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Originality Of Decoration And Form:
Present day trends in the design of houses and gardens are toward simplification. Functionalism is considered good. So is originality, provided it is not too extreme. Originality that comes from strain and striving for the unusual defeats its purpose. It lacks restraint. Superficial Decoration has been discarded. Along with the gingerbread and curlicues of late nineteenth and early twentieth century architecture have gone geometrical flower beds, tortuous paths, elaborate fountains, complicated rustic work, gazing globes and other features that once cluttered gardens. The best gardens of today are lovely and
livable.The early years of the 18th century were given over to experimentation and to analysis of the Oriental products and to a greatly increased public and collector's interest in the porcelain of the Orient. As rewards increased, many skilled artists and sculptors were attracted to the industry. Easier transportation and improved technical facilities in firing made it possible to obtain and use clays from foreign countries. It was therefore no longer necessary to work native clay. As compared to the early pottery, the porcelain made in England was always lacking in originality of Decoration and form. It is perhaps only natural that with an avowedly imitative product, the ornament should also be copied. The Decoration of English porcelain in the 18th century falls into four periods of imitation: first, the period of Oriental influence; second, that of the Dresden style; third, the Sevres influence; and last, the classical revival, which everywhere seems to have been the prelude of esthetic decadence.
For the making of statues of gods and heroes the Hellenistic tradition continued, though weakened in vigor and originality by the Roman collectors' preference for older works, or even copies of them, to any new work showing great originality. In the field of sculpture in relief, for which the demand was great, the situation was not so static, though one cannot discern a clear line of development.
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