The Philadelphia Times from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 2

THE TIMES PHILADELPHIA; SATURDAY MORNING. OCTOBER 3, 1891. ners, a number are splendidly carved, and all aro elegant, far above the average. Ono of ti most striking mantels in this room is as fine a piece of work in oak as one might see in many a day, and the projecting china closets held by curious winged figures are most striking and effective, used tho way they are, with their accompanying glass. Iloth the hall and dining room show to great advantage, connected as they are, and with the fretted screen makiug them practically one apartment.

The old medieval dining hall, where the baron.dined at his high table on the dais and the retainers sat at the lower board the sunken floor below, was really a dining room much like that of the farm houses of All the second floor of the spacious building has been rearranged and spaces that were two rooms are thrown into one, in order to give more extended area and afford visitors abetter opportunity of viewing the many new and desirable things presented. Afteraseending the elevator the view from any point is remarkable, not only in tho variety of forms and th6 elegance of materials, but in the taste with which they are displayed. With great ingenuity tho designers and decorators have managed to introduce comprehensively almost every feature of fine woodwork, as well its specimens of every characteristic and style of furniture to been-countered in the handsomest houses, and many entirely now and novel effects besides. ment in Russia, in England and now in this country have adopted them. All attempts to get tho French artists to make any modifications suitable to what might be called the more democratic and austere tasto of Americans have failed.

What Trymby, Hunt Co. arc doing, and it is an idea they have carried out most successfully, is not to mako from a pattern or drawing, but to get actual specimens of tiio very finest French furniture made, and on vliis basis, with very slight changes in tone and finish, leaving out, perhaps, the bizarre element and' tho glare and gilt, to embody the general art forms and give the effect in the very best workmanship that America can produce. The best and most popular style in furniture at the present moment, as seen in tho exhibition, seems to incline to the light and dainty forms and exquisite retiued decoration of tho time of the first empire ami the period immediately proceeding it. Tho diversity of popular taste in his country leads to the acceptance of features of each of these ems which were prolific in art forms. Most of tho latest artistic furniture at Trymby, Hunt may he classed under the term of Rococo.

The Rococo combines as much as possible of comfort and convenience with the beauty of tlie Louis Quinze and nothing is more beautiful. Indeed the true Louis XV. is the only true Rococo, Lots of people get the, times of the Louis and their appropriate furniture and characteristic designs jumbled up, but a visit to Trymby, Hunt it aud a little study will straighten it out. The Louis XIV. is florid, the Wat tea style brilliant and with a great deal of hoiile work or marquetry.

Looping up witlt ropes The same originality and taste that marks tho word wood is seen in tho fabrics and thero is no style of curtain or drapery in value or favor suitable for the prevailing fashion of furnishing that is not to be seen in sonic attractive example. Some single curtains show five or six colors, worked into patterns with tho most ingenious skill, and sometimes givinc effects almost like embroidery. Thero are some pieces so rich in gold and silver thread that they sell a yard. This is used sometimes for the covering of chairs to givea rich illumination to some part of a room. The tones of color aro exquisite and such as can be produced in the atmosphere and traditions of places like Lyons.

As for designs they run the scale of almost ail known art forms that aro suitable to the prevailing style of household decoration. There is one pair of orchid curtains hanging between the red and gold rooms that are as handsome, it is said, as anything at present in Philadelphia. Ono wonders looking at some of these beautiful creations how they ever were brought forth by the rickety looms of Lyons, but they were and this is one of the branches in which the Old World continues to excel. There are no such colors produced in this country, no such designs put into fabrics as are seen in the examples of the finest foreign handwork secured abroad by Mr. Trymby, of Trymby, Hunt Co.

But the exhibition is not made up entirely of very costly tilings. There are curtains costing $500, but in one department there are curtains really stylish and showing exquisite designs for This feature is one of the specialties. These curtains are nice for an office or good enough for almost any hallway and give the effect of something costing very much more. The jeweled laco curtains aro entirely new. In designs around the border are set colored stones.

