ji6 PAINTING MATERIALS

Table Easel (see also Easel), a small rack or stand usually of hardwood and of
very light and compact construction, made and sold under this name, particu-
larly during the middle of the XIX century. The catalogue of Winsor and Newton
for 1849 shows such an easel in three sizes. At about this same time, Reeves and
Son had a small folding easel which could go into a pocket. It was of walnut,
about 12x16 inches opened, and with two or three angles of adjustment. A
somewhat heavier easel of this type is still available (figure 11, c).

FIGURE 24. Scrapers for paint; (a) a slice or stucco spatula of the type used for grounds,
this one made of bronze and in the Naples Museum (from Berger, I and II, 264, fig. 54);
(b) a wooden slice (from an illustration in Thompson, The Practice of Tempera Painting,
?• 37)> GO a knife used for laying grounds (from the MS. of De Mayerne, Berger, IV,
102, fig. a).

Tablet The drawing tablet of modern use is a sheaf of papers, always fastened
with an adhesive at one or more edges, and backed by stiff paper board. It is
made in a great variety of sizes and of many different papers. Its name doubtless
comes from the actual tablet of wood commonly used for drawing during the
Middle Ages and until the XV or XVI century in Europe. These, according to
descriptions of Renaissance writers, were used largely by apprentices, though
Meder (p. 165) says that before this they had been used by both masters and
pupils. They were usually coated with a white ground like gesso. Drawings were
made on them with metal points or with charcoal as studies and for practice.
With slight abrasion, the drawing could be effaced.
Tile (see also Slant). This name has been given to a variety of porcelain con-
tainers used largely in water color painting, wash drawing, miniature, and tempera
painting (figure 26). The tile is usually a block of porcelain containing in its upper
face a number of depressions, wedge-shaped or round, the former generally carry-
ing the name, slant. Some tiles have both, that is, rounded depressions and slanting
or wedge-shaped ones. Small tiles are about 2| X4 inches and larger,ones, con-
taining 20 and more wells, are about 4x8 inches. In the early part of the XIX
century, the tiles were called saucers and, in some cases, particularly in the XVIII