DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1399#0020
PLATE 205.
A CARTED OAK "SIDEBOARD,
BY MR, J. G. GRACE, LONDON.
AMONG- the numerous and remarkable pieces of furniture in the Mediaeval style exhibited at the
Exhibition of 1862, this sideboard, forming the subject of our present illustration, was decidedly
the most important, and well sustained Mr. Crace's high reputation for good taste and first-rate
workmanship. Mr. Crace having accepted the highly honourable post of Juror for Class 30, was
precluded, on that account, from receiving the highest reward, which he otherwise would
certainly have obtained. In the official Report of that class, drawn up by Messrs. Prosper Merimee
and E. du Sommerard, we read that " if Messrs. Holland, Jackson, and Orace are prevented by
their office of jurors from receiving rewards, it is not less the duty of their colleagues in the
International Jury to render a just tribute to the excellence of the productions exhibited by each
of them, the good taste which presides over the various objects executed in their workshops, or
under their direction, and the great efforts which they have made to give to their trade a new
and powerful impulse in the direction of art and healthy tradition."
Mr. Crace's contribution was divided into two distinct groups, one in the court of Class 30,
of which an illustration and notice will be found at Plate 247; the other forming a trophy in the
Nave, consisting of various pieces of furniture, placed under a canopy, tastefully arranged, from
which we have taken the accompanying subject.
It is almost needless to state that Mr. Crace was for many years intimately connected with
the late A. Welby Pugin; and it will be remembered by many that his oak cabinet, designed by
that remarkable man, was one of the best pieces in the Great Exhibition of 1851. The present
work bears also the impress of Pugin's peculiar style; it was over nine feet in length, and finely
carved in oak, in the style of the 15th century; the legs were ornamented with ivy, and the centre
open-cut foliage of oak and acorns was very effective ; the side panels were enriched with the vine,
having scrolls each side, bearing the inscriptions " Wasshail," " Trinkheile; " the angle supports
terminated with lions holding the national escutcheon, the spandrils being filled in with vine-leaves;
the coved portion of the sideboard was enriched with coloured ornament on a gold ground, sur-
mounted by an open-cut cresting; and the large open space in the centre, we conclude, was
intended to receive a painting: the locks and hinges were of polished brass.
Other excellently designed pieces in the same style were contributed by Mr. Crace; viz., an
oak cabinet, polygonal on plan, open beneath, and the upper portion inclosed with glass doors,
protected with brass ornament of very good design. A walnut-wood cabinet and escritoire, of
ingenious construction, ornamented with carved panels, brass-work, and inlay of various woods,
very tastefully combined: on the front of the writing-table was the appropriate inscription,
" Semel emissum volat irrevocable verbum." All these works stood out in favourable relief
when compared with the Mediaeval carved furniture of Belgium and Holland, and both in
conception and detail, we believe, were due mainly to Mr. Crace, Jun., whose excellent taste and
artistic power we are happy to record. Mr. Crace is no bigot in art, as was proved by his
contributions of furniture in the Renaissance style, which, if anything, we prefer indeed to the
somewhat meagre and mannered school of PugiD : these will be found briefly described in the
letter-press accompanying Plate 247.
In March, 1857, Mr. Crace, Sen., read a paper on Furniture at the Royal Institute of
British Architects, to which he is a contributing visitor, from which we make the following
extract:—" I have lately heard it discussed whether Gothic furniture and decorations are suitable
to a nobleman's house of the present day, and whether their forms and appliances are compatible
with modern taste and comfort. In my opinion, there is no quality of lightness, elegance,
richness, or beauty, possessed by any other style, which cannot, with equal propriety, be main-
tained in Mediaeval furnishing and decoration; and with this addition, that I know no style in
which the principles of sound construction can be so well carried out."
Mr. Crace's contributions to the exhibition of furniture in the Mediaeval style went far to
prove the truth of his remarks; at the same time we would add, that the appropriateness of
such furniture is confined to buildings executed in the Gothic style : it becomes incongruous
when adopted in mansions designed in another style, whatever that style may be. External and
internal ornament should be in harmony, in order not to violate the very first principle of
good taste.
