carltonhobbs's posterous

One Fish, Two Fish

This table belongs to the tradition of furniture constructed to feature earlier elements made of important stone specimens. owever, the present table is unusual among examples of this practice, in looking farther back than most by constructing, in the early 19th-century, a base to display a  top made from a fragment of an ancient Roman floor mosaic. Mosaic as a decorative art has its roots in 5th-century BC Greece, where it first appears in the form of pebbled pavement. By the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC, the form of mosaic using purpose-made marble or limestone tesserae (small, cubic tiles) was developed, and spread throughout the Roman Empire in the following centuries. “The majority of mosaics are found in domestic contexts, and belong to the realm of the private and quotidian...they can be seen as reflections and conveyors of the social preoccupations and interests of their owners.” Like all subsequent eras in history, Roman art followed a social hierarchy: the more elite a Roman household was, the more elaborate and personalized their mosaic decor would be.

One particularly notable ancient Roman dwelling is the Casa Rural das Ruínas (the Country House of the Ruins) a farm and villa at Milreu, Portugal (ancient Lusitania). It was built and expanded between the 1st and 4th centuries AD. The ruins feature “an excellent water supply network, heated rooms and thermal springs and baths...where it is still possible to see brightly colored tile decorations of marine life. The fish were depicted here as being exaggeratedly fat, with the deliberate aim of creating the optical illusion of their real dimension and movement when seen through the water.”

The fish mosaics in the Milreu frigidarium and nymphaeum (water sanctuary) are closely related in design to the present tabletop. In both cases a very similar species of fish is represented, sharing analogous features such as the shape of fins, stripe along the back of the fish, a red gill, and down-turned mouth. A further similitude is the use of distinctive geometric shapes and patterns in both the present top and the Milreu ruins. These include depictions of mollusk-like creatures, and one particular shape, yet to be identified, which is comprised of a series of stacked lines terminating in a forked tail, possibly representing water movement or jellyfish. 

The bold and powerful table base is a particularly suitable vehicle to support the ancient top, as it is of the X-form shape much favored by the Romans and Greeks for use in seating as well as tables.

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NATIONAL ANTIQUES WEEK GOING FORWARD

We just came across this interesting update on the UK's first National Antiques Week, which commenced in 2009.

http://www.antiquesnews.co.uk writes:
 
NATIONAL ANTIQUES WEEK GOING FORWARD

Following a very successful first year for the week long event, the date for future National Antiques Week events going forward will be fixed for the first Monday of December, so 2010 will be Monday 6 to Sunday 12 December inclusive.

One of the many positives to come out of this first event was the forming of the group consisting of Sarah Percy Davis, Chief Executive of LAPADA, Mark Bridge, editor of the Antiques Trade Gazette, Natasha Goodfellow, deputy editor of BBC Homes & Antiques magazine, Nigel Worboys of www.antiquesaregreen.org and Iain Brunt of www.antiques.co.uk who together with Gail McLeod editor of Antiquesnews will meet three times a year to discuss not only National Antiques Week but other projects and events of interest with the aim of collaborating, using their combined media might and influence for the benefit of the trade. The committee will increase in scope in 2010 when Clive Stewart-Lockhart, chairman of SOFAA (Society of Fine Art Auctioneers) will join the team.


We will be sure to follow this new initiative and do all we can in support.

From Reefs to Decorative Arts

According to the Ancient Greeks, after Perseus cut off Medusa’s head, he wished to cleanse himself of the act by bathing in the sea. He placed the head on a bed of seaweed, which upon contact was petrified and turned red. Thus is the myth of the origin of coral described.

Coral has been widely integrated into decorative objects since Antiquity, with rose-colored coral being the most highly prized. The red skeletons of these marine organisms were viewed as having protective and medicinal qualities, and were incorporated into amulets, jewelry and textiles. The Romans believed it could detect poisons and diagnose illnesses by changing color, and used it as a talisman for their children. Necklaces of coral were worn by adults and children into the 19th century as a means of protection against the evil eye, natural disasters and other dangers, and was believed to lose its hue as the wearers welfare declined. Coral was also thought to have to ability of detecting poison in food and was therefore used in the handles of cutlery. For this same reason, credenzas were also often mounted with a branch of coral.

