Page 452 - Chinese Porcelain Vol I, Galland

244 CHINESE PORCELAIN.

houses. Anyhow, cabinets cost money, and in small rooms,
where not needed as furniture, take up space that sometimes
cannot well be for mere decorative Of course,
spared purposes.
there are some delicate that need the
very pieces protection
of a table or cabinet, but these are generally of small
glass
size, so can easily be provided for, while china, as a rule, will
not hurt All it wants is from
by being exposed. protection
rough usage, and now that so much attention is paid to mural
decoration, the simplest plan seems just to wire the plates and
hang them on the walls, while vases and other such pieces can
be on shelves made to suit the room.
arranged
To employ china successfully in this way, several things
must be seen to, of which the following are a few of the most
:—
important
To begin with, china will not show up to advantage on a
chintz or other polychrome wall-paper ; that must be a plain
monochrome, or better still, simple distemper, so as to get a
dull surface free from all
perfectly glaze.
Terra-cotta, or Indian red, make perhaps the best back-
ground for blue and white, and yellow for the other descriptions.
As rooms may be apt to look a little bare or cold so decorated,
it is to get over this defect by introducing draperies,
possible
for somehow the patterns on these, if judiciously chosen, do
not seem to tell against the china in the same way as those
on wall-papers, and naturally fabrics manufactured in the East
are generally the best to employ. Of course, where expense
is not a consideration, the whole room can be hung with some
suitable material, but even then it may be advisable to break
the sameness at certain some different
by, points, employing
background.
China does not seem to blend well with the usual run of oil
paintings, probably owing to the heavy frames in most general
use ; in narrow glazed frames combinations might be possible
in the same way as with water-colours, where the frames are of
more modest dimensions and the general colouring lighter.
Chinese porcelain will not go with any other except in the
case of blue and white, where, for decorative purposes, suitable
of or Delft ware if be
pieces Japan may, necessary, employed.
It is always well to keep the blue and white entirely separate
from the polychrome descriptions; in fact, in blue and white