IMGR65

THE CENTRES OF PRODUCTION

dm was ncw kather, howcm; many ictccm cam chat wen covcrcd widi gik kadm pands taken down kom wafli, with che icwn edges trimmed off 10 chat che design ii ofien somewhat cnincatcd. In due course, pcoduccion coca wen nduccd by eliminating dn sflvcr ground and substitucing a white priming which wis dm painced, oficn yeflow, and gaiły dccoraied with ctobc bink and flowm thai oken rcoined tracą of Chinese influence. Il would scem chat che nuking of gile leachcr lingcrcd on umil che mad-nineteemh amury, pcrhapi even into the second halfalthough in a debascd form.

The extensivc Catalogue of the Gnat Łchibition of 1851 litts only om czhibic of gik, emboiscd and painced kather for the hangingi of rooms, icnens ccc. - by Joseph Gcorge of 81 Dean Street, Soho - which seems to indicace chat, by chat datę, che trade had shrunk to smali proportions.

The Muscum of Leathercraft recendy acquircd a parcel of abouc fony panek of various daces and styks, obviously accumulaced by a decorator (che names Lenygon & Ca and Morim & Co. an stamped on to mc) no doubr for repairing hangingi ov icnens, far pieca had bccn cut kom many of chcm. Among these are senni paneli having designs of compkcdy different chiractcr kom che indem ones and containing faatures which sccm co han an affinicy with Art Nouveau and probably datę kom che 18901 and earły twenbeth etmury (Place 72). These paiticular panek an noc sih-ered; instead che embossed design bas in somc an bccn painced with liquid ‘gold’, and in other cases cvcn this is omicted. Do these debascd cypcs represent the ud end of a once-spcccacular trade, or do they, perhaps, indicate an attempted rcvival?

It is viccually impossiblc co deternune wbether a givcn exampk of embossed gile kather is English or not in this present State ofour knowkdge. Some designs which in a generał way fallow styks known to have originated abroad ncverthclcss incorporatc details, principally of flowers and foliage, which suggest an English origin. What may possibly be an czampk of English adaptation of a dane design is to be found in the large wooden mould far embossing kather (Platę42)-theonly sperimenchat hasso far co mc to light - possened by the Victoria and Albert Muscum. The generał chanem of the design is Baroque but it beks the lighcness of touch char impaned soch cham to the rich, flowing farms so typical of this styk at its best Somc of die details are artksi, but the linie sprigs of kaves and simpk flowers, almost but not quitc naive, havc a charm morę English chan Continental in faling. The difloena bctwccn the English and Continental tcchniqoes of painong is it&oed to ckewhere (me page 74)- Meticulous dctail worfc bas not aknys bccn a cocspicuous faatute of Engbb deconńon, paiticularły in kather work, whereas it was the rak tather than the eseeptioo in the Low Coumrics, in Frana and, to a ksser dcgrcc, in Spain.

As akcady renurked, England has always been quick to adopc, adapt and finally to

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