In the Renaissance, the Italian towns of Genoa and Trapani became the largest coral production centers and helped to popularize the material through carving. In the 17th century, coral was adopted as a prized material for inlay in jewelry and ecclesiastical and household objects. In a Jacques Linard still life circa 1640, he places a vibrant red coral specimen in the center of the canvas.

Coral continued to be used into the early 20th century. A photo below shows the cutting and polishing of coral in a Trapani workshop circa 1906. It also figured predominantly as a gemstone in jewelry and other objet d’art, particularly during the Art Deco period. A pair of mirrors, circa 1940s, features coral as its main decorative element. Furniture designers in the 1930s and 40s were using materials that were more plain and natural than the previous Art Nouveau movement, but that were nevertheless luxurious, such as rare inlaid woods, straw marquetry, and shagreen. In the present mirrors, small fragments of coral cover the frames and surround meandering bead and glass designs. They serve as fine examples of how a raw materials were used to create new and unusual designs that still maintained an element of restraint and tradition.

In the the Carlton Hobbs collection we have a George IV ebonized center table circa 1825, inlaid with specimen hardstone and marble insets. Interestingly, eight of these circular insets are made of are made up of coral fragments and are placed prominantly around the center. They are the only composite materials amongst the hardstones and their inclusion on the table confirms the percieved position of coral as a precious gem.



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Foray into 1st Dibs

We are about to have our first 1stdibs photo shoot today and thought we should share some information, new to us, which we found about this great resource:

About 1stdibs.com:
1stdibs.com founded in 2001 is the world’s leading on-line resource for antiques, 20th century design, fine and estate jewelry, and vintage couture and designer fashion, representing over 700 dealers in 21 of the largest U.S. markets plus Paris, London, Toronto and Montreal, and has over a half billion dollars of inventory flowing through its system each year. All items can be searched by location and purchased directly from the dealer. As stated on HarvardBusiness.org, “1stdibs has now become the leading source to search for antiques and mid-modern furniture outpacing both traditional auction houses, Sotheby’s and Christies, and offering a higher quality experience than e-bay.”

And here is Inspirational Article on How 1stDibs came about:
http://www.1stdibs.com/articles/dibs_on_that/dibs_march_08/index.php

Check back to see our completed online storefront!

The World In Vogue Book Party at Carlton Hobbs

We would like to thank Stephanie LaCava for her kind words in her write up of the Hamish Bowles book launch, hosted by Carlton Hobbs last Thursday, December 17th. 

"How fitting that a 1930s mansion built in the Neoclassical French style by Virginia “Birdie” Graham Fair Vanderbilt would be the setting for last night’s celebration of The World in Vogue: People, Parties, Places (Knopf). Designed by John Russell Pope, the five-story space has undergone many incarnations—onetime resident Thelma Chrysler Foy held countless parties there—before becoming the antiques gallery of Carlton Hobbs, the host of the festivities. Shirin von Wulffen and Frédéric Fekkai were among the guests who entered through the eleven-foot solid-oak doors to pass by a blow-up of a Cecil Beaton photo of the late Eugenie Niarchos leading the way to the room where Hamish Bowles and Alexandra Kotur were signing books atop an early-nineteenth-century boulle marquetry table. It was difficult to figure out where to rest your eye: Deeda Blair descending the grand staircase? Marisa Berenson alongside daughter Starlite Randall? Susan Fales-Hill with an armful of golden snake bracelets? Throughout the party, you could spot ladies whom you would also find within the volume’s pages (for example, Berenson and Eliza Reed Bolen), all adding to the enchanted evening."

—Stephanie LaCava

Pastedgraphic

Vogue Book Party

Pastedgraphic


Last night we had the pleasure of hosting the New York book launch of Hamish Bowles and Alexandra Kotur's new publication, The World In Vogue: People, Parties, Places, where around 200 people filled the gallery over the course of the evening to mix, mingle and be merry. The book comprises almost 400 pages of glamorous photographs and anecdotes; the photographers and contributers have certainly compiled a feast for the eyes! 

We were thrilled that so many people, including New York's leading interior designers, editors and a number of the glamorous subjects of The World in Vogue, braved the chilly New York night to stop by !

