclesiastical design—these are a few sug¬ 
gestions. There is a large choice of wall 
hangings nowadays, and the right one 
can generally be found; it is worth 
seeking. 
Sometimes rooms have to be taken as 
we find them, and when a fine picture 
must be hung in a room unsuitably pa¬ 
pered there is a remedy.. A square or an 
oblong of good “backgrounding” can be 
pasted up, panel-wise, to form a setting 
and isolate the picture from the uncon¬ 
genial surroundings. Intelligently car¬ 
ried out, this does not look patchy, though 
it has a patchy sound; over the chimney- 
piece is the easiest and obvious place; 
the whole chimney breast should be cov¬ 
ered and the picture placed in the center. 
A low chimney-piece is essential, other¬ 
wise the picture will suffer from the com¬ 
mon and tiresome fault of being hung too 
high. Horizon of the picture level with 
the eye of the spectator is a good working 
rule. Placed elsewhere on the wall the 
panel needs nice judgment, and should be 
carried from the frieze to the skirting, and 
finished with a beading or border of some 
kind. Once or twice, however, is the limit 
for the “dodge” in one room. 
Color entirely depends upon the kind 
of picture that is to be hung—portraits, 
landscapes, water colors, mezzotints, and 
so on; what is perfect for one may be only 
middling for another. A warm neutral 
shade of broken gray is the most accom¬ 
modating all round, it will not come amiss 
{Continued on page 142) 
