Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/1075

 GRECIAN AND MODERN VJLLA FUIINITURE. 1051 Tliii itieeii is consitloied liiinilr>or.icr than _Xii /'^^ ceiitre-poiut liingcs, turn round either way the preceding one. 2090. The Win- dow Curtains for the dining-room may be of the same patterns as those exhibited in figs. 705, 708, 710, and 711. The hang- ings should be of mo- reen, cloth, or some similar material, less delicate and orna- mental than silk, chintz, &c. 2091. A General View of the interior of a dining-room in the Grecian style, by Mr. Lamb, is shown in fig. 1 900. In this Design, Mr. Lamb ODser'es that '• in the centre of one side there is a large pier glass over the side- board, and a window in each side to the right and left. The servants' entrance to the room is opposite to the principal en- trance, and communi- cates directly with the kitchen and other offices. Appropriate sculpture and ara- besque ornaments are the principal decorations. The curtains are placed close to the windows, and within the pilasters, in order that, when drawn, they may not interfere with the Architecture of the room. — In taking a general view of the modern dining- room furniture here given, we shall commence with the sideboards and wine-coolers under them, which are, for the most part, very good. The idea of cooling wine in a sarcophagus, however disagreeable it may be to those who know the meaning of the word (flesh-devourer), and the original uses to which vessels of this shape were applied, is yet so sanctioned by modern habit, as to be, in our opinion, quite imobjectionable. There is no law in nature against the changing of the uses of objects ; and the laws of society are, or ought to be, made by society for themselves, and not by past ages for those which are to succeed them. The dining-tables, as we have already observed, are excellent ; the legs, being all straight, are consequently all turned, and are ornamented in the same style, so as to produce unity of effect. The dining-table, fig. 1887, is a luxury, worth the attention of bachelors ; but imworthy of any family who do not prefer wine to the rational conversation of women. Happily, in England, we are now borrowing a part of the very superior manners of the French, with regard to the dining-table. The circular table capable of enlargement, alluded to in § 2085, is an excellent article. All the dining-room chairs are more or less liable to the objections made to the hall chairs in § 2078 ; they are in other respects good, and we have no doubt would be sufficiently easy to sit upon. In the chairs seen in the interior, fig. 1980, there is just as much carving shown on the front legs relatively to the back ones, as there ought to be ; per- haps, indeed, there is too much, but some allowance must be made for the facilities afforded by turning for bestowing ornament. In the chairs designed by Mr. Hope, and published in his great work, there will not be found any great difference between the ornaments on the front, and those on the back legs ; and in the chairs in the Elizabethan style, where both the front and back legs were generally tin-ned, the ornaments on them were exactly alike. Let the reader, if he has access to Flaxman's Eschylus, examine the chairs in that work. The fire-screens are good, and the candlestick stand, fig. 1898, conenient, where lamps are not used. The furniture in Mr. Lamb's interior is original, and vet classical ; that is it abounds in forms belonging to, or associated with, tlie antique.