306
EXPOSITION AT VIENNA.
plastering or decoration is required. The joints of this work were made with great care, the mortar being freely used, but uniform in thickness in each course, and rounded over between the bricks.* The joints are striped in black, contrasting well with the buff color of the bricks. A variety of designs was introduced in the entablatures and pilasters, chiefly in the Hennaissance ; those on one side being plain red, and on the other enamelled in colors. Medallions were inserted in the façade, and terra-cotta groups of figures adorned the top.
Within the area of this construction, below, there was room enough for the exhibition, on tables and counters, of the various articles made by the company. Bricks, of all the varieties and forms, were to be found there : some plain, some enamelled white, blue, or green ; some wedge-shaped, for arches, and many with rounded, curved, and moulded angles, designed for the ornamentation of window-openings, for string-courses, and other parts of buildings. Here, too, were to be found a variety of decorative objects in bold relief, such as bas-reliefs, slabs, fillets, parts of cornices and medallions, designed for insertion in the façades of buildings, —the same, in fact, as were shown in their proper settings in the front of the archway. All these were noteworthy for their boldness and elegance of design, sharpness of relief and brilliant coloring, fitting them for decorative purposes high up in the fronts of buildings. The company also exhibited a variety of tiles for paving and for roofing purposes, the latter being either plain or glazed in a variety of colors, thus facilitating the chromatic decoration of roofs. There were also small hollow bricks with glazed faces. A majolica wall-fountain is worthy of mention, and was purchased by the Austrian Art Museum for its collection.
A large part of this collection—the smaller objects, bricks, tiles, fillets, etc.—was presented by the company to the
* Tlie quantity of mortar used in laying hricks varies in different countries. Much, of course, depends upon the form of the brick. If they are warped or curved; if, as is generally the case even with pressed brick, the corners “ droop,” the thickness of the bedding must be sufficient to permit an average adjustment in the course to a level surface. In coarse work in France the ratio in volume of the joints or mortar to the whole mass of masonry is, as 17 or 18 to 100. But in finer work, where a better quality of mortar or plaster is used, the ratio is reduced to 10 or 12 to 100.