September, 1919 
43 
Italian carved and 
painted lion of 16th 
Century use in Ital¬ 
ian group 
Carved wooden poly¬ 
chrome Madonna of 
16 th Century on a 
French mantel 
A 16 th Century 
Madonna and Child 
used on an Italian 
cabinet 
“occult method,” which is as free of re¬ 
strictions as thought itself. 
In the Period Room 
The first method has to do with the 
period room, and, accordingly, the first 
desideratum is consistency. For example, 
in an Italian room, what could be quite 
so appropriate as the statuary of the old 
Italian sculptors, either the wonderfully 
beautiful polychrome religious pieces or 
bronzes of the Renaissance, with their fine 
old patina and their legendary themes? 
Or in a Louis Quinze room, the porcelain 
statuary of old China (so much admired 
then), the bronze figures of the 
French Renaissance with its long 
list of illustrious sculptors, or the 
wonderfully delicate nudes that 
marked the refinement and 
beauty -worship of the age? Or, 
again, to turn to the English peri¬ 
ods, Chinese pieces fall in exactly 
with the delicacies of the Chip¬ 
pendale style, which itself is 
largely built on Chinese motifs, 
but would be singularly unap¬ 
propriate with the sterling rug¬ 
gedness of the older Elizabethan 
style, when Gothic statuary is re¬ 
quired, or classical bronzes or 
portrait busts. 
When these requirements of 
consistency are fulfilled in the 
period room, the individual is at 
liberty to indulge his own whims, 
unless he prefers a mere slavish 
following of period ideas. He 
may now, if he cares, make his 
personality count, for in obtain¬ 
ing that something which for want 
of a better name is called “atmos¬ 
phere,” statuary is probably more 
potent than any other means. 
Furniture is impersonal and pic¬ 
tures are, after all, mere repre¬ 
sentations, but statuary is actu¬ 
ally there “in the round,” domi¬ 
On a 17 th Century Italian cabinet stands a majolica Madonna and 
Child with gilt wooden base. Courtesy J. D. Mcllhenny, Esq. 
nating the space about it. A Louis Quinze 
mantel in a Louis Quinze room filled with 
Louis Quinze furniture, may give imper¬ 
sonally the finishing note to the ensemble, 
but a pair of the inimitable statuettes of 
Falconet or Clodion will transcend every¬ 
thing else in providing poignantly the light¬ 
some “atmosphere” of the 18th Century. 
Or, if it is an Italian Renaissance room, 
its purity can be made personal, almost, 
by means of one of the fine old polychrome 
statues in which the austerity of Byzantium 
has been humanized by the appreciation for 
sensuous beauty that came to Italy with 
the Awakening. 
But to exercise one’s own taste 
in period decoration, unless re¬ 
productions are used, requires 
sometimes a very great outlay, 
especially as regards sculpture. 
The more flexible “occult method” 
has a very strong appeal, not 
only because it is absolutely per¬ 
sonal but because its cost can run 
low or high as the individual 
wishes. 
The Occult Method 
The occult method of decorat¬ 
ing a room throws every other con¬ 
sideration to the winds except the 
feelings of the person who is go¬ 
ing to occupy it. It comprehends 
color that appeals to the owner, 
a table of whatever period the 
owner likes, pictures that he loves, 
a chair that invites him and to 
him is beautiful, a lamp that 
is just what he wants and statu¬ 
ary that makes him glad it is 
there. Given all these things, if he 
can keep them from clashing, the 
one with the other, he has achieved 
by the occult method exactly what 
he wants, and he ought to be 
happy—until his tastes change and 
he is ready to do it all over. 
(Continued on page 58) 
On a Gothic walnut 
hitch stands a 
carved 1 5th Cen¬ 
tury group 
