Wood Sculpture

WOOD S. CU LPTU RE BY ALFRED MASKELL, F. S. A. NEW YORK G, P. PUTNAMS SONS LONDON METHUEN AND CO, LTD, PREFACE HARDLY any other division of the arts covers so wide a field as that which is open before us in the study of the use of wood in its decorative applications of every kind. The history of all the arts in all countries from the earliest Egyptian times the schools of painting, of engraving, and of sculpture in other materials the goldsmiths, metal workers, and even the potters crafts church lore and liturgiology the varieties of furniture of every descrip tion, ecclesiastical and domestic the science and art of coins and medals symbolism, natural history, botany, even heraldry these things and more, perhaps, con front us from time to time, and present points of contact which cannot be ignored. In endeavouring, therefore, to treat so comprehensive a subject, in a single volume, I cannot but be aware that I lay myself open to the criticism of specialists in all the many divisions with which I may have the hardihood to connect it, and I can scarcely expect to avoid the numerous pitfalls-After about the twelfth century the quantity of available material is so great that it seemed to me that the only plan would be to restrict the getteral scope in the mam to figure sculpture and to certain decorative work in relief, and to consider wfrfc examples could be selected which would best illustrate the evolution of the art and the influences exerted by one country on another. It may be asked why such aad such a figure or other wdrk has been included, or why such another one faas bfi isissed over The only answer is that a WOOD SCULPTURE choice had to be made. Jt was necessary, also, to draw aline somewhere, and I have done this generally speaking at the end of the Gothic period. Whole geographical divisions Russia, China, Japan, and the East have, perforce also, been left untouched. The history of domestic furniture already possesses an extensive literature, and our present interest in it is limited to the subjects of the decoration. In the case of such divisions as chancel screens, choir stalls, miseri cords, bench-ends, and the like, it has not seemed to me necessary to treat them in detail The student who desires complete information and full lists will consult the special publications to which references will be found in the Bibliography. There are, in addition, numerous articles in the transactions of local archaeo logical societies, For a work of so comprehensive a character I must admit my many disabilities and restrictions. I canm pretend to universal knowledge of existing examples 1 wood sculpture, in all countries and of all ages, whi may have claims for notice. In my selections I hai given the preference, as a rule, to those which hayej come under my own notice in our home museuafcjj and in many museums and collections on the CODH tinent I have availed myself largely of numerou notes made at various times during several years, as well as of other assistance whenever I have found anything already collected which appeared to me to be useful, I am free, indeed, . to admit that erudition, or even originality, are the least of the qualities even. I possessed them for which I should desire creda My aim is to be readable, and to set forth the subject in the simplest and most intelligible matmer. This book is not addressed to those already fully acquainted with thematter, but to the inquiring English reader to whom some of it, at least, may be entirely new The Bibliography, in fact, shows how few books exist, vi PREFACE in English, in which any information at all and still less, illustrations are to be found on many details which are here discussed...