Thirdly, the joiner's and cabinet maker's art plays an important part
in the fixed furniture of the house, and the woodwork, such as
flooring, doors and door-frames, panelling, chimneypieces, with the
complementary decorations of hangings, whether tapestry, silk, or the
more humble material of paper.
In this last division of furniture the work is that of joinery. There
is no great demand for constructive strength, as the work is fixed to
walls; but as doors and shutters are swung to and fro continually, and
subject to jars and strains, their stiles and rails, upright and
cross-framing members, as well as the panelling that fills them,
require well-seasoned timber and the most accurate workmanship:
without these conditions the joints open, the panels shrink from the
grooves in which the edges are held, and split, while the frame
itself, if of unseasoned material, 'buckles' or twists, so that the
door or shutter will no longer shut flat in its frame.
Panelling and fireplaces are, however, opportunities for the display
of carving, inlaying, and gilding. The reader has seen carved room
panelling, probably, in many old houses. In some of the municipal
'palaces' in Flanders, e.g. in Bruges, and in the old rooms of the
Louvre in Paris, carved panelling of the utmost grace and perfection,
some of it in groups of life-sized portrait figures, may be studied by
the tourist.
Of work so rich and costly as this wood sculpture, it is perhaps
hopeless to speak with reference to our modern houses, and in
connection with the manufacture of furniture in this country, at least
on any large or general scale of application. Still as such work,
confined to the composition of fireplaces or sideboard backs, is still
sculptured by Italian and French carvers, and has been sent to
Universal Exhibitions of recent years, it must be considered a
possible effort for our great employers of skilled labour.
The panelling of wall surfaces will be divided into larger or smaller
reticulations or framework, with some reference to the size of the
room, that is to say, that very large and lofty rooms will not bear
the smaller subdivision of space and delicate moulding lines which are
so general in panelling of mediA|val or very early Tudor houses, and
which are in keeping on walls of moderate size. Any inlaying or
variety of woods should be used on walls with great discretion.
So far, then, on the general consideration of the work, which it is
the business of the furniture maker to produce. In theory, it is his
object to satisfy daily wants and necessities in the most convenient,
useful, and agreeable way.
The difference between rudeness and refinement in daily habits
consists in putting first order and propriety, then comeliness and
cheerfulness into our homes and habits. There is so much to be borne
and to be done merely that we may live, so many contradictions to
natural inclination meet us on all sides, that we look for repose, and
some moderate satisfaction to the natural desire of the eye, in that
which meets it, and must meet it, so constantly. This satisfaction is
beauty, or some measure of it, or what we have grown to take for
beauty. As the eye is more exercised, the mind more informed, and
becomes a better monitor or corrective to the eye, so we get less
satisfied with much that passes for beauty, and so, on the other hand,
we find it out in objects in which it is commonly or often passed
over.