BURNISHED BRASS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20095, 30 April 1935, Page 10

BURNISHED BRASS

Who would think that modern young women when setting-up house would turn to old pieces of copper and brass to brighten their rooms? Yet that is what is happening. The modern house, with its vacuum cleaner, constant hot water and, possibly, electric refrigerator, may be a most efficient “machine-for-living,” but it must have the human touch, just the same. That is where copper and brass come into the picture. Nothing else compares with these bright pieces when it comes to the gentle art of making houses into homes. Copper and brass have been doing that for centuries. For every room and corner in the house these bright metals can furnish some appropriate piece. A gong and salver to send sunny reflections dancing in a dim hall. Slim, graceful candlesticks to give dignity and kindness to a drawing room mantelpiece. A fiery copper measure to make summer's flowers seem even more beautiful. A warming-pan, relic of of ancient luxury, to brighten the dining room hearthside. Old pieces in either of these shining metals were the product of unhurried, devoted craftsmanship. Throughout the ages—Tudor, Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Georgian—they resolutely refused to be standardised. Each age produced its own variations on so simple a theme as the candlestick, with the result that we can choose today from a score of forms. As a pointer to the present popularity of copper and brass, furnishings shops to-day abound in reproductions of some of the loveliest patterns. Prices here are, of course, even more moderate than you would pay for the genuine antiques. Yet really astonishing finds can sometimes be picked up in markets or secondhand stores—things that would challenge comparison with museum pieces after they had a clean-up with some liquid metal polish.