Leaden Caskets in the British Museum 
CAST LEAD 
AS A MATERIAL FOR ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT 
Hr Reginald Wrenn 
“How in base lead pure gold is changed.” 
HIS verse of Racine, written near the 
close of the reign of Louis XIV voices 
the contempt in which lead has ever been 
held in comparison with other metals. Its 
modern application to roofing, plumbing, ot¬ 
to a coin from which some greedy fellow has 
abstracted the silver, has not served to raise 
its reputation. In the decorative arts its use 
has steadily declined. 
It is not our purpose to plead for lead as 
against gold—such a comparison may re¬ 
main a poet’s figure; but we shall illustrate 
particular purposes lead has served in the 
past, wherein its fault of heaviness became 
a merit, and its cheapness, agreeable color, 
malle^diility and en¬ 
during quality en¬ 
abled it to surpass 
any other of the so- 
called baser metals. 
We shall also en¬ 
deavor to learn why 
at present its adap¬ 
tability to these pur¬ 
poses is ignored. 
Though lead has 
always occupied an 
important place 
among the materials 
of building, its value 
is now considered 
utilitarian only. 
Little heed is given it for architectural 
ornament. In these cold months when 
exposed terra-cotta urns are cracked by the 
frost and garden figures of marble would 
fain part with a few tense extremities in 
the crisp night air, such handiwork, if 
made of lead, would pass stoically through 
this and other weathers, and cause its owner 
never an anxious qualm. There would 
then be some variety in our garden orna¬ 
ments. Cast iron Diana would soften her 
smile, and urn and statue would, by a less 
garish color, cease outrageous self-assertion. 
Must these objects indeed always be made 
of marble or of terra-cotta? As well re¬ 
quire all pictorial art to be done in oil or 
pastel and in these 
alone. Rather is 
the diversity of out¬ 
door scenes to be 
modified by man 
with such divers 
means that any ma¬ 
terial in which his 
handiwork may find 
expression should be 
welcomed and un¬ 
ceasingly tried. Or¬ 
nament applied to 
buildings and their 
surroundings need 
not be confined to 
wood—destined to 
A SAXON VESSEL OF LEAD 
Preserved at Lewes , England 
33 
