Avec plaisir

A George III mahogany dressing mirror - the moulded rectangular swing arm mirror with gilt lining, raised on serpentine moulded uprights with brass acorn finials, over a pierced fretwork panel, the moulded rectangular top over three frieze drawers, raised on ogee bracket feet.


Goodbye aching regret, hello gorgeous. And, you will actually work much better with the chair.




A mahogany elbow chair, c.1760, the arched back carved with flowerheads, leaves and husks over a pierced waisted splat worked as an anthemion and scrolls. The moulded and scrolled arms carved with acanthus leaves on scrolled supports. The over-stuff seat on shell carved and moulded front legs.



Now playing: Rick Astley - Together Forever

Je regrette

An early 18th century walnut dressing table mirror with shaped cross grain moulded border and gilded leaf work edging above a stepped shaped base of three short and one long drawer; on ball feet


Should not have let you go. If only you had come up after the inlaid table you were meant to sit upon. Then it would have been a fait accompli instead of this nagging regret.



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Now playing: John Waite - Missing You

Hello old friend

Chinese Export Lacquerware Game Board Table, early 19th century, the rectangular top containing a game board and well for backgammon, above three short drawers containing carved chessmen, turned post on shaped platform and hairy paw feet, (imperfections), ht. 31, wd. 24, dp. 20 in.





You have been missed.

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What the flock?

London antiques dealer Christopher Jones stopped (or quite possibly stooped) by yesterday leaving a comment on an old post, Swirls and Twirls. Which in turn led to my discovery of his line Plush; one of the best contemporary ranges I have seen in a very long time.



Neo-Classical Chair



Vintage Boots
Pair of 1930's riding boots with trees.



Kent Mirror



The full range of colours available for stock or commissioned pieces.

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To sleep, perchance to dream

A painted and faux bamboo tester bed by Syrie Maugham, circa 1930, supplied by Francis Elkins.

The pierced shaped canopy over a fabric frieze, on ribbon-bound faux bamboo footposts and with fabric-draped headboard.




A late 17th century style four poster bed covered in green damask, once the property of Syrie Maugham and Cecil Beaton.

From Sybil Colefax & John Fowler Antiques



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The last relic of a beloved race

Gothic revival oak cabinet bookcase, circa 1880, the pair of glazed doors with stylised arch and trefoil applied detail, enclosing adjustable shelves, the lower section with a pair of doors and a pair of cupboard doors, flanked by engaged columns on a plinth base.



Nothing contributes so much to tranquilise the mind as a steady purpose - a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley




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More tales from the road

Taken from The Times January 22, 2010
Article by Huon Mallalieu

Development threatens Portobello Road antiques trade


(Marco Secchi / Getty Images)

A Portobello Road dealer sets out his wares. The area's long-established antiques trade is under threat from chain stores and stalls selling cheap souvenirs



Since the early 1960s Portobello Road has been a magnet for tourists from around the world, as well as for serious collectors and buyers of antiques. On tourist brochures the Saturday market symbolises London, alongside St Paul’s, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, and its existence has helped to bring the prosperity that has regenerated Notting Hill. Now, it seems, it may become a victim of that success, lose the individuality that made it and be taken over as yet another chain shopping street.

In 2007 the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea published A Balance of Trade, the report of its Commission on Retail Conservation, which was chaired by, Councillor Tim Ahern, then the mayor, and numbered Sir Terence Conran among its members. A good deal of that widely welcomed document dealt with Portobello Road and its world-famous antiques street market. Among its conclusions, the majority of which were approved by the council, was this statement:

“Specific functions in specific settings can be protected. We think this is now required for the antiques arcades on Portobello Road.” The market, said the council, must not be “overrun by identikit multiples”.

Portobello Market, with its mix of antiques, fruit and vegetables, bric-a-brac and vintage fashion, ranks No 5 among London’s tourist attractions, and an average of 60,000 people frequent it each Saturday. Since the beginning of the 1960s the antiques stretch has been characterised by a mixture of shops, street and pavement stalls and arcades, some of them housing up to 200 or more dealers. The antiques section is quiet in the week, but the food stalls are still there, and as the neighbourhood has been regenerated, so property values have risen.

For some years developers have been on the prowl, with Guernseyregistered UK Investments, and Warren Todd’s Portobello Investments and Westbourne Arcades buying up properties in the area. Several small arcades have already gone or changed nature. Now, without a nod to A Balance of Trade, more than 150 dealers have been ejected from Lipka’s Arcade, a prime site on the corner of Westbourne Grove, which has been unveiled as a branch of the AllSaints clothing chain.

