THE CRAFTS 
WOOD CARVING AND PYROGRAPHY. LEATHER AND METAL. BASKETRY, ETC. 
Under the management of Miss Emily Peacock, Room 23, 22 East 16th St., New York. All inquiries in regard to the variou 
Crafts are to be sent to tJie above address, but will be answered in the magazine under this head. 
Summer Address, care of Keramic Studio Pub. Co , Syracuse. N. Y. 
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stamped envelope for reply. The editors will answer questions only in these columns. 
Salt Cellar in pewter— Jules Brate: 
ART IN PEWTER. 
Jules Brateau 
[Translated from fie French by Julie Flusson] 
PART I. 
Retrospective view op the evolution op this 
branch of decorative art. 
IN the comparison of those metals which during cen- 
* turies have aided races to beautify their homes, 
to decorate their implements and to adorn their persons, 
the relative importance of each must be judged from the 
extent of its use and the value of the part it has played 
as a decorative medium, rather than from its classifica- 
tion as a precious or a common material. These metals 
may differ in color, resistance and malleability, but they 
are equally beautiful under the hand that bends them 
to its will and makes them yield the best which they possess. 
Tin, which is the subject of this article, has import- 
ant qualities as a metal. Almost any result can be 
obtained from its flexibility which lends itself to the most 
delicate decoration. Its soft whiteness, when it is pure 
and of standard quality, is superior to that of silver, the 
cold bright surface of which is easily oxidized by the action 
of air and gases to the great annoyance of the silversmith. 
The superiority of silver over tin, as a hard material, is 
evident, but it disappears when only decorative qualities 
are considered. Tin lends to decoration a softness and 
delicacy which charm both the eye and the touch. 
These qualities were recognized in the most ancient 
times, if one judges by the antiquity of the objects hand- 
ed clown to us; for, in museums and in private collections 
we find pieces of money of cast, or stamped tin, and from 
China, Hindostan and Persia small objects more or less 
decorated. No one questions the antiquity of Chinese 
decoration of porcelain, and evidently tin was used in 
these remote times. Many of the colors employed by 
the old Chinese potters have a basis of tin oxide. They 
must have thoroughly understood the trituration of tin to 
have been able to extract its precious oxide, and to use it in 
their colors. The flexibility of the metal made the process 
of manufacture simple, so that this process could be handed 
down easily by tradition, from century to century, without 
danger of being lost. 
Ancient Egypt also practiced the casting of tin. The 
Egyptians used this metal in the manufacture of many 
small objects, like scent boxes, toilet articles, etc., as well 
as in incrustations. The enamels of the Egyptians also, 
like Chinese porcelains, show knowledge of the use of 
tin oxide, since some of them could not be produced 
without it. 
Passing from Egypt into Greece, we must refer with 
pleasure to the great authors who alluded to the combina- 
tion of tin with the most precious materials. Homer, in 
the Illiad, Canto XVIII, describes the arms which Thetis 
asked of Vulcan for her son, Achilles. The god, glad to 
please Thetis, forged, soldered, hammered, and incrusted 
the famous shield and arms of Achilles, and, according to 
Homer's description, used tin in the production of this 
chef d'oeuvre of the goldsmith's art: "The god puts in the 
forge indomitable brass, tin, silver, precious gold; the 
decoration represents a beautiful vine with golden branches 
bending under the weight of purple grapes; silver stakes, 
carefully spaced, hold it up, and a hedge of tin surrounds 
it . . . Farther on is a herd of oxen with superb 
heads, in which gold and tin are combined. When the 
shield is finished, large and solid, the god makes the armor, 
the brightness of which surpasses that of the flame; he 
forges a heavy helmet, which is adjusted to the hero's 
head, and he adds to it a mane of gold; and at last he makes, 
with the flexible tin, beautiful knee-pieces (cnemides)." 
Homer lived nine or ten centuries B. C, as also did 
Hesiod, who is regarded as his contemporary. The latter 
is no less explicit when he describes the shield of Hercules, 
which in beauty of composition and execution could com- 
pare with that of Achilles. In verse 207 the bucolic poet 
says: "Vulcan has engraved the picture of a port, easy of 
access, the agitated waves being made of tin." 
