Studio: international art (45.1909)

’■Reviews and Notices

WHITE LEATHER PURSE EMBROIDERED WITH YELLOW SILK DESIGNED
AND EXECUTED BY LAURA EBERHARDT
(Städtische Gewerbeschule, Stuttgart)

of training, and by passing the Government exami-
nation at the end of the course, endeavour to
obtain the State diploma qualifying them to act as
teachers of drawing. The curriculum includes the
usual preliminary study of drawing in various media,
designing, modelling, the history of art and styles,
methods of training, etc. There are practical
classes for embroidery, pottery, wood-carving, litho-
graphy, metal work, in which the students are
encouraged to carry out their own designs, and this
practical training is especially fostered in the case
of those students who, instead of adopting the pro-
fession of teacher, intend to enter manufacturing
establishments as designers. A close and careful
study of natural forms is strongly inculcated as the
best foundation for successful design.

Fräulein Eberhardt, of whose work some illus-
trations are given, with some examples of that done
by students in her class, was herself a student at
this school, and on completing her studies and
passing the qualifying examination, was sent to
Vienna to pursue her studies under Franziska
Hoffmanninger, on the conclusion of which she
was appointed to the professorship of embroidery
in the Städtische Gewerbeschule. She attaches
the greatest importance to developing the colour-
sense in her pupils, who are encouraged to make
experiments in the selection and juxtaposition of
colours. For this purpose she always has at hand
a large assortment of materials, such as silk, linen,
velvet, and other fabrics of every hue, to aid them
in composing their schemes of colour. Some
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tapestry looms have lately been added
to the appliances of the school, and
a class is now devoted to studying the
technicalities of weaving, the results
so far being encouraging.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES.

Seals. By Walter de Gray
Birch, LL.D., F.S.A. (London :
Methuen.) 25T. net.—Though several
monographs have appeared on the
seals of certain corporate institutions
the complete history of the engraved
stamp remains to be written ; but to
that history Mr. Birch’s volume—one
of the useful Connoisseur’s Library—
is a very notable contribution. In it
he goes back to the first origin of “a
special and unique mark easily recog-
nisable wherewith to set apart objects
or to identify them,” describes the various materials
—that included precious stones such as sardonyx
and jasper—of which it was made, notes the con-
fusion that has arisen from the use of one word to
denote alike the matrix or actual stamp and the
impression formed by it, and traces the evolution of
the former from its first crudely simple forms to the
triumphs of design and execution of mediaeval and
renaissance times. That seals were in use at a very
early date is proved by the constant references to
them in the Old Testament and in records of
Greece, Rome, and other nations, the probability
being, in Mr. Birch’s opinion, that the greater
number were “cylinders of hard stone, engraved
with a sacred or personal device, and pierced
through the long axis so that a thong or string could
be passed through and enable it to be tied to the
wrist.” Other early forms of seals were the sacred
beetle or scarab of the Egyptians and the cones of
the Assyrians, the later examples of which are
embellished with exquisite and often elaborate
designs engraved in intaglio with extraordinary
skill. After dealing with the seals of Oriental
nations and those of the Greeks and Romans,
he proceeds to describe in fuller detail the finest
English seals from the earliest times. The seal
of the Confessor is a unique example of Anglo-
Saxon art and of great historic value, the figures
on either side being supposed to be true portraits
of the saintly monarch, whilst that of the Conqueror,
though inferior from the aesthetic point of view,
is interesting as the earliest signet bearing an
equestrian effigy. Considerable space is also