Antique French Tapestry

Panel from 19th C French Curtains

The photo above shows a detail from some absolutely superb French tapestry curtains dating from about 1870. The Chateau curtains are in wonderful condition, a tiny amount of fading and 2 small holes, so you still get the glorious and original colours, so easy to imagine these 11 ft long (that is 3.2 m to your Euro measurers!) panels hanging in a stone Chateau in somewhere like the Loire Valley! They are totally irresistible but as I already have many fantastic curtains in our house I have resisted them - but only just!

The French tapestry panels always have such interesting subjects, almost always connected with the countryside or country pursuits, surrounded by borders of foliage. They usually are loomed in wool, cotton and a little silk, sometimes linen mixed in for strength. These of course are machine made, but surprisingly there were mechanical looms from very early on in the 1800s, which made these more economic to produce than say the hand-loomed Aubusson tapestries which would take a couple of years to loom just one! That of course is why Aubusson hand-made tapestry is so sought after and expensive! And relatively rare.


These curtains will make a wonderful window dressing and I am a little envious of the person who will eventually have them!

La Dolce Vita

An Italian Village By Lake Bracciano

I now know what they mean by La Dolce Vita. The picture above is of the promontory of rock upon which a pretty little fishing village called Anguillara is built. Lake Bracciano is the large volcanic lake you can see in the photograph, and it is located about 20 miles north of Rome in the region of Lazio.

We have just been to Rome to spend a long weekend with very dear friends and I feel like I must have been there for ages, and I can only think it is the place that makes you feel that way. And what a place!

Roman history is so tangible, everywhere in and around Rome has a column, a temple, maybe a viaduct or perhaps a triumphal arch - it is unbelievable, overwhelming and incredibly mind-boggling.

Rome is so full of architecture and works of art, you would need a very many weeks to even start on seeing the highlights, without the discovery of all the delights hidden down little streets off the beaten track.

So we decided to have a day visiting Lake Bracciano to clear our heads and see the landscape and I am so glad we did, it was peaceful, beautiful and full of charm. We found a fantastic Gelateria and had the best ice cream - pistachio and custard for me! And I have to say I thought it an inspired selection! The next day in the centre of Rome we went to the famous Giolitti's where I had the classic Limone and my other scoop (you get 2) was Champagne, which was so refreshing and completely delicious - and what a shop - the choices were just amazing and imaginative, who would have thought of pine nut gelato?

La Fontana di Trevi - The Trevi Fountain - of course!

We walked around a corner from Giolitti's and I could hear a roaring noise like a waterfall and something that looked like a lump of coarse white rock. Puzzled, I followed everyone round the edge of the rock to be faced with the most fantastical man-made creation, gushing clear blue water over bright white marble, with wonderful statues and such detailed carved flora and fauna. It literally took my breath away.

I had already been saying 'Wow!! I mean really wow!' having just walked into the Pantheon, easily the most perfect Roman building and utterly incomparable, so to see the Trevi fountain just half an hour later, well. it was a memorable day. And yes, I know that there is so much more. That will be for another visit.

View from the Palatine to the Forum

Oh, and I forgot to mention the total experience that is the Forum and Palatine, practically a small city by itself spanning something like 1400 years of Roman civilisation, a representative portion of which is still standing. After a day of bombarding my brain and all my senses, I certainly needed a sit down, a delicious cappucino and a Pizza Napoli! There you are, that is La Dolce Vita.

Gorgeous Butterflies

Gorgeous Butterflies embroidered on silk 19th c

 

 

This is the most delightful work, fine, even embroidery so delicate and colourful, on a 19th c oriental panel. The colours are very good, as you would expect from silk, which holds its colour well if protected from sunlight. I imagine this came from a beautiful costume originally, and I can just picture the butterflies almost fluttering on the costume when the light picks up the luminescence of the silks.

The autumn season is now upon us, today is the official first day, so for me there is a sadness in the falling of the leaves and the gradual closing down of all the plants until the joy of seeing snowdrops and aconites again in January. I cannot say I enjoy the feeling of impending darkness, it just makes me want to migrate South! I mean Mediterranean south not Surrey!

However I just have to manage, and try to plant even more things to encourage our own beautiful aristocratic butterflies, which have been lapping up the nectar on our enormous buddleia trees up until the cold snap a few days ago...

The Emir of Bukhara had a very fine coat

The Emir of Bukhara

 

Let me introduce you to the Emir of Bukhara c. 1910 a fellow highly decorated with medals and sword, but for me, it is the beauty of his silk coat which stands out. The gorgeous peacock blue with the vibrancy of those flowers, all of which would have been hand-embroidered, are just exquisite. The quality of the work would have been of the highest order.

My son sent me a link to a series of photographs showing life in the Russian Empire during the first decade of the 1900s - with all its diversity - and the Emir was one of them, as well as the demure Armenian lady in her national costume below, again very finely embroidered. Being highly interested in history as well as textiles these two photographs really captured my imagination.

How careful people must have been with their clothing when they had to make everything by hand. These photographs are so evocative and capture something of life in the Russian Empire which seems so colourful and almost tribal, a far cry from the drab communist the Russia, of the majority of the 20th century.

Armenian Lady in National Costume c.1910

The link for those who want to see more of these excellent photographs is: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/08/russia_in_color_a_century_ago.html
- they are from the Prokudin-Gorskii collection bought by the Library of Congress (USA) in 1948 and who have made these accessible. Thank you.

Original Decorator's Label

c. 1910 Interior Decorator's Label 

This is fab! I couldn't resist putting this on the blog. We have a new website launching soon which is for original architectural pieces and this label was on the reverse of a door pediment fitted when the house was refurbished. The door pediment and various other items were marbelised - that special painted marble effect and by dint of the label we know who did it. The website is called www.original-period-interiors.co.uk coming soon!