Some give the effect of turquoises, others of minerals and so on, and seen sparkling amid the lace in graceful designs, not near together, nothing could by richer. Colors, of course, can be selected to match furnituro upholstery. Tho introduction of what is known as Russian lace for curtains was through Trymby, novel and beautiful to bo found that it is no detriment to other emporiums that this of Tymby, Hunt Co. should occupy a place so uuique. So much of tho commonest furniture is now made in beautiful forms, and with tho achievements of machinery and the other accompaniments of this "age of veneer," so much is attainable in furniture purchased by the car-load and sold on the sidewalk, that it is only natural that there should be in a great and wealthy community some such concentration of the finest and best that can be produced, some such illustration of genuine art and splendid workmanship us are to bo found in the Tymby, Hunt v.

Co. exhibition. This exhibition, to be held October 5, ft, 7, and ii, contains novelties such as have never been soon before in Philadelphia, and more beautiful things of unusual interest are arriving daily through the Custom House from the many industrial art centres of the Old World visited by Mr. Trymby during his trip abroad. No picture gallery could ho more entertaining or delightful to any true lover of really beautiful things, for there are hundreds of objects to be seen hero that contain and embody the richest and best art achievement of the ago as truly as painting or a marble by one of the masters.

If anyono has any doubt about it ho may see tho two examples of at onee useful and beautiful art and of the art that is purely sentimental sido by side, for there is plenty of statuary and paintings adorning the walls, and the rarest things in porculain and marblo peer from very niche and corner, giving an oleganee to the various apartments that is something very new in a furniture warehouse. It is entirely within modest bounds to assert that tho collection of fine furniture now to be seen at tho Trymby, Hunt Co. warerooms on Market street, just below Thirteenth, is tho largest, most varied and from an artistic standpoint tho most interesting ever brought together in one place in Philadelphia since tho Centennial. There may have been and there may be larger collections of furniture, but tho things hore are unliko the things seen elsewhere, as much soasadollar print of Millet's "Angelus." for instance, is unlike the painting itself. In form, in fabric, in workmanship, in finish and that essential something that is called elegance, but more generally known as "style," they excel and overshadow furniture encountered in even somo of the best places as a real Gobelin tapestry eclipses un ordinary piece of Parisian embroidery.

This is not because of their invariable expensive character, for whilst cabinets at $2,000, bed room suites at $1,000, single chairs costing $101 and vases and more apiece are not uncommon; there is such an array, fo much variety and so many pretty odd pieces to be found at really moderato prices that tho interest of tho collection is not confined to the a ill uon but has attractions for the average man or such as are just beginning housekeeping and desire to make $100 go as far as possible. Entirely on its merits and as a comprehensive summary of the best achievements of the day, not only in American wood carving and upholstery, but in tho products of the much older artisans of Europe in all that relates to elegant household belongings, thn exhibition at Trymby, Hunt should not bo misswl by any who arc interested in such matters, FINE WOODWORK. Kntlre Interiors Elegantly Furnished From Floor to Ceiling, Wonderful is the development in everything that relates to tho interior decoration and comfort and appointments of the homo of tho average man. Advancing but one step further, while it is but in keeping and consonance with the luxurious tendencies of the ago, tho possibilities of elegance and beauty in evcry-day surroundings that aro raado available to tho prosperous man aro amazing. Almost the whole industrial world may be said to be placed under contribution, and tho KreatOiit skill of the artisans of tho age is combined wth every resource of modern art in fashioning the choicest fabrics and productions of the world for uso and ornament in homes.

