July, 1918 
25 
The three small panels have brilliant colors on creamy white paper. The 
older papers show simple, firm, carefully drawn designs whereas the later 
designs, of which these are examples, have a tendency toward freedom in the 
style and a more sympathetic treatment on the whole 
poised in the air appear actually in flight. 
This is accomplished without resort to natural¬ 
istic representation but in a purely decorative 
way which is strikingly effective. 
Papers of another type show designs painted 
in the natural colors of the objects on creamy 
white paper. Growing bamboo, trees of sinu¬ 
ous stems, birds and sometimes flowers are 
represented. 
The Chinese artists gave us still another 
variant of the tree, bamboo, bird and flower 
scheme by painting the designs in colors 
against a tinted ground instead of the creamy 
white which was the natural color of the paper. 
A modern use of an old set of Chinese wall papers is found in the residence of Mrs. 
Alexander D. P. Pratt. The walls of the boudoir are covered with a non-repeat Chinese 
paper 
A design in colors on a 
creamy ground. It is no¬ 
table for the sympathetic 
rendering of bird life and 
sketchy freedom 
appreciated their beauty and decorative worth 
and many sets were acquired and hung on the 
walls of fine homes. In America no interest 
seems to have been taken in Chinese wall 
papers after Colonial days until recent years. 
Now, however, when a fine old paper is brought 
to this country it is sold for a price that seems 
fabulous to those not acquainted with the his¬ 
tory and worth of these papers. Two or three 
thousand dollars or 
even more is not con¬ 
sidered too much to 
pay for a set of suffi¬ 
cient area to cover the 
walls of a room. 
The Chinese Designs 
Several distinct 
types of design are 
shown by the old 
Chinese wall papers. 
Those that show the 
design painted in 
tones of one color on 
creamy white paper 
are probably the old¬ 
est. A fine example 
of this type shows 
growing bamboo with 
birds in a dignified 
and well composed 
design painted in 
tones of blue. So 
much skill and deli¬ 
cacy are shown in the 
rendering of the slen¬ 
der leaves of the bam¬ 
boo that it seems as 
though they might be 
stirred by the slightest 
breeze. The birds 
A design showing charac¬ 
teristic treatment of bird¬ 
cage, bamboo and trees. 
Bright colors on an oyster 
gray ground 
Often they represented bird cages hung fron 
branches of the bamboo. They also intro¬ 
duced pottery vases with floral ornaments 
These flower pots were drawn as though stand 
ing in the foreground. Sometimes they wer< 
represented as being supported by stands o: 
wood, bamboo or pottery and in other case: 
they appear as though they were resting or 
the ground at the base of the design. 
Backgrounds 
The color of th< 
tinted background is 
one of the most pleas¬ 
ing features of this 
type, for the back¬ 
ground in the best ex¬ 
amples has a trans- 
lucence that gives lif( 
and tenderness to tin 
color. The blue back¬ 
grounds are often espe¬ 
cially remarkable foi 
depth and richness 
A background coloi 
that rivals the blue is 
pink, sometimes ap¬ 
proaching the color oi 
the lining of a concl 
shell and sometimes 
that of the wild rose 
Among the other back¬ 
ground colors found 
in the old examples 
are pale straw color 
lilac, lavender and 
oyster-gray. 
Papers of anothei 
very interesting class 
(Continued on 
page 50) 
