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THE ADORATION

Merton Abbey Tapestry. Figures by Burne-Jones

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DAVID INSTRUCTING SOLOMON IN THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE

Merton Abbey Tapestry. Burne-Jones, Artist

Beauvais, with its low-warp looms, is more celebrated for its small pieces of work than for large hangings. The tendency toward the latter ended some time ago, and in our time Beauvais makes mainly those exquisite coverings for seats and screens that give the beholder a thrill of artistic joy and a determination to possess something similar. The models of Béhagle, Oudry, Charron are copied with fidelity to their loveliness, and it is these that after a few years of wear on furniture take on that mellowness which long association with human hands alone can give. It is scarcely necessary to say that antique furniture tapestry is rare; its use has been too hard to withstand the years. Therefore, we may with joy and the complacency of good taste acquire new coverings of the Don Quixote or Æsop’s Fables designs for our latter-day furniture or for the fine old pieces from which the original tapestries have vanished.