The Studio yearbook of decorative art (1906)

Garden Furniture

forming the background, is depicted in the under the encouragement, and entirely through the
coloured illustration, after a drawing by Mr. generosity, of the late Mr. G. F. Watts, R.A., with
Frank Brangwyn, A.R.A. a view of directing the talents of craftsmen to the

A summerhouse with shingle roof and an oak development of the material resources of British
bridge (both on p. 272) of severely simple structural clays.

lines, the latter designed by Mr. Mawson, are Two well-heads by the Guild are illustrated :
further instances of picturesque accessories for the one of them (p. 271), in white terra-cotta, based on
garden. the well-known form of Venetian well-heads in

The shingle-roofed dove-cot (p.252), designed by sculptured marble ; the other (p. 271), of a some-
Mr. Hodgson, on the top of a lofty pole is repre- what hieratic character, with angels in the panels,
sentative of an institution that was rarely, if ever, bearing symbols representing the "Tree of Life"
absent from ancient homesteads, but in these days and the "Waters of Life." Next are two bird
has unfortunately become exceptional. baths in terra-cotta : one (p. 254) on a cylindrical

Next may be considered fountains, which, pro- stem, with intertwining ornament; the other
vided the pipes be properly laid, affording a (p. 270) on a four-sided stem, called after Miss Lucy
sufficient supply of water that may be relied on to Martineau, for whom and at whose suggestion it
work well, and not to run dry in the summer-time, was fashioned as it is. The inscriptions are appro-
when it is wanted most, constitute as delightful priate, being quotations from St. Francis of Assisi,
accompaniment as can be to flowers
and shrubs. Here, again, the danger
to be avoided is ambitious display. It
is far better to be content with a simple
basin and a single column of water
rising high into the air than to insist
on a complex system of cross-currents
and spray falls contrived on the
Versailles pattern.

Messrs. Doulton's terra-cotta pond
rims (pp. 270 and 271) are such
modest designs as look best and are
most suited to the average garden.
A third pattern (p. 254), designed by
Mr. Pearce, with a deeper rim, orna-
mented in modelled relief, and a
fountain pillar standing in the midst,
is considerably more ambitious. The
rich interlaced ornament of Messrs.
Liberty's terra-cotta fountain (p. 254),
■does not detract from the simple dignity
of the leading lines of the design as a
whole.

The fountain by Mr. F. Lynn
Jenkins in marble and bronze, and that
by Mr. F. M. Taubman (p. 259),
together with the group of a fawn
struggling with a huge fish, by Mr.
Derwent Wood (p. 258), being all three
alike the work of sculptors, introduce
the human figure as the principal
element in the design.

Next comes the terra-cotta work of
the Potters' Arts Guild, an industry
■established at Compton, Surrey, havinc;

r " 0 sundial ,designed by mrs. g. f, watts

been founded there some years ago executed by the potters' arts guild.

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