158 
KERAMIC STUDIO 
ILLUSTRATION NO. 4 
Illustration No. 4 shows an arrangement of things Italian 
in spirit. The linen is of solid crochet filet, the centerpiece 
being a pattern of equestrian armoured knights, taken from 
old filet designs. The place mats are of crochet without or- 
namentation other than an initial. The linen and all the other 
things are cream or ecru in color. The Corinthian column 
candlesticks were made to look more unusual by putting glass 
night lamps in them instead of candles. The four small urns 
and larger one in center were originally medicine jars in an 
ancient Italian pharmacy, and these held the flowers which 
were the most brilliant orange and yellow which could be 
imagined, (calendulas). The comports of Italian pottery 
contained black grapes. 
The decoration shown in No. 5 was built up from the linen. 
I had found the lovely linen in a Russian store in Boston, the 
lace-like pattern being woven into the material. All it needed 
was a very narrow fine crochet edge of the same oyster white. 
With such linen, china of distinction was required, and the 
beautiful pale blue Wedgewood ware, without ornamentation 
of any sort, was chosen. For the comports and flower vases 
I found some interesting brass pieces in the Russian quarter, 
lower New York, and these I had silver plated. The flowers 
were the wonderful blues of the perennial Delphinium. The 
color scheme thus was of various shades of blue, silver, oyster 
white and touches of yellow in the fruits. 
It was the comports in illustration No. 6 which formed 
the nucleus of the scheme. I had seen them in the window of 
a Fifth Avenue treasure shop, and thought what an exquisite 
table decoration might be built up about them. Whenever 
in the vicinity I always stopped to covet the comports but 
did not go in to ask the price supposing it to be quite beyond 
my possibilities. However, I afterward purchased them. 
Here, indeed, the chaste elegance of the exquisite old Italian 
comports gave me much to live up to in planning the other 
things to go with them, and this decoration took most of my 
time and also most of my money. The comports were a daz- 
zling white, a kind of glass, and so it was to be a white scheme 
as distinguished and charming as I could make it. The loveli- 
est linen I could think' of was white crochet filet, a long runner 
with very long narrow place mats, the proportions being care- 
fully studied out. The designs were taken from old filet work, 
and were right in "atmosphere" to combine with the wonderful 
comports. 
I had wished to work out one arrangement suggesting an 
Italian garden in miniature, and this proved my opportunity. 
I designed and had made in wood a miniature garden balus- 
trade, which was enameled white and this was used to enclose 
my "garden." With a dozen little white china boxes (the 
bottoms of card boxes left over from my keramic days) I ar- 
ranged some little formal flower beds in the center, filling them 
with the little dwarf ageratum in blue and violet shades. In 
the very centre, just as one might expect to find in a real garden, 
as a focal point, I placed a tiny marble reproduction of an Ital- 
ian bird bath. The candlesticks were Corinthian columns 
which we whitened by enameling and firing, and white linen 
shades were made with the same crochet filet as the runner 
and mats, and lined with salmon colored silk. Instead of 
real fruits in the comports those of Venetian glass were used, 
black grapes, white grapes, and some rough skinned lemons 
with vivid green leaves. These notes of color in the fruits, 
particularly the splashes of black were most effective, and by 
their frankly conventional character suited the rather formal 
and stately spirit of the entire decoration. The table was 
shown with the candles lighted, and the rosy glow from the 
silk lined shades on the beautiful whites, the flowers and fruits 
gave an effect of irridescence, of real enchantment. So much 
for my own arrangements for the table. 
To keramists in general I would say that I feel that the 
Art of Table Decoration is essentially a subject for them to 
handle. It is not such a far cry from keramics to linens, etc., 
and the consideration of the two together and both in relation 
to a whole would put new life and enthusiasm into the studio 
work of the keramic worker. It will be found that to broaden 
the scope of the studio work in this way will stimulate interest 
among many who have not been interested in keramics before. 
Never since I have been teaching has any one subject I 
have dealt with proved of such universal appeal. It would 
seem that almost every woman likes to have her table attrac- 
tive, and she appears to be interested in new ideas which may 
help her to express herself in this field intelligently. 
