Amongst the latter few things in decorative furniture stand out more prominently than the smaller work, such as the framings of mirrors, and other things of the kind, in which boxwood, pearwood, and similar soft woods were used. The small nude figure-work on such an example, for instance, as the mirror frame in the Kensington Museum (No. 1605 '55)-Flemish of the sixteenth century-is admirable. So, too, are such mirror frames as the Flemish ones, in the style of the northern French schools, with their rich decoration of strapwork, masks, and foliage, enclosing medallions with figures and scriptural subjects, of which there are fine examples in the Louvre and Munich Museums, and, formerly, in the Spitzer collection. So, again, musical instruments form a class apart, of which it would be no exaggeration to say specimens exist than which wood-carving of the best Renaissance times offers no more masterly work. We may take, amongst many, the lovely Pandurina, in beech or pearwood, at South Kensington, the back carved with a group of Juno, Diana and Venus, and with delicate tendril and strapwork. It is French of the second half of the sixteenth century. Or, again, for seventeenth-century German work, the finely carved head in boxwood of a viola di bardone. Nor could we neglect the many_charming lutes-amongst them that known as Queen Elizabeth's at Helmingham-of which so many were exhibited in the historic Loan Collection of the Inventions Exhibition in 1885. Most interesting of all, to Englishmen, is the beautiful boxwood violin, completely covered with woodland scenes and figures, deeply carved, in the collection of the Earl of Warwick. This also is English work of about 1580, and said to have been Queen Elizabeth's. Up to at least the end of the eighteenth century— that is to say, before the advent of utilitarian times, and when life proceeded more leisurely and there was more time to spare, people were fond of decorating the most ordinary things in common use. Without alluding even to such fine art as, for instance, an Italian knife-case at South Kensington, dated 1564, there are innumerable examples which would call for notice: not all great art, it may be, but interesting in the history of styles transmitted from generation to generation. There are toilet and table articles of all descriptions-combs, spindles, snuff-boxes, tobacco - graters, stick - handles, pastry moulds, fools' baubles, the curious Flemish 'Nativity cribs known as Repos de Jésus of the fifteenth century (see NIFFLE-ANCIAUX in Bibliography), knife-handles, and a host of greater and lesser things. For knifehandles and the like it is probable that such artists as Fletner in Germany or Théodore de Bry in France made models for reproduction by the goldsmiths. Even the very tools the carpenter uses in his work-his planes, chisel-heads or mallets-were carved, sometimes with no mean talent. And indeed we could not leave out of consideration the elaborate figure and other carved ornament of the state carriages, sedan-chairs, and sledges of the eighteenth century. Until comparatively recent times woodwork generally appears to have suffered from unmerited neglect. But with the present rage for every description of fine art it is rapidly conquering its proper position. Any scrap of old panelling-even if quite undecoratedcarved chests, and, above all, figures, are eagerly sought after and acquired at almost extravagant prices. Really fine examples of boxwoods will certainly become more and more rare and desirable, and perhaps realize as much as the rarest of mediæval ivories. Forgeries of wood-carving of the best styles and periods are not so common as is usually imagined. They are indeed beyond the capability, so far, of those who supply the Wardour Street type. On the other hand-from early neglect-we find but too often that pieces are put together and made up in the most incongruous fashion, |