64 
House & Garden 
Z&SatlPi 
Make your Flower Garden 
“do its bit” 
F LOWER gardens in these war 
times must meet the needs of 
the Nation’s soul as well as of 
its body. Never was the Country in 
greater need of flowers and trees and 
growing plants to delight the sight 
and lift the thoughts and cheer the 
heart. Plan and plant with a flower 
lover’s instinct. 
Wagner’s Flower Catalog 
The annual number is now ready with valu- gg ^ 
able suggestions to guide you in the selec¬ 
tion, planting and care of roses, hardy 
flowers, shrubs, evergreens and trees for every decorative purpose 
book will be mailed to you without cost or obligation, bringing with 
the assurance of success with things that will make your surroundings a 
place of delight. Write today for Catalog 75. 
WAGNER 
LANDSCAPE SERVICE 
Plans and executes the land¬ 
scape work for private homes, 
estates, clubs, etc., and for 
public institutions, schools, 
hospitals, and manufacturing 
plants. Correspondence direct 
with our Landscape Depart¬ 
ment is invited. 
This 
it 
WAGNER PARK NURSERIES 
Box 945 Sidney, Ohio 
Spanish Wall Furniture of the 16th and 17th 
Centuries 
(Continued from page 14) 
Just as in Italy, long tables, such as 
that in Figure 4, were often used 
against the wall, where the rich carv¬ 
ing of their drawer fronts and un¬ 
derframing materially contributed to the 
decoration of the room. Although these 
long tables, by virtue of their frequent 
employment in the manner noted, are to 
be reckoned among the items of wall 
furniture, they were just as often used 
elsewhere than against the wall; but, be 
it observed, the 16th and 17th Century 
Spaniards and Italians have not yet be¬ 
come infected with the center table ob¬ 
session. Both Spaniards and Italians 
seem to have felt the need and pro¬ 
priety of corner furniture, and part of 
this need they met by the use of three- 
cornered tables made to be set in the 
angle of two walls. Such a wall, angle 
or corner piece is the small table shown 
in Figure 2. 
Fig. 12. A cup¬ 
board serving as 
base for a bone in- 
1 aid vargueno 
cabinet 
Fig. 14 An early vargueno 
stand—trestle legs and 
wrought iron braces 
two doors, disguised as drawer fronts, 
below. The small vargueno cabinet 
decorated with bone inlay, on top of 
the lower cabinet, represents strong 
Saracen influence. 
The credenza relationship is evident 
in Figure 6, although it is much lower 
than its Italian relative. Curiously 
enough, there is unmistakable evidence 
that this piece was once open in the 
lower part and that doors and side 
paneling were added at a subsequent 
though early date. 
Of the tall cabinets, cupboards or 
presses, shown by Figures 7, 8 and 10, 
Figure 7 is a typical piece from the 
Basque provinces and is made of oak. 
Figure 10 has already been partially 
discussed and only requires, in addition 
to what has already been said, that 
attention be directed to the exuberant 
wealth of strongly cut detail which is 
thoroughly characteristic of much of the 
early Spanish carving. Figure 8, which 
is of oak, is a good specimen of the 
larger and more imposing cupboard or 
press. But far more interesting and 
important than its contour as a repre¬ 
sentative type of cabinet work is the 
carved decoration running across the 
rail above the small doors and just, below 
the cornice, and also repeated in the 
two short panels of the base. This 
device is known as the “water wheel 
motif” and supplies one 
important link in a chain 
of evidence that shows our 
direct indebtedness to 
Syriac and Coptic art. 
As a matter of fact, 
much of the Renaissance 
force was directly due to 
the influence of Coptic and 
Syriac monks and to com¬ 
mercial relations with 
Egypt and Asia Minor. 
Cabinets and Cupboards 
Cabinets and cupboards showed the 
widest variation in size and fashion. 
One especially interesting type is the 
low cupboard or hutch with boot feet, 
shown in Figure 1. While the design 
of the feet, the fact that painted decora¬ 
tion is applied upon tire walnut ground, 
and the contour and dimensions are all 
matters deserving of close attention, the 
most significant structural feature is the 
lattice work of the tops of the doors. 
This peculiarity—it has its analogue in 
the old English dole cupboard with 
perforated front for ventilation—shows 
direct descent from a Moorish proto¬ 
type, the lattice being a favorite device 
of the Moorish joiners. This lattice 
work taken in conjunction with the 
numerous small inserted panels in the 
doors and sides of the richly carved tall 
cabinet, shown in Figure 10, imparts a 
characteristically Spanish stamp and 
points to a tradition learned by the 
Spanish craftsmen from their Moorish 
tutors who, in turn, had learned from 
the Saracens what the Coptic joiners of 
northern Egypt had taught them that 
the use of lattices and small panels, 
loosely set, was the only way of com¬ 
bating the shrinking and warping ef¬ 
fects of the sun and preventing crack¬ 
ing of the wood. 
Although the decorative paneling on 
the cabinet in Figure 12 is formed by 
small pieces applied on a flat wooden 
background, the design was apparently 
derived from an erstwhile necessity. 
Cabinets of this sort, though showing 
a quadruple decorative division, in real¬ 
ity often had two drawers above and 
■ . . 
■ 
A ;Afo WMf, 
m 
The photographs illus¬ 
trating this article are 
shown by courtesy of C. M. 
Travers Co., Frederick W. 
Harer , and Nicholas 
Martin. 
