Some names of Italian goldsmiths about or immediately after Cellini’s time are—Luca Agnolo, Valerio Vicentino, Pilote, Piero di Mino, Vincenzo Dati, Girolamo del Prato. The latter was a native of Lombardy. Benedict Ramel, François Desjardins, Delahaie, and François Briot are names of French goldsmiths of the sixteenth century. Many models of vases, ewers, plates, cups, and tankards were made by Briot in pewter that are still in existence. These pewter models were usually made by goldsmiths, no doubt, as models for their gold and silver work, or in some cases were casts taken from the finished works, and kept as mementos or as replicas in design of their more costly works, and were also sold to those whose means would not permit them to indulge in the more costly gold and silver plate. Briot’s pewter models are among the best examples of design and workmanship in metal of the sixteenth century.

In Germany the art of the metal worker flourished in the sixteenth century in its greatest perfection at Nuremberg and Augsburg.

The German goldsmiths’ work, especially at the end of the century, was almost identical with that of the Italian school. The similarity is seen in the details of the ornamentation, the masks and figures; the difference may be noted in the extraordinary development of the cartouche and strap-work of the German work, more especially in that of the Netherlands.

Many German artists of this time, who were chiefly engravers, designed for the goldsmiths and produced engravings from which goldsmiths’ work and enamel paintings on metal were executed.

Virgil Solis, of Nuremberg, Theodor de Bry, of Liége, the Collaerts—father and son—of Antwerp, are some of the principal engravers who designed very largely for jewellery and other goldsmiths’ work.

These German engravers and designers of ornament went under the designation of the “Little Masters,” but in point of fact some of their work would compare favourably with the compositions of many of the so-called “Great Masters.” Generally speaking, they were pupils or followers of Albert Dürer.

As a designer and engraver of figure work, Hans Sebald Beham must be placed first in the rank of the “Little Masters,” and for ornament purely the name of Heinrich Aldegrever must head the list.

Albert Dürer, whose great name overshadows all German art, though he tried his gifted hand at ornament, as in the car of the “Triumph” and in the “Book of the Hours,” designed for the Emperor Maximilian, was not altogether successful in the matter of ornament, for his work in this line is much too loose and florid, with much unrestrained and naturalistic flourishing.

Hans Burgkmair, of Nuremberg, his contemporary, was better at ornament than Dürer, and was the chief artist of that great work, the “Triumph of Maximilian,” in which he strove to unite the Gothic and the style of the Renaissance. His work generally takes the form of elaborate heraldry.

Hans Holbein, as well as being a great painter, was also a famous designer for goldsmiths’ work, and was a master in ornament, especially in the application of the figure to ornamental purposes. He was in some measure a pupil of Hans Burgkmair, and was thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the Renaissance. Holbein the elder—his father—was a well-known artist, who worked in the old German Gothic style.

The younger Holbein began his artistic career as a goldsmith, and his designs of sword and dagger handles, in which the figure forms so admirably follow the lines of the composition in a remarkable degree of ornamental fitness, reveal his fine sense and feeling for ornament.

In Italy the sculptor, Luca Signorelli, employed the figure and animal forms with an equal degree of skill, and with the same feeling for ornament. Both artists thoroughly understood the correct laws of ornamental composition, which was not by any means a universal gift with the artists of the Renaissance period.

Holbein designed many cups, one of which was a rich example of a standing cup and cover which was designed for Jane Seymour, one of the wives of Henry VIII. of England. The drawing for this cup is preserved in the British Museum.

During the sixteenth century the art of metal working in Germany, especially at Nuremberg, Swabian Augsburg, and Lübeck, reached a high state of perfection under the great patronage of wealthy families, such as the Fugger family, of Augsburg, and others. Holbein, and other German, Dutch, and Flemish artists, worked in England, and besides much German and Flemish Renaissance work found its way into England, and influenced in a great degree the style of the metal work of this country.

In addition to the gold and silver plate of the kings’ palaces and of private families, corporations and colleges accumulated great quantities of plate, and before banks were properly established, gold and silver plate and jewellery were the chief store of wealth that could, when necessary, be easily converted into money.

King Henry VII. had a service of plate valued at twenty thousand pounds. This monarch employed the Italian sculptor and goldsmith, Torrigiano, and other foreign artists.

Henry VIII. also employed many Italian and German artists and goldsmiths, and it is believed that Cellini executed some of his finest jewellery for this king.

