Architectural embellishments - plastering - Brief Article

Magazine Antiques, Nov, 2000 by Allison Eckardt Ledes

In his engagingly written and highly informative volume The National Trust Book of the English House Interior (Viking Penguin in association with the National Trust, New York, 1990), Geoffrey Beard relates that "plaster as a decorative medium has a long existence, but in England it only developed from the reign of Henry VII," who in 1501 granted a charter to the Worshipful Company of Plasterers in London. Made from lime or gypsum, sand, and water, plaster could be given strength by adding chopped ox hair; or when finer work was required, the hair of a goat or kid. The mixture was then pressed into greased iron molds, into which the decorative pattern had been cast. Once dry, the section was tipped Out of the mold and a thin layer of slip was applied to the back so it could be permanently affixed to its intended place--wall, ceiling, dado, chair rail, or any other surface that could be ornamented.

Plasterers during the first half of the sixteenth century received their artistic inspiration from printed designs published in emblem books or illustrated Bibles, but during the reign of Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603) architectural treatises and engraved patterns executed by Continental artists were imported into England in enormous quantities, and by the time James I (r. 1603-1625) had ascended the throne, arabesques, mythological creatures, and numerous other densely arranged patterns were de rigueur. A significant change in plasterwork design came with the publication between 1773 and 1778 of the widely circulated Works in Architecture, by Robert and James Adam, who advocated a return to classicism. Specialized publications such as A Book of Ornamental Ceilings in the style of the Antique Grotesque (London, 1776) compiled by George Richardson, who had worked as the lead draftsman in the Adam workshop for eighteen years, also had great impact.

Many of these designs in original, reinterpreted, or even pirated form found their way to American shores rather quickly and there are more than a few houses--from New Hampshire to Georgia--that still retain their complex plasterwork, although the designs are generally somewhat watered down versions of the schemes that exist in England's grander country houses.

Just as it is often said that the frame makes the picture, it is architectural ornament that makes the room. The firm Hyde Park Fine Art of Mouldings, of Long Island City, New York, restores and fabricates all types of plaster decorations, including cove moldings, columns, archways, ceiling medallions, cornices, dado rails, pilasters, niches, balusters, corbels, and fireplace surrounds. The firm will replicate period plasterwork based on surviving fragments and will happily undertake custom designs. All the plaster decorations they produce are cast by hand. Among the museums, historic houses, and other clients that have benefited from their expertise are Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and, in New York City, the Harvard Club, Jewish Museum, Morris High School auditorium, Museum of the American Indian, Penn Club, New York Public Library, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.