When the dealers vacated the twostorey and basement arcade last summer, they were assured that they would be able to return to a refurbished basement, with new retail space at ground level and flats above. However, when the hoarding came down, AllSaints was found to be in occupation of the basement as well as the ground floor. The flats were there, with a mansard extension which appears to breach planning regulations, as does the replacement of six shopfronts on Westbourne Grove and four on Portobello with sheet glass.

As the council has written to Costas Kleanthous, the chairman of the Portobello Antique Dealers’ Association, planning consent was neither requested nor granted, but it is merely

“investigating” the matter, while Councillor Ahern says that the council cannot intervene as there has been no change of use — the site is still retail.

As Portobello Investments has bought up properties in the antiques section, and UK Investments in the food section stretch beyond Elgin Crescent, vendors of Third World tourist goods, such as Chinese handbags, T-shirts and the like, have been encouraged to take stalls in front of arcades and shops, which inevitably gives passers-by the impression that similar wares are on sale within. This has resulted in an exodus of traditional dealers. In smaller arcades, such as World Famous, antiques have been replaced entirely by tourist wares, on sale all week. Feelings are running high, and violent incidents between traders and arcade managers have already been reported. As Marion Delehar, whose family has been in the trade for a century and had a shop on the road for 50 years, says: “Incandescent doesn’t begin to describe our feelings.”

Another textile dealer says: “Lipka’s was the stomach of the market. We are left with the head and toes. Red Lion, Harris’s, Admiral Vernon and Rogers are still there — but for how much longer? Without them the market will be finished.”

Precedents are not good. London councils have rarely supported their markets. In the 1970s Southwark tried to do away with the Friday morning Caledonian in Bermondsey, a favourite with the antiques trade, and after recent redevelopment regulars describe it as a travesty of its former self. Camden Passage has largely fallen to developers, despite words of support from Islington. Despite requests and assurances the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea has not provided the necessary lavatories and rubbish bins for Portobello, even though rates as well as rents have increased.

Undoubtedly there is profit to be made in changing the nature of Portobello, but given the proximity of the Westfield shopping mall on one side, and Whiteley’s shopping centre on the other, Costas Kleanthous, the Friends of Portobello Road and the market’s many other supporters doubt that the road would have a longer-term future as a street of chain shops like any other high street.





Afrika Bambaataa/John Lydon - World Destruction

Hello...

Tall, dark and handsome.






Lot # 55

SECRETARY DESK- 18th c. Country Chippendale Secretary Desk with simple molded top over two raised panel doors and three fixed shelf interior set on slant front base, simple pine nested interior over four graduating drawers on shaped bracket base, old black painted exterior. 84 1/2" high, 36" wide, 19 1/2" deep, good condition.



Sophie Tucker - He's Tall, and Dark, and Handsome

Le Dix

A CHARLES X ELM AND AMARANTH CARTONNIER
CIRCA 1825

With two columns of seven gilt-tooled red leather boxes numbered 1-14, with side locking flaps, on bun feet, with paper label inscribed '1101', inscribed to the back





A CHARLES X BIRD'S-EYE MAPLE BUREAU PLAT
CIRCA 1825-35

Line-inlaid, with gilt-tooled red leather writing surface, the shaped kneehole with drawer flanked by two drawers to left and a deep drawer simulated as two drawers to right with coffre-fort, with a slide to each end, on scroll legs joined by stretchers






A CHARLES X BIRD'S-EYE MAPLE AND MARQUETRY FAUTEUIL DE BUREAU
CIRCA 1825-30

With scrolled back and large scroll arms on lotus-leaf headed scroll legs, upholstered in black patterned horsehair, with pencil inscription; together with a side chair with ladder back and green cotton upholstered drop-in seat, with pencil inscription 'Martin' and branded '8'


Christie's Sale 7746



Le autre Le Dix





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So beautiful

Yet so impossibly out of sync with current fashion.



LOT NUMBER 1219


Rare Pair of German Mannerist Revival Sterling Silver and Shell Cameo Table Lamps, first quarter 20th century, by Ludwig Neresheimer & Co., Hanau, with London import marks of 1911-1912, sponsored by Neresheimer's British agent, Berthold Mueller, each with a lobed base and silver figural standard, one depicting "Diana and Her Hounds", the other "Neptune in His Hippocampi-Drawn Chariot", each fitted with a full conch shell, illuminated from the rear and cameo-cut with a scene from Ovid's Metamorphoses, respectively, "Diana Releasing the Calydonian Boar" and "The Seduction of Europa", h. 16", dia. 6-1/2".