Not only Henry VIII., but his great lords and ministers, had extensive collections of plate. Cardinal Wolsey had a large safe or cupboard, barred all round for protection, in which was displayed a goodly show of gold cups and other sumptuous vessels for use at his table.

“Apostle spoons” were made at this and subsequent periods, and were so called from their having little figures of the Apostles modelled on the tops of the handles (Fig. 171).

The silver, gold, and bronze work in Queen Elizabeth’s time in England was made in the style of the Renaissance, like that of Germany. Italian and German work at this time was almost identical (Figs. 172 and 173); and even when the Rococo decadence was prevalent in architecture, both on the Continent and in England, goldsmiths’ work was the last industry that fell under its influence, especially when we compare it with the contemporary pottery, furniture, and other decorative art. Of course, at the latter end of the seventeenth and during the eighteenth century, the design in metal work in France, and also in England, was sacrificed to display and ostentation; but at the same time a comparative purity of style is seen in much of the plate made in the reigns of William and Mary, James II., and Queen Anne, of English manufacture. The silver and gold plate of the “Queen Anne” period (1702-14) is highly prized for its beauty of design and massive character, some examples of which will be noticed presently.

In the metal work, especially in gold and silver of the seventeenth century, towards the middle of the century a certain heaviness of design gradually crept in; although a good deal of fine work was still produced by the artists who belonged to the older schools, and, as a matter of course, the best work belonged to the earlier part of the century.

A fine freedom of line and handling is seen in the Flemish salver (Fig. 174) of Renaissance design. The French example of a silver-gilt cup and cover is unusually simple for French work of this century (Fig. 175), and an English silver casket of the same date (Fig. 176) shows a similarity of style: the serpent handles and covers are almost identical.

About the middle of the seventeenth century silversmiths’ work in Germany began to assume a bulbous or lobed character, and gradually became more florid in design (Fig. 177). This bulbous or gadrooned work was carried out to a greater degree in English work of this period, of which the gold cup rat Exeter College (Fig. 178) is a good example. The decoration of metal work in England at this time consisted of flowers and foliage chased on the repoussé surfaces, and often large rich acanthus-leaves were used, especially on the vases and silver furniture of Charles II.’s time. The lobed panel work of Germany was developed in England into lozenge and pine-shaped raised surfaces, and the details of the French Louis Quatorze were added as decoration.

Tankards were made in silver, or sometimes in pottery richly mounted in silver or pewter. The tankard has a wide base, the body narrowing towards the mouth, and has usually a cover (Fig. 179), while the beaker or drinking cup is the reverse in shape—narrow in the base, and widening towards the mouth, and is without a handle or cover.

The English silver tankards were straight-sided, with naturalistic decoration. Modern tankards for beer-drinking uses are made in pewter or Britannia metal.

In the Rhine Provinces, in Germany, and in Switzerland stoneware tankards with metal covers and mountings are still in use. Tankards in the seventeenth century were made with pegs inserted in the sides at regulated distances, so that each drinker might quaff his measured portion when the vessel was handed round.

In the reign of James I. many sumptuous objects in services and toilet furniture were made in gold and silver. The baronial halls in England were extremely rich in large pieces of plate: huge salvers, vases, basins, jugs, cups, toilet services, and even tables, chairs, mirror-frames, and fire-dogs were made in silver.

In France, during the reign of Louis XIV., similar gold and silver vessels and sumptuous furniture were made in the rich and massive style of the period. Balin and Delaunay are mentioned among others who were skilful goldsmiths to that monarch, and who worked under the directions of the chief painter and tapestry designer, Lebrun.

England not only made a good deal of this silver furniture, but also imported it largely from France; most of it, however, was melted down to pay for the wars of Charles I.

A few remaining examples are still at Knole Park, in Kent, consisting of silver tables, mirror-frames, fire-dogs, &c. (Fig. 180). Similar objects of this period are now at Windsor Castle (Fig. 181), of which copies in electrotype are in the Kensington Museum.

Some of the gold plate preserved in the Tower of London with the regalia is of this period.

After the date of 1660 gold and silver-smithery becomes fluted and less florid in decoration, but some of it still keeps the gadrooned and bulbous character.

