DOI Heft:
No. 56 (November, 1897)
DOI Artikel:White, Gleeson: An epoch-making house
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18390#0136
An Epoch-Ala king House
" Come, fill the cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance play.
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly—and Lo ! the Bird is on the wing."
As a former writer upon this house has pointed
out, it is the vine of " old Khayyam " that Mr.
Crane has chosen for the motive of the decoration
of this room. " Perplext no more with Human
or Divine, To-morrow's tangle to the winds re-
sign, And lose your fingers in the tresses Of the
Cyprus-slender Minister of wine," might be its
motto, or any of the dozens of original quatrains
in praise of the grape which Fitzgerald distilled
into some three or four in his classic paraphrase.
Panels of the frieze and of the ceiling here illus-
trated will show how Mr. Crane has treated his
theme, and introduced the " turned-down " empty
glass of the Persian singer, as well as the " twisted
tendril of the growth of God." It is a happy
instance of appropriate decoration for a dining-
room, this choice of Omar's vine; which, as
readers of his works know well, is not so much a
Bacchanalian symbol as an emblem of the " Wine
of Life " that keeps " oozing drop by drop "; of
earthly pleasures fleeting, but not necessarily
shameful.
" Better be jocund with the fruitful grape
Than sadden over none or bitter fruit,"
is the philosophy it teaches.
The more obvious incidents of JEsop's Fables,
"The Stork and the Fox," "The Fox and the
Grapes," "The Man and his Cloak," all these need
no comment, except that they afford another
instance of Mr. Walter Crane's felicitous treatment
of an anecdote, so that it tells its tale at a glance.
The sideboard, ornate though it be, is not out 01
harmony, but keeps its place as part of the scheme.
The mantelpiece is a good example of Mr. Philip
Webb's original and dignified treatment of material,
its Persian tiles with hawking scenes are framed
in sober mouldings of Purbeck marble, so that the
whole takes its appointed place. To read a descrip-
tion of this room may call up a picture of glitter
and over-gorgeous ornament; yet one glimpse of it
would prove how false were such an impression.
Although not a square inch is free from decoration,,
the breadth of the whole is preserved, and the place,.
BILLIARD ROOM
108
NO. I HOLLAND PARK
" Come, fill the cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance play.
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly—and Lo ! the Bird is on the wing."
As a former writer upon this house has pointed
out, it is the vine of " old Khayyam " that Mr.
Crane has chosen for the motive of the decoration
of this room. " Perplext no more with Human
or Divine, To-morrow's tangle to the winds re-
sign, And lose your fingers in the tresses Of the
Cyprus-slender Minister of wine," might be its
motto, or any of the dozens of original quatrains
in praise of the grape which Fitzgerald distilled
into some three or four in his classic paraphrase.
Panels of the frieze and of the ceiling here illus-
trated will show how Mr. Crane has treated his
theme, and introduced the " turned-down " empty
glass of the Persian singer, as well as the " twisted
tendril of the growth of God." It is a happy
instance of appropriate decoration for a dining-
room, this choice of Omar's vine; which, as
readers of his works know well, is not so much a
Bacchanalian symbol as an emblem of the " Wine
of Life " that keeps " oozing drop by drop "; of
earthly pleasures fleeting, but not necessarily
shameful.
" Better be jocund with the fruitful grape
Than sadden over none or bitter fruit,"
is the philosophy it teaches.
The more obvious incidents of JEsop's Fables,
"The Stork and the Fox," "The Fox and the
Grapes," "The Man and his Cloak," all these need
no comment, except that they afford another
instance of Mr. Walter Crane's felicitous treatment
of an anecdote, so that it tells its tale at a glance.
The sideboard, ornate though it be, is not out 01
harmony, but keeps its place as part of the scheme.
The mantelpiece is a good example of Mr. Philip
Webb's original and dignified treatment of material,
its Persian tiles with hawking scenes are framed
in sober mouldings of Purbeck marble, so that the
whole takes its appointed place. To read a descrip-
tion of this room may call up a picture of glitter
and over-gorgeous ornament; yet one glimpse of it
would prove how false were such an impression.
Although not a square inch is free from decoration,,
the breadth of the whole is preserved, and the place,.
BILLIARD ROOM
108
NO. I HOLLAND PARK