The Philadelphia Antiques Show

A few weeks ago, I attended The Philadelphia Antiques Show, where I was one of the show's featured speakers. I was aware of the show's reputation as one of our country's premier antiques shows, but I don't think that I realized how good the event was until I spent a few hours wandering the show floor. The show was a treasure trove of Chinese Export porcelain, early American furniture, portrait paintings, scrimshaw, and textiles.

What kept going through my mind as I meandered from booth to booth was how rich our country's decorative arts tradition really is. I think that some of us (myself included) have a tendency to sometimes overlook American antiques in favor of French or British pieces.  And although both England and France have produced sublime furniture, textiles, and arts through the centuries, we shouldn't discount American decorative arts. We too have produced some truly remarkable furniture and objects.

Now that I got that off of my chest, I want to show you what I found to be the highlights of the show:

Dealer Arthur Liverant's booth was understandably a hotbed of activity.  His collection of children's chairs, which you can see in the photo at the very top, was a highlight of the show.  (This was also the booth where Arthur and I made our TV appearances on Good Day Philadelphia.  If you want to see my television debut, click here.)

A Palampore Tree of Life quilt that was made in the Northeastern U.S. in the early 19th century.  The Herrs Antiques of Lancaster, PA.

A child's Hepplewhite chair, New England, circa 1800.  Joan Brownstein, the dealer who is offering this chair, believes that the crewelwork fabric was probably taken from an earlier work.  The charming embroidered images, which include a dog on a pillow and a peacock, must have delighted the child who owned this chair.

Hyland Granby Antiques was offering a number of scrimshaw whale teeth, including this pair whose engravings depicted British maritime scenes.

This rather menacing looking piece is a c. 1780-90 clock made up of 400 blades.  Made by J Y Oliver of Cambridge, England.  This piece was featured in dealer Kelly Kinzle's booth.

I love dogs and porcelain, so this very rare famille rose hunting dog candlestick, one of a pair, naturally caught my eye.  Available through Polly Latham Asian Art.

Thanks to the San Francisco Antiques Show, I am familiar with frequent exhibitor Earle D. Vandekar, which deals mostly in porcelain, prints, and sailors' woolwork pictures.  However, this is the first time that I have seen one of their booths filled with Fornasetti plates alongside antique porcelain. I think it's an interesting combination.

This c. 1807 profile portrait of Simeon Baldwin intrigued me because of its pink background and black and gold star eglomise mat.  Christopher T. Rebollo Antiques.


P.S.- In case you think that antiques dealers aren't a fun-loving group of people, take a look at Arthur Liverant's 2014 calendar, in which he makes an appearance as Superman:

All photos are the copyright of Jennifer Boles for The Peak of Chic

Atelier d'Offard

The other day, I overheard someone declare that wallpaper is coming back. Coming back from where?  Ever since I was a child, I have loved wallpaper, and that love has yet to wane. In fact, one of my frustrations in life is that my apartment doesn't have enough rooms for me to paper. I guess that there could be worse frustrations to have.

Lucky for me, then, that a random internet search led me to the website of Atelier d'Offard, where I proceeded to spend upwards of an hour looking at all of their glorious papers. Atelier d'Offard is a French firm that is based in Tours and led by François-Xavier Richard, who is a painter, sculptor, and engraver. And, if I am comprehending the French text correctly, it seems that many of their designs are based on historic papers, while others are original designs.  One of their designs is the weird yet wonderful monkey and cotton print, which you can see above.  (I have seen plenty of cotton in my day and a few monkeys, too, but never together.)

I curated some of my favorite prints from the site, which you can see below, but if you have time to kill, do visit their website to see the entire collection.

Beth Scanlon and Scanlon Apparati

I have a real weakness for interior illustrations, so much so that I gave them their own entry in my book. Whereas most interior photographs are meant to capture a room as it actually appears, interior illustrations are prone to a bit of artistic license.  It's not that illustrations don't accurately reflect a room's appearance.  It's that they do so with flair and personality.  Depending on the illustrator's artistic style, interior renderings can be lively, moody, exuberant, and, above all, charming.  Few rooms can't benefit from being immortalized on paper.