Towards the end of the century, in the time of William III., the flutings were less in number, and consequently became larger in scale, and in the early part of the eighteenth century the metal work in England became plainer, depending more on the lines of its contour for effect than on its decoration (Fig. 182). Mouldings were plainer, and broad spaces of convex and concave shapes producing a massive and, in many cases, an elegant appearance (Figs. 182, 183), which gave to the Queen Anne plate a mark of great distinction.

About 1750 the forms in silver work partook, in many instances, of the prevailing fashion in the chinaware of that date, though without the extravagance in the decoration. From 1770, and for about ten years later, the designs became more attenuated, and were peculiar in having the dividing lines of the design composed of fillets of beads (Figs. 185 and 187). The beaded style of silversmiths’ work and in all metal work, pottery, and furniture of this period was due to the development of classic design that took place in France and in England consequent on the discovery of the buried city of Pompeii in 1770.

The brothers Adam in England designed a good deal of silversmiths’ work, of which the three illustrations given are examples of their style. Light wreaths, medallions, fillets of beads, festoons, masks, feet and legs of animals composed the decoration of the Adams’ style.

The brothers John and Robert Adam had travelled in Italy, and had brought with them pronounced classic ideas which not only influenced their own and other contemporary work in architecture and furniture designs, but in silversmiths’ work also their influence was widely felt (Fig. 188).

In France the classic ideas were also very prevalent about this period in silversmiths’ work. The “Louis-Seize” candlestick (Fig. 189) is one of a pair from the Jones Collection in the South Kensington Museum, and is an admirable example of the style; though it is said to have been made at Turin in Italy in 1783, it is certainly of French design. It has the square base so peculiar to French work of this period, with the wreaths and medallions so characteristic of the style in question, that of Louis XVI.

Another candlestick (Fig. 190) from the Jones Collection is probably Italian in style and manufacture, and belongs to the early part of the eighteenth century.

At the time of the Revolution, and immediately after, the style of the silver work deteriorated in France. Vast quantities of plate were seized and sent off to the Mint by the Revolutionary army, and naturally an art like the goldsmith’s, that ministered to the needs of luxury, was in those times at a low ebb.

In England in the early part of the nineteenth century some good work was executed from the designs of Flaxman and Stothard, chiefly in the classic style; the Wellington Shield may be mentioned as an example; but about the middle of this century gold and silver work was characterized by even a greater degree of naturalism in design than that of the French debased style from which it was copied. Nothing could exceed the vulgarity and bad taste in the design of silversmiths’ work made about fifty or forty years ago. All architectural principles that should guide the design of relief modelling and construction were thrown to the winds, and naturalism unnaturally applied and mixed in any heterogeneous way was quite fashionable. For instance, we have huge épergnes where stags and other animals from the Highlands of Scotland or the Welsh mountains are decorating silver rock-work from which the tropical palms of Africa are seen to grow out of their clefts, affording grateful shade to the natives of the British moorland. The art of the silversmith in England about this period had suffered more than any other artistic industry, and in the matter of design it seemed to have reached the twilight state of semi-insanity, and was utterly devoid of any artistic merit.

A great improvement is, however, to be seen in the work of respectable firms and in that of many private craftsmen of to-day, but many shop windows are still filled with costly work in the precious metals that are worthless from an artistic point of view.

Niello-work and Damascening.

Niello-work has been mentioned on a previous page. It was an important branch of the goldsmith’s art, as well as that of damascening. From the earliest times the nations of antiquity have engraved on metals and filled up the lines or grooves of the engraving with a black species of enamel composition—niello—or with other metals such as silver, gold, and electrum; the latter process has been called damascening, from Damascus, where gold and silver inlaid in iron or steel was practised in the tenth and eleventh centuries.

It was a favourite method of decorating metals during the Middle Ages throughout the countries of Persia, Syria, and in most European countries, especially on such objects as arms, armour, and different kinds of vessels.

The celebrated Italian metal-worker, Maso Finiguerra, worked extensively in niello, and to him is ascribed the discovery of the art of engraving on copper and printing from the copper plate. He was a goldsmith and a native of Florence, and was the pupil of Ghiberti and Masaccio. In the year 1452 he made a pax, on the flat panel of which he engraved a design to be filled in afterwards with the black composition of niello, but before he had completely finished his work he took a “squeeze” in clay of the engraving in order to judge of the progress he had made, and from this squeeze he made a mould in sulphur, and filled it with a black pigment, and on pressing this sulphur block on a sheet of damp paper the pattern appeared similar to the niello effect. This led him to fill the lines of the actual silver plate with a more durable ink, and to print off impressions on paper. It was by thus experimenting that Finiguerra discovered the art of engraving and printing from the metal plate. The original pax with its impressions are preserved at Florence.

