Three designs for decorative borders 1830 - 1897

Editor: We're looking at "Three designs for decorative borders" by Jules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise, dating from sometime between 1830 and 1897. It’s ink on paper and features, well, three different border designs. I'm immediately struck by their ornate detail and almost architectural feel, and it is hard to choose which is the prettiest. What’s your read on this piece? Curator: Ah, Lachaise! Looking at these designs, I'm transported back to grand Parisian apartments, with intricate plasterwork flirting with light and shadow. It feels like a breath held, doesn't it? What strikes me is the *intention* – the forethought and care that went into crafting these repeating patterns, which is now hidden behind the wallpaper, perhaps, if it ever went into manufacture! Each border whispers a different story. What kind of stories do you see? Editor: I guess the top border seems quite formal and neoclassical, whereas the bottom one with the leaves and floral patterns is more playful and evokes Art Nouveau for me. Do you think he had specific uses in mind when creating them? Curator: Perhaps, but I wouldn't want to be overly prescriptive. Imagine him, though, pencil in hand, dreaming these things into being... perhaps these are moods, emotions even, caught in ink. The middle one seems more serious, somber maybe. But that might be my melancholy mood. It reminds me a little of the patterns in ancient roman murals! The beauty of decorative art lies, like poetry, in being both useful and profoundly evocative. Editor: So, more than just templates, these were expressions, even abstract ones? That shifts my perspective completely. I guess I hadn't thought about how much personality can be imbued in this field of applied art, that now it becomes really interesting. Curator: Exactly! We forget sometimes the designer is the originator and first recipient of what an aesthetic delivers, like a poem or painting is an ode to themselves. It goes beyond pure function; it speaks. Which I think we all want to think our decorative arts might deliver on that score! Editor: I’ll certainly think twice before wallpapering a room again. Thanks for sharing your perspective!