17. Binding of stained calf, cut, embossed, tooled and patinated by Henri Godin. Modern French.
There are numerous other styles appropriate to the decoration of leather coffers.
In the decoration of large surfaces, such as the panels of wall-hangings, the artist is cautioned against the abuse of detail, frequently the stumbling-block of the beginner. He is recommended to exercise a wise restraint in his composition, and to avail himself of the numerous resources of the conventional art of the modern school more particularly in their application to the ornamentation of large surfaces. Technical efficiency in the use of the tools is essential and must be gained by practice, but may be said to be second in importance to a thorough knowledge of decorative design, which can be attained only by the intelligent study of the best models. The education of the eye is a considerable factor in the conventional interpretation of natural forms. The artist cannot do better than to study the ancient Japanese school, which has found such favour with the initiators of the so-called “Modern Art,” and which affords the best examples of balance in design in its rejection of unnecessary detail in the interpretation of natural forms. He may also find inspiration in the fields of Egyptian and Assyrian art, in the interlaced patterns of the disciples of St. Dunstan, and in the quaint renderings of leaves and flowers in the hangings and brocades of the Middle Ages.
APPENDIX
LEATHER HANGINGS AND FURNITURE
The origin of the use of decorated leather for hangings and furniture has been the subject of much controversy. After consulting various books on the subject, we believe, as already stated, that its introduction into Spain may be attributed to the Moorish conquerors about the eighth century. In an Arabian manuscript of the sixth century of the Mohammedan era, mention is made of the industry as flourishing in the town of Ghadames in the Sahara. Jehan de Garlande, author of a Latin dictionary composed in 1080, mentions Cordouans first manufactured at Cordova in the eleventh century. About the same time, the Monk Theophilus, in his curious encyclopædia of the arts which unfortunately has not come down to us in its complete form, gives the following description of the processes of gilding leather:—
“For laying on gold or silver, take the clear liquid of white of egg beaten up without water, paint some with a brush over the part which is to receive the gold or silver. Damping the end of the same brush in your mouth, bring it in contact with a corner of the cut leaf (of gold or silver). Then lifting it with extreme rapidity, you lay it on the prepared place and spread it with a dry brush. At this point you must take precautions against a draught, you must hold your breath, for if you breathe you will lose the leaf and find difficulty in recovering it. When in position and dry you may, if you wish, put a second over it in the same way, and then a