Damascening is executed in three ways. First, where the steel or copper is engraved with an undercut line and a thread of gold or silver is forced in by hammering or pressed by a burnisher into the grooved lines. Second, the plated method, where the plate of metal to be encrusted is enclosed between slightly raised walls in the foundation metal. Third, where the foundation metal is roughened by a sharp tool in all directions and the gold or silver is laid on thinly and pressed or hammered in. The last method is the latest and least durable. Sometimes the lines of the engraving are punched with holes at regulated distances, which serve as keys to hold the inlaid metal when hammered in.

The famous bowl called the “Baptistery of St. Louis,” now in the Louvre, is made of copper inlaid with figures of horsemen and hunting scenes. It is an example of “Mosil work,” or Mesopotamian damascening, of the thirteenth century, in which silver only is used as the inlaid metal.

A delicate design in Italian damascene work is shown at Fig. 191, and an Indian example at Fig. 192. The Italian example shows the Arabian influence in some of the details of the ornament. The Japanese are perfect masters in the art of damascening. Sword-blades of the thirteenth and later centuries have beautiful designs inlaid as intaglios or in damascene work; sword-guards of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are remarkable for this kind of decoration, and for the exquisite chasing of the iron, which in some cases is cut out like fret-work, and in others are carved as delicate as decorative ivory work.

Indian Jewellery.

The jewellery of India is one of the most important art industries of that country, and the trade of the gold and silver smith is an established institution in every village and district. The variation in style and method of fabrication has very marked features, according to the fashion that finds favour in each locality. The extreme love for trinkets of a brilliant and dazzling nature amongst all grades of the people has in a great measure directed the fabrication of Indian jewellery, which tends to make the most of the precious metals by using them in thin plates or in a filigrain work, and in order to get the flashing effect and rich colouring, scales or flakes of diamonds are more often used than the more valuable and solid gems, and inferior gems, or even coloured glass, are set to the best advantage, and used indiscriminately: anything, in fact, is used in order to get the gorgeous variety of brilliant colouring and dazzling effect. Much of the Indian jewellery is of a flimsy character as regards its lightness and thin nature of the material; but the latter is generally of the best quality, and the artistic workmanship lavished on most of the jewellery more than makes up for its want of inherent solidity.

Jewellery ought to be light in character and of good design and workmanship if it is intended to fulfil its use in decorating the person, as nothing is uglier than heavy jewellery, which can only be valuable in the light of representing the wealth of the owner.

Some of the Indian jewellery is, however, fairly solid and heavy, as in the chopped gold form of cubical, octahedron, and oblong shapes of the metal which are strung on silk cord as necklaces, and the nail-head variety of earrings made at Ahmedabad and Surat in Western India.

Girdles, torques or neck collars, bracelets, and anklets are made of twisted gold wire, which are common throughout India, and in the western provinces are made in the twisted form of the Matheran knotted and woven grass collars.

Some of the native jewellery in many parts of India still keeps its primitive character and bears a great likeness to the very early Celtic jewellery found in Ireland and in other countries of Europe, which would probably suggest the same Celtic origin for all (Fig. 193).

The silver filigrain work of India, especially the designs of the Sindh jewellery and that made at Cuttack, Trichinopoly, and Travancore, recalls the methods of fabrication and design of the ancient Etruscan jewellery. (See Figs. 194, 195, 197.)

A certain analogy may also be noticed in the native jewellery from the above places to the Phœnician, primitive Grecian, and even Scandinavian, which goes a long way to prove the intercourse between, and the migrations of, the people of India, Thibet, Turkestan to Asia Minor and the continent of Europe.

Some Indian jewellery, though possessing shapes common to other countries, has very distinctive national characteristics in the decoration, which may be seen in the illustration (Fig. 198) of the gold plate from Bombay. In these cases the design is usually symbolical.

The Indian jewellers of the Mogul period have produced some exquisite work in the setting of gems on jade carvings and on small vases of jade.

The deftness and cunning of the Indian jeweller may have been equalled by the Etruscans and ancient Greeks, but he has not been surpassed in his delicate workmanship by any nation of modern times.