Philadelphia has long been noted for its position, among its other manufactures, in the extent and excellence of its products, both practical and ornamental, for domestic use. In carpets, upholstery, drapery and in metal and wood work extraordinary advanco has been mado within a few years, but it is only very recently that what may he called art furnishing as distinctive from the furnishing art has become an established thing in Philadelphia, and the special interest of the exhibition at 1210-1221 Market street is that it is in art furnishing bat Try by, Hunt A Co. excel The furnishing art may he described as iitting out a house with every essential from a cook stove to a bedstead or from a step-ladder to an oil painting. This is a department in which thoro is now much competition. litit art furnishing with which this exhibition alone has to (leal means making the walls, floors and interior of a house beautiful and I supplying it with suitable furnishing in accordance with the very best tasie.

I The most important work done by Messrs. I Trymby, Hunt Co. is in this direction. The man of enlarged means who lias mover! into a liner mansion goes to Trymby, Hunt fc Co. and gives a general idea of what he wants and how much lie wants to spend.

Thev send one of their designers, the rooms are studied and sketches made. If there are to be new mautels or a moro imposing stairway or window stats or screens or arches between rooms they aro made. If required tho carpets are provided and suitabio wall paper or frescoing furnished. The great point, however, is the furniture and at 141 if ITU I drapery. The most simanio wooa or tno material or design most favored for rn fiery and upholstery by the ladies (who usually have a great deal to gay in such matters), is studied out and agreed upon and then tho furni ture is made and put in place.

These are busy times, and tho time of men of affairs is of- ten precious, while ladies have a catalogue of engagements social and otherwise, so hat providing their general ideas are carried out, th-ro are many who are glad to avail themselves of the opportunity of having skilled bands and men of experienced taste execute the details. This is done in the most artistic man ner by Try ra by, Hunt iV who have -facilitiesand agencies for executinglhe furnishing of an entire house such as are not equaled in Philadelphia, and it is a question if they aro surpassed in New York. There are clever artists who design and originate; the firm has actually at command materials from the industrial art centres of the old world that are individual in character and elegance, differing from anything to be seen elsewhere; but above all, they have in addition tho advantajjo of conducting an extensive factory. rndoubtedly there aro accomplished furnishers in Philadelphia who send and get what customers desire, or as near it as possible, and who, when they find what is required, whether wookwork or upholstery or drapery, have it made. HutTmmby, Hunt fc Co.

do not Bearch for or get the materials from others. They have them the rarest woods, the finest fabrics that can be obtained. They do not look around to have the work done or try experiments; they do it themselves. The factory of this extensive concern is situated at Twelfth ami Hamilton streets and a visit there almost equals in interest the splendid exhibition itM-lf. The spaces for the storage of fine Woods, tho draughting ami model rooms, the carvers, the painters arid varnishers, all furnish most instructive and entertaining phases of tho process by which tho finest modem furniture is produced.

It is here that the secret of the excellence of the woodwork made in thi establishment is revealed. There is a noticeable lack of machinery, while tho amount and variety of handwork going on is prodigious. Over yonder men are selecting pieces of wood for some interior work, but they are discarding enough to line a room, mid picking out only the select and beautiful pieces without any knot or imperfection in the grain. In another quarter two men are busy rubbing a maiiUd, and inquiry elicits the fact that they have been days acquiring tho requisite smoothness and polish. It is a white mantel, to which gold decoration is to be added.

Ordinarily three coats are given, but this has had six, which, of course, makes the surface much richer and more lasting. Tho beauty of tho designs of tho things that aro lieing made strike tho attention. Several of them are for mansion on Walnut street, the whole interior of which is being remodeled and furnished. Others aro for a new and splendid house in West Philadelphia. Moro aro tho execution of special orders and several are for exhibition.

One of the pieces just made which will attract great attention in the exhibition is a sideboard, with china closets combined, in oak. with silver mountings. It stands over eight feet high, broad in proportion, and the projecting closets are supported by great carved griffins. If seen in somo great baronial palace this would hn admired and photographed, but in material and make-up and elegance no ancient dresser in mediaeval days could be more elegant or enduring than this product of homo-made handiwork. Tho apprentice system is still preserved in Trymby, Hunt establishment.

