Identifier: examplesofhouseh00smit (find matches)
Title: Examples of household taste
Year: 1875 (1870s)
Authors: Smith, Walter, 1836-1886 Smith, Walter, 1836-1886. Industrial art of the International Exhibition
Subjects: Centennial Exhibition (1876 : Philadelphia, Pa.) Decorative arts
Publisher: New York, R. Worthington
Contributing Library: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library

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e see here the same beauty of design,fulness of elaboration and mastery of technical execution that characterizes hisprevious productions. If the reader will give a careful consideration to the details of this com-position, he cannot fail to observe how perfectly the Egyptian feeling has beenpreserved in the minutest parts. Even the rich tracery of damascened workon the rim of the plaque is purely Egyptian. The conventionalized lotus, thewinged globe, the frame to the central group are well known. Coming to theepisode represented, we see it executed in a manner sculpturesque as opposedto chromatic, and treated with classic purity and simplicity. The compositionof this design is chaste and harmonious to a degree unsurpassed in a work ofthis kind. And when we consider the; technical execution we find the same excellen- INDUSTRIAL ART 355 cies in every part. In the figures of Bath-Sheba and the slave, the skin-texturehas been wonderfully well rendered. Not a flaw can be discovered in the
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Group of Bohemian Clan : J. 6 I Lobtneyr, Vienna. damascening. In short, the workmanship is a perfect specimen of the highestclass of artistic labor in the manipulation of the precious metals. 356 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITl0N, 1876. The Brazen Salver, illustrated on page 353, was exhibited in the EgyptianCourt at the Centennial, as an example of the excellence of the modern artisticmetal-work of the Egyptians. The intricacies of the design with which thesalver is enriched appears to have been made conspicuous by the use of niello,a kind of black enamel with which the engraving is covered. The enamelsinks into the incisions made by the graver, and the whole surface is thenrubbed down smooth and polished. The attempt to follow the lines of the pattern through alltheir labyrinthinewindings is bewil-dering, yet it willbe seen that thedesign consists ofunits of ornamentdistributed and in-terwoven over thesurface with geo-metrical accuracy.Indeed, this com-bination of geo-metrical formswith

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