Iron Work in France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and England.

Ornamental iron work was executed in France and in England before the Roman occupation of these countries, but any early remains of this work that have been found in either country are supposed to be of the Roman period. The Romans were not skilled in the working of iron, although well conversant with the manufacture of bronze objects.

Remains of iron hasps, escutcheons, window grilles, candlesticks, folding chairs, &c., have been found in France and in England, of the Romano-Gaulish and British periods, that have a great similarity of style, and, indeed, up to the fifteenth century the style and design of iron work in both countries were pretty much alike.

The most interesting examples of the blacksmith’s art of the Middle Ages—in England especially—are the hinges to the church doors. The first hinges were simple single straps of iron that passed from back to front of the door, the socket being formed out of the solid piece at the angle on one side. The front side of this strap by degrees was clawed out, or otherwise elaborated, to cover as much of the door as possible, so as to form an armour of defence against predatory robbers, such as the barbarous Norse pirates who were continually invading the British shores.

A favourite form of the hinge was the crescent shape; sometimes the hinge branched out in a simple crescent with curved and bifurcated endings that may have symbolized the snake or birds’ heads, and often two or three of these crescents branched out from a central bar. Between the hinges additional bars or straps were sometimes run across the door to strengthen it, and elaborate foliated crosses often occupied the central part, as in Fig. 199.

On some of the old Norman doors, in addition to the hinges, as at Stillingfleet Church, there are designs in iron work which consist of mystical signs of Danish origin, such as a viking ship or sun ship, the swastika or fylfot, moon signs, and rude images of the human figure.

The crescent hinge may have had a symbolical meaning, perhaps Scandinavian, or it may have originated in the Saracenic crescent, and may have been brought from Sicily, the birthplace of Norman architecture.

The art of the blacksmith in the Middle Ages was more developed in France than in any other country of Europe, and the art of stamping the leaves, stems, and rosettes with steel or chilled iron dies and punches was practised there earlier than the thirteenth century, and at a period a little later in England. The ornament was in style very little more than the Romanesque type of the conventional vine, or other leaf of a like nature—the cinquefoil, trefoil, rosettes, and scrolls, but these few elements were used in the most effective manner (Fig. 200).

The magnificent hinges on the Porte Ste. Anne of Notre-Dame at Paris show to perfection the French stamping on the leaves and other parts. These unrivalled hinges (Fig. 201) are of the Early French style of the thirteenth century. Nothing, however, is known of their origin, nor even the name of the smith who forged them. Each hinge is composed of six large scrolls springing from the central bar or stem, all of which are richly clothed with spirals, foliage, birds, and dragons; the whole design is supposed to represent the terrestrial Paradise.

Exceedingly rich, but not so elaborated as the hinges of the Church of Notre-Dame, is the herse, or grille, of English work of the same period, which surmounts the tomb of Queen Eleanor in Westminster Abbey (Fig. 202). This fine example of English smithery was made by Thomas de Leghtone in the year 1294. It is a clever adaptation of hinge-work to the design of a grille. Mr. Gardner supposes Leghtone to be connected with Leighton Buzzard, as the same kind of iron work as the Eleanor grille occurs in the hinges of the parish church door of that place, and also from the fact that similar work is found on many other church doors of the same period in Bedfordshire—at Eaton Bray and Turvey, for instance; also at Norwich, Tunstall, Windsor, Lichfield, and Merton College, Oxford, are examples of the same kind of work, which no doubt was executed by Thomas de Leghtone and his assistants.

After the end of the thirteenth century examples are scarce of genuine wrought-iron work, for the fashion changed at that time in the manner of working the metal. Sheets and bars of iron were cut in the cold state into various patterns by the use of chisels and files, the pieces being fastened together by rivets and small collars or ties of metal. Much of this work, was done in Italy, in imitation of marble and wood panelling, and a very common method consisted in making the grilles in Italy of riveted quatrefoils. A fine grille of this character is in the Church of Santa Croce of the date of 1371. In the churches and palaces of Venice, Florence, Verona, &c., there are many good examples of grilles that resemble in a great degree joinery work in iron.

In Germany the love for iron work was not developed so early as it was in France and England, and it was not until Gothic architecture took a firm hold in that country in the end of the thirteenth century that the first serious attempts were made in the use of decorative iron work, and, like their architectural forms, the German wrought-iron work was inspired by French examples.

