THE USE OF CHINTZ

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 107, 2 November 1926, Page 13

THE USE OF CHINTZ

Concerning the modern use of chintz and cretonne, a writer in the London "Daily Telegraph" says: "Lovely pieces of old furniture and glass seem, ■to call for -something different-from the bold stripes and futurist colourings of many of the present day furnishing materials. They may be combined more pleasingly with fabrics made from designs which were in vogue at the time when they were first in use. A cretonne or chintz showing broad orange and jade green stripes, which is effective in a room with neutral coloured walls, a black carpet, and modern furniture in weathered oak or painted wood of the type seen in the Paris Exhibition last year and in the showrooms of our best furniture shops to-day, is hot at all a happy choice if used as curtains and hangings in a room furnished with fine Elizabethan oak furniture or with that of the Jacobean period. The stiff, gaily patterned chintzes of our grandmother's day were the natural complement of the furniture of Victorian times, and were typical, in so far as mere fabric can be, of the style of the period. Some of them even registered the historic events which were happening in the world at the time of their design

A chintz showing obelisks commemorating the victories of Lord Nelson and statues of him standing in memorial arches intermingled with a bold design of palms and flowers, first made in 1806, is still obtainable, and is sold in large quantities in America and France for use with mahogany furniture. It is printed ; <ra-. white, natural, or brown grounds in material 60in wide. Some chintzes that once formdd part of the bed hangings of William of Orange show the Royal cipher and monogram mingled with highly coloured flowers, and are still in use at Kensington Palace. There is a shop in London where it is possible to obtain '' designs'' faithfully copied from old documents, pieces of old needlework, china, and book plates. "Revolution" is the name given to one fabric showing a typical design in vogue in 1790, in which single carnation blooms are mingled with small conventional flower sprigs. Some of the colour plates in the' old botany book, "Temple of Flora, "by Dr. Thornton, published in 1789, have been copied with complete success. The "tulip chintz," on a yellow, green, or mauve ground, and the "carnation chintz," with its conventional bunches of blossoms on an apricot or blue background, are typical of the period of the IBth century. The old "Staffordshire chintz" was copied from an old document, and shows a tustice scene of two greyhounds among wreaths of blue convolvuli and roses. This is very quaint and pretty used in a country cottage. These delightful new-old chintzes bring back all those vivid hues which show us that our ancestors were as fond of colour as we are in our generation.