Studio: international art (12.1898)

The slrt of Wood-Carving

by the simplest of means. At a slight distance the
general effect is pleasurable in the extreme, though
the details of the various subjects may evade obser-
vation. There is a subtle movement, as it were, of
the surface, a palpitation, as I have observed above,
which appeals to the senses one knows not why or
wherefore, and which would be altogether lost were
definition sharp and insistent. On nearer acquaint-
ance, the game of hide-and-seek, which the main
lines or the design seem to have been playing with
one's artistic sense, gives place to a realisation of
their cunning intricacy and abiding interest. The
figure subjects are conventionalised, one notices,
to exactly the requisite point, while the borders
are marvellous in their almost riotous opulence of
decorative motive.

I hope I have not let my pen run away with me
in this consideration of a piece of work which nine
laymen out of ten would pass by without a second
glance, but I cannot help feeling that in itself it
comprises a treatise on one aspect at least of the
art of wood-carving. There are, indeed, other
lessons to be learned from it to which my space
will not allow me to refer. It preaches, for
instance, most strenuously the doctrine to which

".. 5■ END OF CHEST ITALIAN, FOURTEENTH CENTURY
{South Kensington Museum)

160

in a former paper 1 have made public witness of
my adherence—that design is infinitely more than
technical skill, for it is quite conceivable that its
creator restrained himself from a further modelling
of his surface for the simple reason that he did not
possess the requisite craftsman's ability therefor ;
it emphasises, as a glance at the simplicity of the
design of the ends will show, the value of propor-
tion, for it would be difficult to imagine any
relation of space and ornament better considered
than these exhibit; it solves completely, in short,
the bulk of those problems with which the
designer who would beautify the common-place
articles of daily life and use is wont to find him-
self confronted; and, finally, it offers itself as a
striking exemplar of a piece of movable furniture,
whose supreme merit is that it is decorative, and
not merely decorated.

It is possible that one of the above remarks may
lead to a misunderstanding on the part of the
casual reader. It must not be supposed for an
instant that I am inclined to belittle or decry
technical skill in endeavouring, as I have, to
determine its qualitative value in respect to design.
Absolute command over his tools and his material
is, of course, the ultimate goal to which every
craftsman should aspire ; and when to this is
united the sense of beauty which betrays it-
self in grace and seemliness of design, then
we have the fine flower of consummate crafts-
manship. What, for instance, could be more
satisfying than some of the work of those
thirteenth-century Frenchmen who seemed
absolutely to revel in setting themselves
problems of technical difficulty ? We find a
distinct gratification in the mere contempla-
tion of the worker's skill, and apart from any
question of design—a gratification which is
increased, however, tenfold when we find that
that design is almost as admirable in its own
way as that of the Italian cassone we have
been considering. Such an instance is to be
found in the front of the oaken coffer of
which Mr. Clifford has furnished me with so
admirable a reproduction—a reproduction to
which I am compelled to draw attention in
that it seems to me one of the most extra-
ordinary instances of perfect pen-work which
has been brought before me for many years.
This coffer-front, though it is by no means
the equal of the Italian example from the
point of view of design, is yet worthy of the
most careful consideration. In proportion,
in grace of line, in the due correlation of