(Photo courtesy of newyorksocialdiary.com)

1st Dibs and LA Antiques Show

We are looking forward to two new items added to our list of things to do:

We signed up for 1st Dibs at last and, having heard so many god things about it, we don't understand what took us so long! Photography is already arranged and we can't wait to learn how the system works. http://www.1stdibs.com/index.php .

We also just committed to exhibit at the LA Antiques Show April 22 - 26 2010.  http://www.psartsantiques.com/exhibitors.html We think we will be focusing on some special 20th century pieces from our collection. Hope to see you there - Should be fun!

Exotic Hunt in Verre Églomisé

This unusual mirror in the Carlton Hobbs collection once hung in The Star Inn, a Victorian public house located at 2 Quarry Street, Guildford, Surrey. According to Matthew Alexander, former curator of the Guildford Museum: “[The mirror hung] on the south wall of the Court Room at The Star, above the fireplace. The Court Room is a large function room at the rear of the premises, built in the 1840s. It took its name as the meeting room of the ‘Guildford Castle Court’ of the Ancient Order of Foresters, founded there in 1858 (the treasurer was the pub’s landlord, Jesse Boxall)…the name has led many in later years to speculate that it was used for a legal court – it never was.” The Pilgrim Morris Men of Guildford were kind enough to dig around their archives for us, and found a photo of one of their members standing in front of the mirror when it stood in The Star Inn.

The mirror is decorated using a technique called verre églomisé, also called ‘reverse glass painting’ or ‘back painting.’ Glass is ornamented on its underside, either by painting or gilding, and then covered by another layer of glass, varnish, or mirror plate. The technique dates to ancient Roman times, but was made popular in England through trade with the China in the 18th century. Until the technique of glass-making was improved in the East, plain glass needed to be sent from England to China and then exported back once decorated. The present mirror, however, is an interesting and later exercise in the technique completed entirely by English hands.

The scene depicted on the mirror involves an elephant driven by a mahout and carrying a Western hunter, presumably through the jungles of India, in the howdah on its back. A howdah is a carriage-like compartment strapped to the back of an elephant and was used in the 19th and early 20th centuries as a firing platform in hunting, or as a mode of transportation to carry the wealthy during British Colonial rule (Below, a photograph circa 1911 shows King George V riding in a howdah on a hunting excursion in Nepal). The hunter here is aiming his rifle at a leopard that has attacked and is clinging to the rear of the elephant. Several publications of the period illustrate similar scenarios as that depicted on the present mirror, and express the danger of tigers and other prey attacking hunting parties. These British hunting expeditions in colonial India were a spectacle in Victorian and early Edwardian England England, contemporaneous both with the painting of the mirror and the outfitting of The Star.

Thankfully, humane organizations, such as PETA, are working hard to outlaw many of the similarly cruel “sports” that are still carried on today.

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Just Horsing Around!

Have we got something for the world of wonders and the cabinets of curiosities! Standing at approximately six feet tall, this life-sized anatomical model of a horse by Dr. Louis Auzuox is a marvel in papier-mâché.

Auzoux was the most celebrated anatomical model maker of the nineteenth century. While studying medicine, he became interested in models as a readily accessible and economical way to observe anatomy. By 1822 he had perfected a paper paste that was flexible enough to mold into shape but which hardened into a solid, light, unbreakable material. The papier mâché allowed a high degree of detail and careful labeling, and had the advantage, unlike wax models, of being able to be taken apart and reassembled.

Auzoux’s most frequent subject was the human body, but more unusual are Auzoux’s models of animals. Several texts refer to ‘a six-foot horse’, and Auzoux is known to have exhibited a model of a horse in the Académie de Médicine, Paris in 1844. Veterinary schools used Auzoux's models in their lecture, as seen in the photo below, circa 1900. The present piece is one of only three large papier maché horses known to exist. 

Auzoux’s models were in great demand throughout the nineteenth century. Expansion of the universities across Europe and America, coupled with laws prohibiting grave-robbing in the US, England and Russia, meant that tutors became increasingly reliant on accurate and durable models. As such, these models provided an invaluable aid to the advancement of medical science, although sadly very few of them are known to have survived. 


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