The fact that Miss K. M. Kaple, who has written
An Outline of Period Furniture (Putnam, 21s.), is University Extension Lecturer in Interior Decoration at the University of California says much for the enthusiasm which America shows for the antique. Her illustrations of fine pieces in American museums are both attractive and significant. The book covers a wide field, from Egypt to the present day, and is truly an outline. But it is practical and sensible, and generally accurate, though one incautious sentence suggests that Chippendale invented the claw and ball foot which, as the author herself states elsewhere, was common in the Queen Anne period. The six walnut Queen Anne chairs that brought about £900 at C'hristie's this summer had claw and ball feet. The English reader will note as novel the chapter on Duncan Phyfe, a Scottish American (1768-1854), whose furniture is much esteemed by American collectors. Miss Kaple does not share the silly prejudice against modern copies of old furniture. Provided that they are well and intelligently made, the replicas are for practical purposes as good as the originals. The Wallace Collection has a magnificent copy of a famous Riesener bureau which would deceive an expert. On the other hand, we demur most strongly to the remark that, " Furniture has finished its evolution, as man has finished his, and both stand in their perfection of development." It is profoundly untrue.
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