LOT NUMBER 1194


Fine, Large and Rare Louis XIV Verdure Tapestry, fourth quarter 17th century, depicting "The Awakening of Eros", the borders of flowers, foliage and ripe pomegranates, with a peacock at the upper left corner and a dove at the right, the basal corners each with a seated attentive puppy, the palette in cobalt blue, ecru, ivory and green, the reverse properly backed with a later linen support, h. 105", w. 98".


New Orleans Auction Galleries, Inc.
October 10-11, 2009


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In no need of chintz to distract the eye

A Diego Giacometti table sits comfortably with Georgian pieces.



In a guest room, a pair of chairs from the Edward James sale in their original Severini fabric.


The house which was used for What's wrong in this picture? appeared in the June issue of The World of Interiors. In fact it is Woolbeding House, a restored pile dating from the 1720s in West Sussex, home to the late cultural benefactor, Simon Sainsbury.

I was so taken with the individual pieces (and there are some incredible pieces ranging from Chippendale to Giacometti) I failed to take in the whole. The comments left by Mamacita and Hello Gorgeous gave me pause for thought. It never occurred to me that the room itself would not be well received. After all, it does have that typically English country house look which is usually so popular.

In spite of its fine architecture, it is not a pretty house or rather it has not been prettily done. Though, it does appear comfortable and inviting; which, from a cultural perspective especially, has always taken precedence. There is, however, an uncommon sense of connoisseurship in the understated English Georgian furniture and British pictures that is atypical of the English country house look.


Simon Sainsbury built the collection to furnish and complement Woolbeding House, which was leased from the National Trust. It was this and his personal taste that formed the nature of the collection.


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Magnificent

Lot 388

The Pelham Water Buffalo

An Exceptional Chinese Imperial Spinach-Green Jade Water Buffalo with a Fine Gilt Bronze Stand.
Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period 1736-95, 20.8cm long.

Description

The recumbent beast with a serene mildly inquisitive expression, carved from a massive spinach-green boulder; is depicted with his head turned and raised to the right, his facial features with flaring nostrils and alert eyes, framed by horns curling back to his spine, the trumpet-shaped ears and horns finely incised with lines depicting the fur, his dewlap beneath the neck naturalistically carved flowing down to the base, the form of the body accentuated by the superbly defined spine extending to the tail that curls above his hind leg, all four hooves boldly carved on the underside. The gilt bronze base incised with flowers and foliage to the surface above a key fret band bearing a four character Qianlong mark. A narrow band of scrolling flowers and foliage dividing elaborated stylized lappets and with a second key fret band at the foot.

For the full provenance visit the Woolley & Wallis catalogue.


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World view

World map from the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Abraham Ortelius.




Typus Orbis Terrarum, twelve 19th century hand painted large ceramic glazed tiles after Abraham Ortelius. Each tile measures 25cm X 25cm.


Abraham Ortelius (1527 – 1598), the Flemish cartographer and geographer, is generally recognised as the creator of the first modern atlas.


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Surround

Early 20th Century fireplace tiles.


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Bit on the side

A Japanese lacquer table with gilt designs over the black ground. Asymmetrical compartments below, two with double doors and decoration to the interior.

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In the round

A large Regency giltwood convex mirror with an ebonised reeded border surrounded by moulded sides studded with gilt balls. The winged eagle surmount holding a double tassel chain in its beak and standing upon a fluted pedestal.




Victorian carved ebonised salon chair with turned and fluted supports - the raised upholstered seat and back re-covered in Lee Jofa's Althea glazed cotton.




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Terribly grand

A pair of impressive 19th Century Portuguese mahogany console tables with serpentine shaped and figured marble tops, circa 1840. The ebonised mahogany triform bases, carved with boldly scrolling knops flanking bulbous sides carved with floral crested centres, terminating on twin voluted scrolls.


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Either...

She was loved, or he was guilty. More than likely a combination of the two.

A Victorian sapphire and diamond brooch. The principle oval shaped sapphire is set within a surround of cushion shaped diamonds in silver and gold. With a diamond and sapphire set foliate scroll mount and suspending five graduated sapphire and diamond clusters.


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Egg hunt

Fabergé Nephrite Easter Egg
Two hollow egg halves in Siberian green jade about 14cm long with four feet in red gold in the shape of apple tree branches. The petals of the white apple flowers are in enamel with their center formed by diamonds on a pink background. (Collection A.P.Goop, Lichtenstein)

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Shell collecting

Creamware centrepiece or grand platt menage, of two graduated tiers of five shell dishes supported by dolphins surmounted by the seated figure of Ceres (Roman goddess of plenty), on rustic moulded spreading foot, c1785.


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