SADDLE-BAG FURNITURE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 483, 16 April 1909, Page 3

SADDLE-BAG FURNITURE.

•A correspondent asks: ""Vl'hat is tho mean ing of tho term _ saddle-tag ;as : applied t< furniture? Does it refer.to the covering 01 the style of the furniture?'? .The questior was submitted to a-man who has had experience/in English furniture houses, and he gave a very interesting answer, telling how the term originated with the real saddlebags used by travellers' in the East, bags which were slung on each side of the horse, and afi-en decorated with elaborate embroidery.' The coverings of these saddle-bags are frequently imported by English firms, and used for covering chairs or couches. Some are worked like Persian carpets, some like tkpeatry with line stitching on oanvas, and' they - are' often both handsome : and very valuable. These covers are set'as panels in plain; materials for covering couches or chairs, and the term has come to mean the covering of furniture with square ornamented designs, set as panels. The European manufacturers copy as closely as possible the designs: brought from the Orient, sometimes coming down to comparatively cheap stuffs, where tho decorated panel is not even inserted, but only stamped 'on tlio cover. 1 Tie real' Eastern saddle-bags being naturally made for durability,.'are of almost everlasting wear, and the authority says that when they are used, everything in the room •should be in the same style, both carpets and wall hangings, being of Easteni design.