A CARTED OAK "SIDEBOARD,
BY MR, J. G. GRACE, LONDON.
AMONG- the numerous and remarkable pieces of furniture in the Mediaeval style exhibited at the
Exhibition of 1862, this sideboard, forming the subject of our present illustration, was decidedly
the most important, and well sustained Mr. Crace's high reputation for good taste and first-rate
workmanship. Mr. Crace having accepted the highly honourable post of Juror for Class 30, was
precluded, on that account, from receiving the highest reward, which he otherwise would
certainly have obtained. In the official Report of that class, drawn up by Messrs. Prosper Merimee
and E. du Sommerard, we read that " if Messrs. Holland, Jackson, and Orace are prevented by
their office of jurors from receiving rewards, it is not less the duty of their colleagues in the
International Jury to render a just tribute to the excellence of the productions exhibited by each
of them, the good taste which presides over the various objects executed in their workshops, or
under their direction, and the great efforts which they have made to give to their trade a new
and powerful impulse in the direction of art and healthy tradition."
Mr. Crace's contribution was divided into two distinct groups, one in the court of Class 30,
of which an illustration and notice will be found at Plate 247; the other forming a trophy in the
Nave, consisting of various pieces of furniture, placed under a canopy, tastefully arranged, from
which we have taken the accompanying subject.
It is almost needless to state that Mr. Crace was for many years intimately connected with
the late A. Welby Pugin; and it will be remembered by many that his oak cabinet, designed by
that remarkable man, was one of the best pieces in the Great Exhibition of 1851. The present
work bears also the impress of Pugin's peculiar style; it was over nine feet in length, and finely
carved in oak, in the style of the 15th century; the legs were ornamented with ivy, and the centre
open-cut foliage of oak and acorns was very effective ; the side panels were enriched with the vine,
having scrolls each side, bearing the inscriptions " Wasshail," " Trinkheile; " the angle supports
terminated with lions holding the national escutcheon, the spandrils being filled in with vine-leaves;
the coved portion of the sideboard was enriched with coloured ornament on a gold ground, sur-
mounted by an open-cut cresting; and the large open space in the centre, we conclude, was
intended to receive a painting: the locks and hinges were of polished brass.
Other excellently designed pieces in the same style were contributed by Mr. Crace; viz., an
oak cabinet, polygonal on plan, open beneath, and the upper portion inclosed with glass doors,
protected with brass ornament of very good design. A walnut-wood cabinet and escritoire, of
ingenious construction, ornamented with carved panels, brass-work, and inlay of various woods,
very tastefully combined: on the front of the writing-table was the appropriate inscription,
" Semel emissum volat irrevocable verbum." All these works stood out in favourable relief
when compared with the Mediaeval carved furniture of Belgium and Holland, and both in
conception and detail, we believe, were due mainly to Mr. Crace, Jun., whose excellent taste and
artistic power we are happy to record. Mr. Crace is no bigot in art, as was proved by his
contributions of furniture in the Renaissance style, which, if anything, we prefer indeed to the
somewhat meagre and mannered school of PugiD : these will be found briefly described in the
letter-press accompanying Plate 247.
In March, 1857, Mr. Crace, Sen., read a paper on Furniture at the Royal Institute of
British Architects, to which he is a contributing visitor, from which we make the following
extract:—" I have lately heard it discussed whether Gothic furniture and decorations are suitable
to a nobleman's house of the present day, and whether their forms and appliances are compatible
with modern taste and comfort. In my opinion, there is no quality of lightness, elegance,
richness, or beauty, possessed by any other style, which cannot, with equal propriety, be main-
tained in Mediaeval furnishing and decoration; and with this addition, that I know no style in
which the principles of sound construction can be so well carried out."
Mr. Crace's contributions to the exhibition of furniture in the Mediaeval style went far to
prove the truth of his remarks; at the same time we would add, that the appropriateness of
such furniture is confined to buildings executed in the Gothic style : it becomes incongruous
when adopted in mansions designed in another style, whatever that style may be. External and
internal ornament should be in harmony, in order not to violate the very first principle of
good taste.