Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/745

1869.] Appropriate Design in Floor 3Iosaics and Carpetings. 603 APPROPRIATE DESIGN I N FLOOR MOSAICS AND CARPE TINGS. FLOOR Decoration is measurably well understood and practiced by the manufacturers of marquetry, en- caustic tiles and stone mosaic, not un- likely owing, somewhat, to the nature of the materials, wherewith they work ; and the public are, consequently, pretty well educated in the desirable points of these three kinds of permanent foot- rest. But the ornamentation of oil- cloth, or of carpet, which latter may properly be called — according to plain- ness or pretension — the clothing or cos- tume of the floor, is a matter entirely misunderstood — or at least unpracticed — by most of the manufacturers and the mass of the purchasers. Dismissing at once, the homely, sub- stantial web, known to everybody as "rag carpet," which, though inevitably parti-colored, in itself, and wilfully striped and banded, by the weaver, in the utterly forlorn hope of beautifying it, is only endurable for the very hardest use — passing lightly over " Wool Dutch" and other serviceable, but most unornamental fabrics — and say- ing only of " Venetian," that it is a kind of sub-pedal string-course, out of which little grace can be expected — we reach those styles, which all makers tiy to adorn, to the best of their ability — for the price ! — which all wearers select, with one eye fully directed to durability and the other furtively cast towards embellishment. In the " Persian" and the " Turkish" we have no right to expect aught beyond luxurious thickness and softness, and a rich commingling of mechanically broken colors, in the peculiar general style well exemplified in Cashmere and other shawls. It is not of such patterns we speak ; but of those exhibiting set distinct design. If we take the " ingrain," two or three-ply, the uncut- velvet or " Brus- sels," or the "velvet" proper, we are almost invariably confronted with highly successful attempts to produce vines, leaves, flowers and other objects, ani- mate or inanimate, in high relief. Here are meant the best of any of these kinds, so far as materials and web- bing are concerned ; because, generally, inferior goods have more of the true, in- tegral, carpet design, about them, than superior fabrics. But when the cheaper specimens do emulate the high relief of the costlier ones, the result is fearful to behold. Alongside the meritless famil- iarity of such, cotton velvet and paste diamonds veil their ineffectual sheen. Let any one of moderate cultivation, ponder the true perfection of a floor. Wherein does it consist ? Manifestly, if bare, in its perfect evenness, adapting it to easy, rapid gliding movement of the feet ; if covered, in the smoothness of the oil-cloth, or the matting, for summer, and the springiness and warmth of the mats, carpets, rugs, &c, for the other seasons. Remember, also, that the comfort of the body is most subtly, but very apprecia- bly, affected by the condition of the mind. Now, were all the contorted or flowing scrolls, flowers, fruit, depressed panels, ensigns, animals and faces, actu- ally existing, promiscuously heaped and crowded, upon the floor, in high relief, as they are shown by many oil-cloths and most carpets, the feet could find neither ease nor comfort, in stepping amongst them ; and the mind would rebel at the multiplied vari-colored en- tanglement. The whole laborious effort to please is misplaced. If the elaborate rug, before the low-down grate, contain- ing the verisimilitude of a lurking tiger, a bounding leopard, a recumbent lion, a running stag, or a stately charger, cost- ing a price mounting well towards that