You
will be independent of the dreadful vases and candelabra and steel
engravings "of the period," and will feel free to use modern prints and
Chinese porcelains and willow chairs and anything that fits into your
home. I can think of no slavery more deadly to one's sense of humor than
collecting antiques indiscriminately!
[Illustration: THE TRELLIS ROOM IN THE COLONY CLUB]
XVIII
THE ART OF TRELLIAGE
When I planned the trellis room of the Colony Club in New York I had
hard work finding workmen who could appreciate the importance of
crossing and recrossing little strips of green wood, of arranging them
to form a mural decoration architectural in treatment. This trellis room
was, I believe, the first in America to be so considered, though the use
of trellis is as old as architecture in Japan, China, Arabia, Egypt,
Italy, France and Spain.
The earliest examples of trellis work shown are in certain Roman
frescoes. In Pompeii the mural paintings give us a very good idea of
what some of the Roman gardens were like. In the entrance hall of the
house of Sallust is represented a garden with trellised niches and
bubbling fountains. Representations that have come down to us in
documents show that China and Japan both employed the trellis in their
decorative schemes. You will find a most daring example on your old blue
willow plate, if you will look closely enough.
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