Any young man in their employ who shows a special aptitude in any particular line is put in that department and encouraged, and as soon as ho is skilful is recognized as a master workman. In this way the firm bring up skilful artisans familiar with their methods and requirements, and they make it a point to keep them. It is in ways like this that such success has been achieved, for not only do Trymby, Hunt Co. claim to have tho best actual examples of tho finest French, German mid Italian woodwork, but they themselves turn out work that is in every Way as substantial and elegant and as fine as anything of the sort done in America. The arrangement of rooms within a greut building to represent the furnished apartment of an elegantly appointed house is something new, and it can bo ween to perfection in the exhibition of Messrs.

Trymby, Uuut Co. HIGH ABT IH FDRH1TDBE THE ARTISTIC DECORATION OF THE HOME TRYMBY, HUNT EXHIBIT The Finest Achievements In Lace anil Ktch Fabric Yt Sen In Philadelphia. Carvlugi and Woodwork That Suggest Old World Palaces A Kemarkuble Collection Statuary, Vases, Clocks and Virtu. Xext to the question r.f dress, indeed with many taking precedence, is the one of furnishing a home. There are plenty of people who arc not very particular how they are attired, lint who value above, ail clso tlie appearance find belongings of tho place they dwell in.

Many a bride lias sacrificed elegant additions to her lor the sako ni" having porno special household god in mahogany or upholstery she had sot her heart up-u; and rare indeed is tho woman with any development of the domestic taste who will net sacrifice a new gown or gewgaw if necessary in order to possess some pretty piece of furnishing on which to feast her own eyes and excitu the admiration if rot the envy of other women who are not bo favored. The present is essentially tho furnish in? season one of tho few instanceswhere civil- 9 I 3 -r f-t- Till- RICH ROCOCO PEDESTAL. Ized humanity goes contrary to nature and the animal creation. The birds, for instance, do theirupholstering and building and hunt out all their household necessities in the spring, hut ns a rule it is not until the contemplative autumn that creation's lord, but more especially his domestic spouse, becomes intent upon getting he household nest in the nicest order and adding to its beauty. The.

long periods during which houses are closed for the season of traYol and vacation, find the generally simplo and ephemeral character of essentially warm-weather furniture, make the summer months a time of lethargy and little interest in tho furniture world. Now all indifferent At the leading furni-ture emporiums women of fashion about to return to city mansions, tasteful housewives intent on remodeling or with daughters About, to entertain or even the daughter herself soon to he married and with the chosen one by her side may be seen in one or an-niher of the great warehouses whero the handsomest furniture is kept. There are few prettier eights than that of a prospective husband and bride-elect or a (Tnother and daughter with perhaps paterfamilias besides making these days tho tour if the half dozen floors of display rooms at Try iii by, Hunt JiilH and 1221 Market street, which is acknowledged to bo the finest furniture establishment in town. There is so much that is interesting and EMPIRE BED ROOM Wm4 i 1 lislilH a representing literature? Novestigo of that ora, though it doubtless yet exists in some subdued quarters, is to be found in the extraordinary collection of drawing room furniture and decorations to be seen in the Trymby, Hunt Co. exhibition.

Yet there is no recent style, noapplication of the woodworkers' or metal-workers' or upholsterers' arts applicable to tlie drawing room that is not illustrated. There is a very remarkable contrast in passing from the solid wealth and domestic character of the dining room to the various apartments which exemplify in such an artistic and, in some instances, in such a magnificent manner the soft and gay beauty that belongs to the drawing room, which is he-coming moro and more the apartment of tho ladies reception room and boudoir in one. Thero is wher-4 ever one turns a great 4 deal of gilt, the spark ling light of mirrors, a great deal of cowl-cur do rose, quantities of pink chiua, the artistic whiteness of many pieces of statuary and tho elegant touch of a prolusion of lamps with their delicate or glowing shades. These, with the furnituro which they adorn, are distributed in differ ent rooms according to proper symmetry and color, for there is a blue room, a red room, a gold room and others, and these apartments have been freshly decorated and much enlarged, so that even those familiar with the Trymby, Hunt 'o. establishment in the past will find a great difference and pee an establishment vastly more elegant than it has ever been before.

