The pilaster is a decorative necessity of the upright, marking the division of the facades, or accenting the uprights of the chests, chairs, dressoirs, etc.

The cartouche (Italian cartoccio) scrolled paper, is generally composed of a frame made of mouldings, or scrolls, enclosing a plain, convex, or concave space, of regular or irregular form intended for an inscription, coat of arms, cypher, etc. Vredemann de Vries and Theodore de Bry decorate their cartouches with swags of fruits, which were copied by Gerrit Hessels, a Dutch engraver whose compositions mark the transition between those artists and Crispin de Passe, Francouart and the school of Rubens. One of the peculiar features of the cartouche of the sixteenth century is the use of motives composed of strips of leather twisted, and variously decorated. Vredemann de Vries calls these "Compartments" in his well-known Multarum vari-arumque protractionum (compartimenta vulgus pictorum vocat) libellus utilissimus, jam recens delineatus per Johannem Vreedemanum, Frisium Gerardus Judaeus exculpebat (Antwerp MDLV).

This peculiar style of leather ornamentation known as cuirs, and consisting of strips interlaced in so many forms, is a much loved decoration of the Flemish school. A notable collection of cuirs was published by Jerome Cock, the printer-engraver, in Antwerp, his native town.

Among the favourite decorations is the banderole, the floating ribbon or streamer which had been much used during the Middle Ages. It was used in great variety by many artists during the Renaissance.

The peculiar form of caryatid called game or terme, a species of support, is also extremely popular. It is used by Peter Coeck of Alost, in most of his compositions; and by his pupil Vredemann de Vries, who composed a special collection of Caryatides ou termes.

Plate XI. - Flemish Bedstead (1580).

Figs. 10 - 12: Designs by Lucas van Leyden; Figs. 13 - 16: Designs by A. Claces; Figs, 17 - 18: Encoincons by De Vries.

In studying the furniture of the early Renaissance, the works of the masters of design are most important aids. Before 1500, as we have seen, publications of purely decorative design, and even of architecture as a whole, are exceedingly scarce. From the opening of the sixteenth century, however, such publications rapidly multiply. Interior decorators who used the chisel in panel and pillar, and the contemporary joiners and cabinet-makers decorated their surfaces with details and motives taken from the Italians, and from the designs of native goldsmiths, engravers, painters and architects. As we have seen, it was no uncommon thing for one individual to be an adept in all these branches.

Therefore, the decorations of the designers of the early Renaissance have a special interest for us when we want to see what motives supplanted Gothic tracery, Biblical scenes and angels on carved chests, credences, armoires, beds and seats.

The first decorative designers who adopted the style of the Renaissance were Alaert Claas, Lucas van Leyden and Cornelis Bos. Claas (painter and engraver) worked in Utrecht from 1520 to 1555. Lucas van Leyden (painter and engraver), whose family name was Damesz, was born in Leyden in 1494 and died in 1533. Cornelis Bos (glass painter, architect and engraver), was born in Bois-le-Duc about 1510. He worked in Rome and was famous from 1530 to 1560. Another artist and engraver who belonged to the same school of decorative art was Martin van Heemskerck (1494-1574). He worked and died in Haarlem.

A mascaron with typical floral scroll-work dated 1523, the work of Lucas van Leyden, appears in Fig. 10. Another decorative composition with grotesque sirens and floral scrolls in Fig. II, also by the same master, is dated 1528. A third and very graceful design of the same date by Lucas van Leyden is shown in Fig. 12. Decorations for panels, or other flat surfaces in wood, stone or goldsmith's work are represented in Figs. 13 and 14 and Figs. 15 and 16; these are by Alaert Claas (or Claasen).