DOI Heft:
Nr. 75 (June 1899)
DOI Artikel:A modern bath-room designed by E. M. Simas
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19232#0048
E. M. Simas Decorations for a Bath-Room
To a height of one metre sixty-five centimetres
the walls of the room are covered by a ground-
work of alternate sycamore and alder wood panels,
the former white and the latter a yellowish-pink,
the woods being divided here and there by narrow
earthenware panels creamy white in colour, form-
ing pilasters and serving to support a faience frieze
decorated with dandelions on a field of campanulas,
with a row of trees closing in the horizon behind.
On the panels are affixed carved ornamentations
in red copper. Above the frieze a narrow shelf
runs along each wall; and above this again are
squares of cream-white earthenware, each formed
of nine small hollow squares. At regular intervals
they are relieved by ornamental tiles, in which the
campanulas and the dandelions are seen again,
the former mauve on a turquoise foundation with
dark green foliage, and the dandelions white.
Disposed as they are they are remarkably effective
-• tx- v
in providing just the necessary degree of bright
colour as a relief to the uniform simplicity of the
surrounding portions. M. Simas has here em-
ployed with the happiest results a device common
in certain Moorish houses. Finally, running round
the upper portion of the walls, and separated from
the casing to which I have just referred by a copper
bordering, and from the white ceiling by an alder
wood moulding, is a frieze in polychrome faience,
composed of little compartments decorated in dark
blue on a pale yellow ground, with campanulas
and golden flowers and greenish-grey foliage.
As for the niche in which the bath is placed, its
walls are adorned with the bath-room decorations
in earthenware designed by MM. Alexandre
Charpentier and Aubert which were reproduced in
colours some time ago in The Studio (see vol.
xiii. page 89). The niche is divided from the
other walls by a bordering of copper, and sur-
mounted, from the place
where it terminates to the
ceiling itself, by a ground-
work of turquoise blue
earthenware which is con-
tinued inside the niche and
forms its own ceiling. This,
in our opinion, is the only
error of judgment through-
out the work. For MM.
Charpentier and Aubert’s
decoration, charming as it
is in itself, cannot be ex-
pected to harmonise per-
fectly with the rest, seeing
that it is conceived in a
spirit quite different from
that which has influenced
M. Simas.
It only remains now to
mention the dressing-table,
the sole piece of furniture
in the room. Like the rest
of the woodwork, it is con-
structed of alder and syca-
more, with a splendid top of
coloured marble. It com-
prises a little double-doored
cupboard in the centre,
composed of two earthen-
ware plaques worked after
the Persian fashion in sons-
fonail, while below is a space.
The angles of the dressing-
table are ornamented on the
DECORATIONS FOR A BATH-ROOM
BY E. M. SIMAS
34
To a height of one metre sixty-five centimetres
the walls of the room are covered by a ground-
work of alternate sycamore and alder wood panels,
the former white and the latter a yellowish-pink,
the woods being divided here and there by narrow
earthenware panels creamy white in colour, form-
ing pilasters and serving to support a faience frieze
decorated with dandelions on a field of campanulas,
with a row of trees closing in the horizon behind.
On the panels are affixed carved ornamentations
in red copper. Above the frieze a narrow shelf
runs along each wall; and above this again are
squares of cream-white earthenware, each formed
of nine small hollow squares. At regular intervals
they are relieved by ornamental tiles, in which the
campanulas and the dandelions are seen again,
the former mauve on a turquoise foundation with
dark green foliage, and the dandelions white.
Disposed as they are they are remarkably effective
-• tx- v
in providing just the necessary degree of bright
colour as a relief to the uniform simplicity of the
surrounding portions. M. Simas has here em-
ployed with the happiest results a device common
in certain Moorish houses. Finally, running round
the upper portion of the walls, and separated from
the casing to which I have just referred by a copper
bordering, and from the white ceiling by an alder
wood moulding, is a frieze in polychrome faience,
composed of little compartments decorated in dark
blue on a pale yellow ground, with campanulas
and golden flowers and greenish-grey foliage.
As for the niche in which the bath is placed, its
walls are adorned with the bath-room decorations
in earthenware designed by MM. Alexandre
Charpentier and Aubert which were reproduced in
colours some time ago in The Studio (see vol.
xiii. page 89). The niche is divided from the
other walls by a bordering of copper, and sur-
mounted, from the place
where it terminates to the
ceiling itself, by a ground-
work of turquoise blue
earthenware which is con-
tinued inside the niche and
forms its own ceiling. This,
in our opinion, is the only
error of judgment through-
out the work. For MM.
Charpentier and Aubert’s
decoration, charming as it
is in itself, cannot be ex-
pected to harmonise per-
fectly with the rest, seeing
that it is conceived in a
spirit quite different from
that which has influenced
M. Simas.
It only remains now to
mention the dressing-table,
the sole piece of furniture
in the room. Like the rest
of the woodwork, it is con-
structed of alder and syca-
more, with a splendid top of
coloured marble. It com-
prises a little double-doored
cupboard in the centre,
composed of two earthen-
ware plaques worked after
the Persian fashion in sons-
fonail, while below is a space.
The angles of the dressing-
table are ornamented on the
DECORATIONS FOR A BATH-ROOM
BY E. M. SIMAS
34