All the loveliest tints that are known in this day of exquisite refinement in color, tho peach blooms and tender blues and et bereal greens, with tints dii- i 1 i 1 1 i i fr' ficult to describe but delightful to the eye, are horR in" a chromatic harmony reve'rvf beauty. Particularly not ico-able is the fashionable shade of heliotropo in upholstery which is now the rage abroad. This enters into sofas of the most elegant shapes and stylish chairs and is found to be peculiarly applicable to tho furnituro of tho court eras now so much in vogue. It also blends beautifully with white and gold. There are ome pieces made up in this heliotrope shade which are as handsome articles of drawing room furniture as have been seen in Philadelphia in many a year.

It is now a great feature in the drawing room, as indeed all over the house, with the possible exception of the dining room, to have a great variety of chairs, some light and fanciful, moro deep and luxurious, and as different in woods as in upholstery. Specimens of these, some of them of great beauty, are to bo found scattered through tho vari ous rooms, and it is doubtful if a more elegant collection of chairs has ever been seen in Philadelphia. In nothing has more ait been exercised than in the shape of suitable tables for tho drawing room, pretty little rests and quaint and artistic forms, which in their lines of lid-iiitv iln nnt tjit- aurtiv fmm flip Ptfect rtf the richest vase or most luxurious lamp that may be placed upon them. The screens are among tho most beautiful features not Japanese stuff or lacquered or flimsy concoctions, but dainty and elegant things in most artistic shapes and decorated by artists of note. One of these, of the Louis epoch, has Wat tea groups quite as fine as have been seen on any piece of furniture in Philadelphia in a long time.

In everything that appertains to the parlor the exhibition could not well bo more complete. Even perhaps more than in furniture tho remarkable exhibition at Trymby, Hunt Co. is rich in decorative and artistic fabrics for curtains, bedspreads and draperies. If much of tho beauty and strange phantom forms from old banqueting halls and cloisters and palaces aro reproduced in wood thoy aro seen even moro in the elegant productions of the looms of old France and tho dainty handiwork of Venetian embroidery and the nut-work of Russian lace as seen in this collection. Much of this spirit and sentiment and brilliancy of color is seen in tho wonderful creations of tho loom exhibited by Trymby, Hunt which really show in the most comprehensive way how much the industrial art of to-day has accomplished in this direc tion In the gilt room, which is herewith illustrated, there is an onyx and gilt clock eight teet high, which is one of tho finest orna ment in the exhibition, and there is a pedestal to match.

In the dining room there are French onyx candelabra with a queor clock in colored marbles shaped like a cathedral. Thero are a number of tall hall chime clocks that formerly cost which can now be had at each. Tho Venetian mosaic glasses and Florentine ware, just imported, attract great attention. In tho gold room is a screen with figures painted by a pupil of Bourgereau and in his peculiar stylo with the same wonderful flesh tints, Thero Is a great variety of cathedral clocks in nickel, bronze and onyx, also piano lamps in artistic forms with wonderful Parisian shades and banquet lamps by the hundreds in a dozen metals with all tho shades of the chromatic scale. Among the pieces of statuary which attract most attention aro Genovra, La Pensa-rosa and Hculptura.

Tho re aro also many bronzes, The Donlton ware Is exceptionally fine, and some beautiful Minton vases are $80 and under. Nothing else, however, in all the exhibition tjUito equals in interest the Empire bed room suite, in natural mahogany, which we illustrate. The price of this islll.OiK). and it brings it right along. No such suite is made this country by anyone else.