German work in iron of the thirteenth century is very scarce: one of the best-known examples occurs in the iron work on the doors of the Church of St. Elizabeth at Marburg, near Cassel, which consists of branching scroll-work clothed with vine-leaf endings.

In the fourteenth century the Germans developed the French vine-work into lozenge-shaped leaves, and for a change interspersed them with fleurs-de-lis, and occasionally some tracery patterns, all of which were borrowed from the French. The stamped work of the English and French blacksmith was not developed in Germany.

In the fifteenth century German iron work was greatly influenced by the fine work which was being produced at this period in the Low Countries. Brussels had been noted for its extensive works in iron and steel from the fourteenth century. The brawny Flemish smiths were celebrated throughout Europe for their great achievements in moulded and hammered iron, such as in the spires of the cathedrals of Antwerp, Ghent, and Bruges, well-covers, railings, fonts, cranes, and grilles. The historical well-cover in front of the Cathedral of Antwerp has usually been ascribed to Quentin Matsys the painter, but as he was only twelve years old when this work was completed, it could hardly have been made by his hands. The explanation is that he has been confounded with another Quentin, a blacksmith and the son of Josse Matsys, the architect, smith, and clockmaker of Antwerp. The well-cover is more likely to have been the work of Josse Matsys. The design is Gothic in feeling and is very picturesque with its interlacing stems and vine-leaves, flowers, and figures. A rich font crane in iron work in the Cathedral of Louvain is said to be the authentic work of Josse, and a twelve-branched corona in the same church is ascribed to his son, Quentin Matsys. To the hand of the latter is also ascribed the rich Flemish gates of Bishop West’s Chapel in Ely Cathedral.

Brabant was celebrated for its iron work, particularly in pierced and filed work in such things as locks, hinges, candelabra, tabernacles, and guichets (little windows or wicket gates), most of these objects taking pronounced Gothic architectural forms, for the most part being composed of flamboyant tracery and little buttresses (Fig. 203). Much of the Brabaçon iron work found its way into England and Germany. This work is characterised by its flamboyant tracery, which is found on locks of doors and Flemish coffers, and in the design of the guichets, a fine specimen of the latter now being in the Kensington Museum. The locks of the doors in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor and in some other places are of Brabaçon workmanship. This Flemish style of lock work was imitated very much in England, but the workmanship was less refined although of a stronger character than the Flemish.

The Germans, especially of Augsburg, Nuremberg, and in the Rhine Provinces, more particularly at Cologne, developed the chiselled iron work to an astonishing degree of elaboration.

While the shapes of the lock-plates were of a decided Saracenic character, the design of the pattern ornamentation was either of an elaborate architectural composition, as in the large lock in the Klagenfurt Museum (Fig. 204), or of designs mainly developed from the thistle-plant.

The thistle was distinctly characteristic of German iron work, and also the trellis-work pattern as seen on the doors of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (Fig. 205). Armorial bearings fill the panels between the trellis-bands, with richly forged rivets or nail-heads on the lozenge intersections. Sometimes the decoration was gilt or silvered, and the ground underneath painted red or black. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the iron work in Europe and England partook of the character of the Renaissance, and towards the end of the former century had all the foliated character of that style.

The illustration (Fig. 206) shows a typical example of French work of the end of the sixteenth century.

In Flanders, Holland, and in England, especially during the eighteenth century, decorative iron work was again in great demand, and some beautiful work in gates, grilles, and railings were executed. Among the finest works of this period are the celebrated gates or screens designed in the style of the Renaissance and made by Huntingdon Shaw for King William III. for his palace at Hampton Court. These gates, which are fine examples of hammered work, are now in the Kensington Museum. The iron gates and railings made in the reign of Queen Anne and later were often of beautiful design, in which the capabilities of the material were excellently expressed. Some fine examples still exist in the gates and railings of the old houses in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, and some good ironwork of this type may be seen in the screens in St. Paul’s Cathedral. This beautiful style died out during this century, when a more extended use of cast iron crept in, and if we except the work of the late Alfred Stevens and of a few other designers and architects, there has been nothing of an artistic value that one can point out in England in the domain of cast-iron productions. In fact, it is a curious but common expression to say of a bad design for almost anything that it “looks like cast iron.” Designers for cast-iron work might take some good hints from the old Roman or Pompeian bronzes.