I recently discovered the interior illustrations of the immensely talented Beth Scanlon.  Beth is the artist behind the wonderful cartonnage, decoupage, and diorama creations that are sold at Hollyhock and via her website, Scanlon Apparati.  Beth has recently branched out into interior watercolors, trying her hand at painting rooms such as the Glass Beaded Salon at Oranienbaum as well as contemporary interiors by designers like Suzanne Rheinstein and Nina Campbell.  In fact, Beth was kind enough to paint a rendering of my living room, which she based on a photograph that appeared in The New York Times.  You can see the painting above. I mustn't forget to add that Beth's watercolors are presented in elegant Italian paper-covered folders, which are handmade by Beth.  My folder was made of Italian blue marbled paper, which seems to perfectly match my blue living room.

Beth's paintings are available by commission through Hollyhock. If you wish to commission a watercolor or make inquiries, you can contact Hollyhock.  And I urge you to view Beth's work both on her website and that of Hollyhock.  If you're anything like me, you will want to place a mighty large order.

One of Beth's very first watercolors captured the Glass Beaded Salon at Oranienbaum.

You might recognize the room above; it was decorated by Suzanne Rheinstein.  Beth based her illustration on Pieter Estersohn's photograph of the room.

This illustration was based on a photograph by A. Branca.

A watercolor of a room that was decorated by Nina Campbell.

It was another room by Suzanne Rheinstein (and another photograph by Pieter Estersohn) that inspired this rendering.

This charming watercolor was inspired by a photo that Beth saw in Cote Est.  The room was photographed by Christophe Dugied.


The photo at top by Jennifer Boles for The Peak of Chic;  all other photos used with permission from Beth Scanlon.

What's Next?

I spend a lot of my morning personal grooming time (i.e., makeup and hair) thinking about design trends. By "trends" I don't mean trendy, but rather, the dominant styles of the day. And the conclusion that I have come to is that over the last decade or so, not much has really changed.

We started the 21st-century with the Hollywood Regency revival and the David Hicks/Swinging Sixties style. Within a year or so, these trends morphed into the WASP-y, colorful, Palm Beach look. After that, it was the exotic, boho-chic look of ikats, poufs, and Indian prints. And today, all of these looks remain popular to varying degrees.

What all of these looks have in common is that they have maximalist DNA: bright, saturated colors; bold, overscaled pattern; and, at times, a rather free-wheeling, decorate-with-abandon sensibility. The other shared trait among these trends? Their last bouts of popularity were in the mid-to-late 1960s and early 1970s. In a way, it is as if we are stuck in the Johnson and Nixon administrations, only with the benefit of the internet and the iPhone.

As much as I admire these aforementioned styles, I am ready for something new. It's time for a change. But of course, the big question is, what's next for design? The look to which I have gravitated for the last few years is one that was fairly prevalent during the 1970s and early 1980s. It is defined by neutral-though-rich colors (such as chocolate brown, black, and caramel, all of which look fabulous at night,) smaller-scaled pattern, glimmering accents of chrome or brass, and the pairing of elegant antiques with contemporary upholstered furniture. It's a look that I believe evolved from the fabulous chocolate brown apartment of Billy Baldwin, although Van Day Truex certainly deserves some of the credit, too.

What I like most about this look is that it makes an impression without screaming for attention. Despite the restrained color palette and small-scaled, typically two-toned prints, there is no lack of glamour, drama, dazzle, or pizzazz. And to execute this look well, one has to practice self-discipline and self-editing. I think that one of the downsides to some recent design trends is that editing and restraint have been forgotten, something that has often resulted in "anything goes"-type rooms. (I think that the designer Joseph Braswell put it best when he said, "Very often a good room is ruined by too many stories." ) Finally, it's worth noting that although all of the examples featured here were decorated by male designers, women could just as easily live in such rooms. The overall aesthetic might be masculine, but it doesn't seem overtly so to me.

Will this classic 1970s-era sensibility make a comeback? I hope so, because I do think it's a worthy successor to today's current trends. If you're like me and you're ready for a change, please let me know what you think the next big look will be.

The Manhattan apartment of Van Day Truex

Albert Hadley's living room

The Manhattan apartment of Ferris Megarity

A room designed by Kevin McNamara

The living room of Thomas A. Morrow III

The East Hampton cottage of Harry Hinson

Dining room decorated by Angelo Donghia

In the Los Angeles home of Dennis Leen

In the Sutton Place apartment of designer Joseph Braswell

In the New York townhouse of Jay Crawford and Anthony Tortora

In the apartment of designer Tom Britt