It ia the best that can be done, 1 1- 9 1 WW XIV. BOUDOIR. to-day, and it still survives in some of tho oldest colleges. In the period of the Renaissance, however, when Italian mansions took the place of media'val castles.the traveled nobleman who had seen the palaces of Florence and Genoa brought back with him many new fnngled notions for his town and country houses and among them he added to the dining room tho modern withdrawing room or parlor, into which he retired with the ladles and members of his family after dinner. Still the dining room has changed the least of any apartment in the modern house.

The table remains in the centre of the room, the chairs around it and the dressers or bullets against the wall. Anyono curious in such matters could follow no more interesting study than to make a tour of tho Trymby, Hunt Co. ex- CORNER. hibition and trace tlie remarkable devel ment that has taken place in the drawfrig room in its comforts and conveniences, )it especially in taste and all that goes to adto the refinement and luxury of life, Evon with the additions of the iJiis Quinzo epoch and other French innovations, ono can fail to detect ami discover in he modern drawing room, no matter how eHho-rateit may be, traits of its Italian orlrin. Tho ancient Italian home furnished tho model for almost every parlor or tato apartment constructed since, and some jf the finestdrawing rooms of to-day features of that apartment in tho lucrum Pompeiian mansions.

The uso of pilars, the frescoed walls, the lofty and (In ceiling, the chaiacter of the mantel, he divans and the general character of the urni-ture all betray evidence! of tho taliau spirit. Who does not remember the desohXi and comfortless drawing room of a few yea i ago, with its straight-backed and perilous mirs, ugly horsehair sofas, its large tabl with many curves and wrlgglca occupy In the centre of the room, the two flower spangled porcelain vases on the mantel atk the book of poems and Illustrated Hirthdnl Gift 'jr in 1 11 REPRODUCTION OF One thing is at once apparent: There is no trash. Pretty chairs, dainty bric-a-brac, stylish ehiffonieres and artistic curtains are to be found at prices within the most moderate range, but ugliness and commonness and vulgarity are tabooed. They would be utterly incongruous and cannot be found there. Tho complete design of an actual home is carried out in the different rooms on a single floor, except that some are reserved for the exemplification of a particular style or era.

Immediately upon stopping from the elevator the visitor emerges in a roomy hall. Here, as in the lofty dining room adjoining, from which it is separated only by a fret-work screen in Moorish design, the prevailing woodwork seen is oak. Tho dining room contains many fine specimens of that noblest of woods made into tables with claw- A BRIC-A-BRAC foot legs at which a king might sit; high-backed and tapestried chairs in which the most prosaic figure looks picturesque, and cute corner seats, flanked by screens, with half a dozen varieties of sideboards and buffets around tho walls, and several splendid mantels, all crowded with the choicest bric-a-brac, and curious clocks and the groat table spread with the daintiest china. All furniture has sprung from the simplest forms, and from tho little credence, once a purely ecclesiastical piece of furniture, have descended the etagcre of the parlor and the sideboard of the (lining room as well. lro-questionably the beginning of the elaborate sideboard wo know to-day was when, in tho reaction against tho preposterous luxury of the time of Louis the gentleman of the time, instead of having a score of servants standing about, had the credence, as it was then called, containing glasses, plates, drawn up to his table, closed the door on the lackeys and took his ease with bis friends.

Gradually it came to be used for tho display of splendid possessions in plate andjownlry in asort of cupboard on top, thus giving birth to the etagere or cabinet. Home of the sideboards have handsome bowed chiua closcti of rich glass, some are for cor- hA: -f mil LOUIS no Its nw, Jiunt aim wnilo they may occasionally be found elsewhere, they are not in such designs or in such rich patterns as this firm control. These laco curtains, with their beautiful open work and applique designs, all hand work, run as hisrh as but some of hem are pretty and quite reasonable-. "neot the most sumptuous things in the way of drapery in tho exhibition is a bedspread of Russian lace. This is something unique and the ideal of refinement and elegance in that line.

