conformity with the by no means too gentle bearing of the men of earlier clays, it will readily be inferred that it must have been extremely desirable to have the tables as strong and massive as possible; indeed, we find this to have been the case among the Teutonic nations in all past periods. In order to give to them a stronger base of support, the legs were expanded and strengthened by crossbars, the lower of which served for foot-rests (fig. 6). Carvings were added as decorations, which of course partook of the style of ornamentation prevailing at different epochs; as late as the second half of the seventeenth century the carving was sometimes very elaborate. The art of uniting variously colored pieces of wood into pleasing figures, with which large and small articles of furniture were ornamented, was practised at an early date, first in Italy, afterward also in northern countries. With the increase of luxury we find in royal apartments tables whose tops were made of ebony or in extremely artistic imitations thereof, inlaid with precious metals, ivory, and mother-of-pearl. Those who aimed at greater splendor of appear ance had the tables painted in bright colors and even ornamented with pictures.
Chests, Cabinets, and the Middle Ages proper, solid iron-bound chests served for the preservation of the family treasures, even if the latter consisted only of linen. About the beginning of modern history coffers and movable cabinets (armoires) replaced the earlier and more unwieldy chests. They occur of various shapes, according to the districts in which they were made, yet as a rule so magnificently deco rated as to serve rather for household ornaments than for utility. Figure 3 (pt. 42), from the collection in the Teutonic Museum, is a specimen of such a closet, with its painted and gilded Gothic carvings; Figure 4 is one from the time of the later Renaissance, belonging to a gentleman of Nuremberg; Figure 5 is a buffet with late Gothic decorations, belong ing to the style of the Middle Rhine country.
Besides these large receptacles, small caskets must have been in very general use front the earliest times, as is evident front the large number of specimens extant, especially intended as receptacles for jewelry, and belonging consequently to the ladies; their decorations were often ex tremely costly. Some of these caskets, carved of ivory, were even import ed from the East. Those of wood were either simply carved, with orna mented mountings which might be of gold (fig. It), or were covered with embossed leather (fig. to). After the fifteenth century painted caskets and boxes came so much into use that the manufacture of them became a distinct branch of trade.
Drinking l'essels.—Among the medieval household articles the drink ing vessels are especially notable. That it was the custom among the ancient Teutons to drink from the skulls of their slain enemies is a notion which, as the philologists have shown, rests upon a false interpretation of passages front ancient writers. Large ox-horns were used by them as
drinking vessels, such as have continued to serve the saute purpose to the present time. Just as we meet with cups of the Byzantine period hol lowed out of elephants' teeth, so we find similar ones made of walrus' teeth in nse among the northern nations of antiquity. Later, the so called "griffins' claws" were much in favor. They consisted of black polished horns mounted in ornamented metal, often covered with fantas tic lids and supported on feet (jig. 30).
The common people used rude earthen vessels which were at first cup shaped; later on, in the fourteenth century, they were formed like a jug and glazed. Glass vessels occur about the same time. In Germany they were at first dark-green in color, cylindrical in shape, and half an inch thick. The attachments with which they were usually supplied served both for decoration and to give a firmer hold. In the sixteenth century they first began to be made thinner and lighter in color, while in Italy—especially at Venice, which had natural advantages for this manufacture—those wonderfully fine light and graceful vessels were made which figured among the articles of luxury upon the tables of the great throughout civilized Europe. This glassware was veined with delicate white or col ored threads and decorated with reliefs, while at a later period the vessels were ornamented with fantastic decorations of leaves and flowers. In this shape they continued to exist as models above all imitation. In other countries paintings were burned into the glasses (O/. 42, Jig. 28) or they were set in precious metals (fig. 31).
The glass industry, which had been developed at a comparatively early period in Bohemia and other parts of Germany, produced beakers of conical or cylindrical form remarkable for their size, and finally Vene tian productions were imitated. The ornamentation, apart from shape and color, consisted in the sixteenth century, as noticed above, of paint ings burned into glass; in the seventeenth century, of engravings upon the surface cut with a diamond; and in the eighteenth century, of incised figures or diaglyphic engravings.
Stimulated by the much older productions of Italy, the art of pottery began from the time of the Reformation to attain a considerable degree of development in northern countries as well, especially in the region of the Middle Rhine. Its productions in burnt clay and stoneware excelled in the glazing; some, especially those of Nuremberg and Kreussen, were ornamented with reliefs in color (fig. 19); but none could be compared, so far as form was concerned, with the ancient models.