because it is
simply laid out without a colour scheme. A cup and saucer look very much
better when shown on a stand, so that the saucer can be seen and every
detail of the cup examined, the richness of the colouring inside or out,
as the case may be, being thrown up by the ebonized stand on which it is
placed. Carved ivories should certainly be shown with a dark setting. In
a similar way Oriental plaques and even smaller plates with light
backgrounds are set off to the best advantage when shown in dark ebony
frames. The Orientals know the value of framework perhaps more than any
other people, and among the curios they have sent over to this country
are appropriately carved frames and stands. The almost priceless ginger
jars when placed upon carved-wood stands, for which the Chinese are so
famous, are beautiful indeed, the contrast of the black and blue against
the black base being very striking. Indeed, much of the carved furniture
of the Orientals has been specially designed as a framework for
mother-o'-pearl and gem ornaments. The rare jade carvings in black ebony
screens, and the marvellous carving of the larger screens are but
appropriate settings to the painted and needlework pictures so rich in
colours and gold. In Fig. 57 we illustrate a very remarkable piece in
which the artist has expended his wonderful skill in providing a
suitable stand or frame for a very beautiful early porcelain plate.
Every detail of the carving is worthy of close inspection. This
beautiful piece was included in a collection of jade, cloisonne enamels,
and carved furniture gathered together in Java some years ago by a
well-known collector of Chinese and Oriental curios. Now and then such
pieces are to be seen in the shops of West End dealers. But it would be
difficult indeed to find one so characteristic of the Chinese carver's
art as the one shown.

Obsolete Household Names.

Most household goods and both useful and ornamental home appointments
used at the present time are the outcome of progress and development,
and their names have changed but little. The change has been in style,
material, and manufacture rather than in newness of purpose. It is true
that in modern household economy some of the present-day household
utensils are the outcome of modern invention, having no similarity in
form to the simpler primitive contrivances which they have superseded.
Thus, for instance, the vacuum cleaner has little in its appearance to
assoc