Indeed, it may he said in general that the array of curtains, ranging from up to $r00, gives a complete idea of the best that is attainable in that direction, according to the individual means. In what aro known as silk plushes especially thero is a great diversity and it is a material which has achieved great success. Nothing is more effective that can be had at a moderate cost for the purpose. The deft lingers of Messrs. Trymby.

Hunt artisans and drapers have fashioned some arrangements for mantel draping that are very novel and quite out of the ordinary. Even a tasteful person might take the material and work indefinitely without reaching such results. They aro designed first, of course, and then wroutrht out by those who have great skill and experience in such matters. All the finest and latest designs in curtain embroideries by such artists as Tricas, Trouve and Novel, the great embroiderers of Paris, are to he seen hero, and some of them are well worth the study of any one interested in art forms. What is known us satin-manuon is a very elegant and new fabric.

STVLE IN DECORATION. A Collection of K1rnnt ClorUn, Tretty Lamps ami Klch Vuies. This is the time of year when peoplo of means and, indeed, almost everybody interested in household decoration, will be asking: "What is new in furniture? What is the latest style the proper thing?" A visit to the exhibition of fine furnituro at Trymby, Hunt will at once answer this question better than it can bo given iu words. Paris, as is well known, sets tho fashion in women's dress. Tfieio lias not been a new idea in gowns or bonneU for years that has not started in Paris.

But at the same time London principally and Berlin to a slight extent exert a modifying influence upon styles of dress in their general adaptation. In furniture it is Paris Alone that exerts the sway. Although for the dining room and ball Gothic forms still prevail aud German ideas continue to dominate, in almost every other part of the house the furnishings show tho direct intluenco of French spirit and ideas. It is practically impossible to persuade French furnishers and upholsterers that there is or can be any other really beautiful and elegant fashion iu drawing room furniture than those of the court epochs preceding and of the first empire with which they are familiar and which they go on reproducing. This being the case, and their productions being so much more admirahlo and elegant than anything else attainable, the people of tho greatest fashion and refiue- m3 I 1 II 4 i I ill it Sfr Jft A MEDIEVAL DOOR.

and tassols were a characteristic of drapery, and this was reproduced in woodwork. It is from the use of the shell in the forms of decoration that the Louis XV. furniture gets tho name of Rococo. It is partial to lacquer work and demands a free use of mahogany and rosewood. Long and slender and crooked legs are a part of its make-up.

The tato for babioles toy cabinets and littlo tables, etageres and chiffoniers and pedestals- belong to this period. In it beds became really luxurious, and the thing the Grand Monarque will probably bo most re-memhered for by future generations lending his name to a comfortable seat Tho Louis Seize shows a great deal of gilding and more severity of outline. There was never a sprawling leg. Mirrors wore much used and chairs and couches were upholstered in (iohelin or costly silks. What is known as the First Empire is more classic than any of the others aud shows the (ireek chair in ail its forms.

It is morn or less a reproduction of the antique. The finest colonial furniture preserved in this country is of the First Empire. All of those have their examples iu the exhibition. Tho cabinets are very interesting and, there is one ot onyx and gilt, the marbles all selected, which is said to bo the handsomest cabinet ever introduced in Philadelphia. Its price is $2,000.

It is plated with real gold. The clocks number hundreds, and one tall one in the hall at the head of the stairs not only has melodious deep chimes, but plays operatic airs. One clock the smallest chime clock in America, being no larger than an ordinary mantel time-piece gives the hours of different places at once. Some rooms have as many as fifteen or twenty clocks. The exhibition is to be opened evenings as well as during the da v.

Plftlf ixr. i Mi I JM I It i' i3 mi il ii r- LI IN MAHOGANY. EXAMPLE OF CARVED WOODWORK..