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192
The House in Good Taste
·
Elsie De Wolfe
155
The
collection
and
association
of
antiques
and
reproductions
should
be
determined
by
the
collector's
sense
of
fitness,
it
seems
to
me.
Every
man
should
depend
on
whatever
instinct
for
rightness,
for
suitability,
he
may
possess.
If
he
finds
that
he
dare
not
risk
his
individual
opinion,
then
let
him
be
content
with
the
things
he
knows
to
be
both
beautiful
and
useful,
and
leave
the
subtler
decisions
for
someone
else.
For
instance,
there
are
certain
objects
that
are
obviously
the
better
for
age,
the
objects
that
are
softened
and
refined
by
a
bloom
that
comes
from
usage.
An
old
rug
has
a
softness
that
a
new
one
cannot
imitate.
An
old
copper
kettle
has
an
uneven
quality
that
has
come
from
years
of
use.
A
new
kettle
may
be
quite
as
useful,
but
age
has
given
the
old
one
a
certain
quality
that
hanging
and
pounding
cannot
reproduce.
A
pewter
platter
that
has
been
used
for
generations
is
dulled
and
softened
to
a
glow
that
a
new
platter
cannot
rival.
What
charm
is
to
a
woman,
the
vague
thing
called
quality
is
to
an
object
of
art.
We
feel
it,
though
we
may
not
be
able
to
explain
it.
An
old
Etruscan
jar
may
be
reproduced
in
form,
but
it
would
be
silly
to
attempt
the
reproduction
of
the
crudenesses
that
gave
the
old
jar
its
real
beauty.
In
short,
objects
that
depend
on
form
and
fine
workmanship
for
their
beauty
may
be
successfully
reproduced,
but
objects
that
depend
on
imperfections
of
workmanship,
on
the
crudeness
of
primitive
fabrics,
on
the
fading
of
vegetable
dyes,
on
the
bloom
that
age
alone
can
give,
should
not
be
imitated.
We
may
introduce
a
reproduction
of
a
fine
bust
into
our
rooms,
but
an
imitation
of
a
Persian
tile
or
a
Venetian
vase
is
absurd
on
the
face
of
it.
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