THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1932. THE APPEAL OF THE ANTIQUE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21773, 12 October 1932, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY , OCTOBER 12, 1932. THE APPEAL OF THE ANTIQUE.

The effort that is being made to raise funds to enable the Dunedin Free Kindergarten Association to carry on its useful work is one that merits the generous support of the community. The method by which this deserving organisation is appealing to the public at the present time is somewhat out of the ordinary. It has arranged an exhibition of a kind entirely novel to Dunedin in that it consists of a display of those things that are commonly and conveniently classified as “ antiques.” Much thought and labour have been entailed in the collection and preparation for this display. The results are, we are informed, surprising in their revelation of the extent to which examples of the art and craftsmanship of an earlier day are among the treasured possessions of citizens of this new land. They stamp the exhibition as a remarkable success from the point of view of quality, and assurance of its success from the more material point of view of finance now rests with the public. There was a time, perhaps, when an exhibition of antiques in Dunedin would have been “caviare to the general.” We hope that it is no longer necessary to regard it as such. There has been a distinct growth of appreciation in the community of late years of those things that have value and interest not only because they are mementoes of the life of earlier times, but by reason in many cases of their beauty and rarity. Those, and they will no doubt be many, who visit the exhibition of antiques in the first instance out of mere curiosity, will probably revisit it more than once under the’ urge of a new-born interest. Perhaps in so doing they will realise that a branch of their education has been rather sadly neglected. We live in an age, the utilitarianism of which finds expression in mechanical production. To a certain extent that is inimical to culture. The arts have to struggle to maintain their integrity and their hold upon the rising generation. It is a day of mass production. Machinery roars and man’s individuality as a craftsman is largely obliterated. But there is compensation to the instructed mind in the degree to which there is evidence of interest in the past and of regard for its relics, and of understanding of the immensity of our indebtedness to it for its revelation of achievement and its guidance along the paths of knowledge and discriminating taste. In New Zealand the examples of accomplishment produced by a more

leisured age are not to be viewed in wonderful museums such as exist in the Old Country, or in Tudor houses perfectly preserved with their fine original furnishings, or even in antique shops—some of them splendid establishments —dear to the American heart, such as present themselves in even the small English towns. The greater reason exists, therefore, for taking advantage of local opportunity for the enlargement of the mind in such matters when it is offered. There is a literature, of course, on the subject of antiques and curios, and remarkably learned and informative are- the books compiled by collectors and experts. In general the owners of nice old things are content to know the age of their mahogany chairs, and be sure of the identity of their treasured cups and saucers. If they wish to adventure further a fascinating and almost boundless field opens out. to them. Furniture down the ages of oak, walnut, and mahogany offers its beguilements and stumbling blocks. The productions of Chippendale, Heppelwhite, Sheraton, and others command obeisance as representative of the very finest era of English cabinet-making. The enthu - siast for old china, which has an eloquence of its own, can never see enough of it or admire it too much. Not to the uninitiated is the joy of discrimination between Old Chelsea, Bristol, Crown Derby, Lowestoft, Old Worcester, and the many others in the gracious list, or the delights of handling delft and the pottery of Old England and the Continent, to say nothing of the famous products of the Orient. Old silver, Sheffield plate, old glass, the magnificent craftsmanship of the past in armour and weapons, tapestries and old lace, needlework and old prints, and endless' things representing, even as do the old cathedrals, a feeling that is not discoverable in the work of to-day, offer their extraordinary fascination and rewards to the mind that is attuned to their appeal. It is a glimpse of these long vistas of allurement that the exhibition of antiques will afford. There is a touch of sentiment, too, about the matter. “We love our old possessions,” happily suggests one writer, “not because possibly they would fetch large sums at Christie’s, but because they speak to us of the long-distant past, of those who once looked at and handled them, of the little children who ran round the old tables and chairs (new then) and gazifed with intent eyes at the quaint little men and women on the Oriental porcelain, and as a treat were allowed to ring tunes on the fine old rummers which gave put such lovely musical notes.” When all is said, the lesson of a display of genuine antiques is perhaps beyond everything a lesson in the fitness of things, a correction to the eye and to the mind, and a safeguard against false standards. Therein lies understanding of the words of Keats, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty.”