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192
The House in Good Taste
·
Elsie De Wolfe
162
XVIII
THE
ART
OF
TRELLIAGE
When
I
planned
the
trellis
room
of
the
Colony
Club
in
New
York
I
had
hard
work
finding
workmen
who
could
appreciate
the
importance
of
crossing
and
recrossing
little
strips
of
green
wood,
of
arranging
them
to
form
a
mural
decoration
architectural
in
treatment.
This
trellis
room
was,
I
believe,
the
first
in
America
to
be
so
considered,
though
the
use
of
trellis
is
as
old
as
architecture
in
Japan,
China,
Arabia,
Egypt,
Italy,
France
and
Spain.
The
earliest
examples
of
trellis
work
shown
are
in
certain
Roman
frescoes.
In
Pompeii
the
mural
paintings
give
us
a
very
good
idea
of
what
some
of
the
Roman
gardens
were
like.
In
the
entrance
hall
of
the
house
of
Sallust
is
represented
a
garden
with
trellised
niches
and
bubbling
fountains.
Representations
that
have
come
down
to
us
in
documents
show
that
China
and
Japan
both
employed
the
trellis
in
their
decorative
schemes.
You
will
find
a
most
daring
example
on
your
old
blue
willow
plate,
if
you
will
look
closely
enough.
The
bridge
over
which
the
flying
princess
goes
to
her
lover
is
a
good
model,
and
could
be
built
in
many
gardens.
Even
a
tiny
modern
garden,
yours
or
mine,
might
hold
this
fairy
bridge.
Almost
all
Arabian
decorations
have
their
basis
in
trellis
design
or
arabesques
filled
in
with
the
intricate
tracery
that
covers
all
their
buildings.
If
we
examine
the
details
of
the
most
famous
of
the
old
Moorish
buildings
that
remain
to
us,
the
mosque
at
Cordova
and
the
Alhambra
at
Granada,
we
shall
find
them
full
of
endless
trellis
suggestions.
Indeed,
there
are
many
documents
still
extant
showing
how
admirably
trellis
decoration
lends
itself
to
the
decoration
of
gardens
and
interiors.
There
are
dozens
of
examples
of
niches
built
to
hold
fine
busts.
Pavilions
and
summer
houses,
the
quaint
gazebos
of
old
England,
the
graceful
screens
of
trellis
that
terminate
a
long
garden
path,
the
arching
gateways
crowned
with
vines--all
these
may
be
reproduced
quite
easily
in
American
gardens.
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