Northern light

Early 18th century German Baroque bureau cabinet, Hannover

The arched top carved with shell and female portrait, the upper part with one door enclosing several drawers, the fall front enclosing a fitted interior above graduated drawers on square tapering legs.

By repute,  this bureau was a wedding gift from Frederic, Prince of Wales to Lady Anne, 2nd Countess of Orkney and William O'Brien, 4th Earl of Inchiquin in 1720.

19th century George III style giltwood framed sofa

With a shaped back, outswept arms terminating in scrolls and a serpentine fronted seat on tapering fluted legs and spade feet.

Swedish 18th century Rococo gilt mirror
 

All that is missing is the right client with the right house.

Now playing: ABBA - Voulez-Vous

Cafe society

 The Angus McBean photograph that was flashed on the screen of the Academy Cinema to  promote the adjoining Pavilion Cafe

 

The Lost Pavilion

The Pavilion Restaurant in Oxford Street designed by Angus McBean in 1951.
As it appeared in the May, 1988 issue of The World of Interiors.

Now playing: Jean Michel Jarre - Touch To Remember

One picture...

two words,

Martha Graham

Now playing: Bryan Ferry - Don't Stop The Dance (Special Extended Remix)

East meets west

 

Chinese 19th Century figure transformed by an ormolu lamp mount.

Now playing: Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls

Meanwhile...

back at Fonthill,

 

Fonthill Abbey: the Grand Drawing Room

Stedman Whitwell Architect del.; engraved by John Cleghorn.
Plate 5

magnificent in dimensions and decorations ... The ceiling beams are carried at their ends by carved and gilt corbels, and the hangings are of garter-blue silk damask, embellished with gold mouldings. The burnished gilt chairs are covered with the same. In the centre of the room, upon a carpet of extraordinary costliness, stands a table of Egyptian marble, the largest slab of the kind in Europe. (pp. 30-31).

Interior of King Edward's Gallery Looking across the Octagon into St. Michael's Gallery Drawn by C. F. Porden; etched by John Cleghorn engraved by Robt. Havell & Son, Chapel Str. Fitzroy Squ. Plate 6 a magnificent apartment, embellished with a masterly and unsparing hand, superbly furnished, the ceiling covered with carving, and the walls nearly concealed by the ample and duplicated curtains of deep blue and scarlet. This gallery has been designed for the purpose of commemorating the names of those individuals of Mr. Beckford's ancestry, who have been honoured with the illustrious knighthood of the garter. The number and rank of these persons, their historical and chivalrous fame, would add lustre to any genealogy. Edward the Third, the founder of the order, and after whom this Gallery is named, occupies the place of honour, over the alabaster chimney piece, in the centre of the apartment: the portraits of six royal and most distinguished knights are placed three on each side; their arms and badges being emblazoned in stained glass on the opposite windows. In the frieze of the cornice, which surrounds the room, seventy-two gartered shields contribute to give this part of the decoration an appropriate and unusual richness. The lofty windows to the west admit a strong influx of light, which, when the scarlet curtains are drawn, sheds a general and magical tint over every part ... (pp. 33-34).

 

 Fonthill Abbey: Specimens of the Ceilings: 

1. St Michael's Gallery 

2. Yellow Withdrawing Room

3. Grand Saloon

4. The Sanctuary

5. The Gothic Cabinet

6. King Edward's Gallery

7,8,9,10,11,12. Bosses.

Drawn by J. Rutter; engraved by J. Cleghorn.
Plate 10

 

John Rutter: Delineations of Fonthill and its Abbey

Published June 2nd 1823, London

Now playing:  Yo-Yo Ma - Elgar Cello Concerto, 1st mvmt

Meet my little friend

Mike Diaz 

Impresario of Latin American chic.

Formerly of Mexico City's Chic By Accident, now with Arizona's Holler and Saunders, Ltd.

Now playing: Cheo Feliciano - Sali Porque Sali

Of most excellent fancy

Danish modern.

Classically  inspired and timeless.


The lampshade being the only thing that one would change.

Now playing: Beck - It's All In Your Mind

Who knows?

The ombré knows.

Now playing: Cher - You Haven't Seen The Last Of Me   
Throwing Shade by Abe Vigoda could have been the perfect song. If only those children had the pipes.

She was loved...

A little something created (with a lot of help from a jeweler friend) for a client. 

Redolent with meaning. As it should be.

Now playing: Linda Clifford - Don't Give It Up

Two words:

John Lobb

It's a way of being.

Only great minds can afford a simple style. - Stendhal

  Now playing: Inner City - Good Life

Egyptian revival

Always Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign, never The Mummy's Curse.

A mid 19th Century French ormolu-mounted mahogany, ebony and ebonised bureau-plat 

by J. Muller of Paris

 

An ormolu-mounted, ivory and ebony inlaid mahogany and fruitwood console

Late 19th/ early 20th Century

Egyptian Avenue, Highgate Cemetary

London

 Egyptian Halls, Glasgow

by architect Alexander Greek Thomson

Now playing: The Bangles - Walk Like An Egyptian