MATERIAL REVIEW.
WALLPAPERS AT HAMPTON'S, PALL MALL EAST. MOST of the commendable wallpapers to be seen at Hampton's come from France ; these are all hand-made, and strongly set-up. The designs of the wallpapers I saw are prepon- deratingly " natural " : flowers, birds, landscape or human figures formed the main decorative subjects. But there is one very pleasant paper in plain grey (1633.08. 13s. 6d. per piece), which may also be had in a variation with the formal decorations of festoon-frieze, capital and base, moulding, &e., imposed. Generally, however, the skill of both designer and maker is best displayed in some of the more involved, crowded, " natural " designs. No. 1355.01 is effective in an uncommon manner. Three large golden birds, arranged triangularly on a black background, disport between parallel rows of water-rushes, underneath a left-to- right arch of green bamboos. The attractiveness of this piece is due to the way the " paint" is laid on ; the plumage of the birds, for instance, seems so deep, heavy and separated that, with eyes half closed, one could almost mistake it for tapestry or a subtly woven fibre. It is a pity that such an effect of queer life should be spoiled by the unexpressive-
ness, the obvious flatness, of the birds' heads. Very different in purpose is Frieze B. 313.01, which would make a most exciting and harmonious decoration for a nursery, or, better, a child's bedroom. Unequal silver lanterns depend from a row of silhouetted streamers on a black background. A tracery of black flower-stems over one of the lanterns, and of butterflies over the other, is cleverly successful in modifying the relations between the bright articles and their setting. The same colour-mixture can be had in a spacious stripe at 8s. 9d. a piece (12 yards by 28i inches). A noticeable point about this and most of the other wallpapers is their suitability for panelling : there is no need to paper a whole room with only one kind. Nowadays the intriguing habit of alternate panelling—patterned and plain—with its additional excitations of personal experiment and individual results, is becoming refreshingly popular. One of the jolliest of Messrs. Hampton's designs is No. 1213.02. It is a seemingly casual, but well-placed distribution of canopied, crinkled elephants, incense-braziers, curious totems and medallions floating on a cream surface around a large Oriental flower-vase. The same design may be had in various colours (Chinese gold pre- dominating) on either a black or—not so good—a pale green background. The general effect of these figures is humorous, even ironic ; the effect of the tone-similar design in No. 1630.035 is cunningly romantic. Two ducks in a blue stream ; a translucent brown tree and three crimson flowers ; lustrous purple rocks and banks—all these objects ring round and sentimentally support a sloping, moony, granite-hinting bridge. If these are a trifle too picturesque for the intending buyer's taste, he could choose instead from a little book of fibrous-looking samples which Messrs. Hampton gave me. In reality they are impositions of coloured, coarsely-woven grass on gold and silver backgrounds. Only three out of the five are successful ; in a tactfully appointed drawing- room any of them would look sober, stately and severely
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