The Home Beautiful: The Model & Co. Firescreen, 1881

Fire Screen
Bamboo, Glass, Ferns, Butterflies
Model and Co., 1881
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Decorative screens, often of delicate materials, like this example, were placed in front of an empty and unused fireplace in the summer to cover the black hole in the hearth as well as  to reduce drafts.

This screen contains real ferns and butterflies which have been sandwiched between two layers of glass, supported in a bamboo frame.  It was made by Model & Co. of 4 North Street, Charlotte Street, and later of Tottenham Street, London.

Model & Co. was one of the most popular specialist manufacturers of bamboo furniture between 1881-1900.  In 1881, this screen was one of several designs from Model & Co. which were selected for illustration and praise by the magazine The Cabinet Maker and Art Furnisher. By 1897 Model & Co. were described by that publication as among the “aristocrats of bamboo manufacturers.” 

During this period, bamboo furniture enjoyed great popularity.  As the V&A stated, “Exotic materials, such as bamboo or lacquer panels, were imported from Japan and then combined with native flora and fauna in fashionable furnishings like this screen. Stuffed birds, Japanese or Chinese embroidery and stained and leaded glass was also used for screens made of bamboo by Model & Co.”