For my subscribers; it will perhaps no surprise that I LOVE “whimsy, fun, fantasy and Chinoiserie (which combines them all)!
Here is the story of the “Screens”! As I said in the title……I find it completely uncanny!!
Three 4 panel Chinoiserie screens that I adore……..by the same artist…….1 in NYC at auction 1996; one in Los Angeles on Melrose; Perhaps 2006!!!
and one in the most divine townhouse in all
of New york City…….(just my opinion…..and many others!!!)2013!
I believe all the same artist!
I am blessed with a photographic memory. Unfortunately (I am not complaining……it has MADE my career!!)
It did not come with a labeling system I also cannot draw (even a cat!) so there is no way to “show it” However…….something
like this happens every now and then!!!
FUN!!! (recently in short supply) FUN!!!
The first time I saw one of these fantastical French Chinoiserie screens was when I went to the auction of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1996.
In Manhattan………
I LOVED IT! I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT! I wanted this screen!
Of course, like most of the things in the auction; the price soared above the estimate!
I scanned this photograph from the catalogue; so it isn’t very clear!
However, I was captivated by the whimsy of the garlands and baskets of flowers; and the Chinese people with
their whimsical pointy hats! I also love the colors, the pagodas and the stairs!
The rendition of the water……..was just charming!
The whole thing stuck in my head!
A few years after I saw this one; I found this next one in an antique store!!
In Los Angeles! So I bought it! LORDY!!!
The same little people in the pointy hats! Such similar trees, composition, and whimsical feeling!
I find it completely and utterly charming!!
I believe it is the same artist!!
Here it is in my daughter’s hallway to her dining room (which is papered in Gracie hand-painted Chinese wallpaper)!
“(See my post on “Radisha…he painted the pelmets in the dining room; and the wall where we ran out of wallpaper!)
We kinda copied a picture in the Colefax and Fowler book!
(well…..not kinda…….we DID copy the idea of it not exactly at all……same idea!!)
They ran out of wallpaper, too!
( The book Colefax and Fowler by Chester Jones page 140.) I will do another post about Chinese wallpaper and show!)
It looks like the same artist could have done it! The pagodas, the cypress trees, and the colors I was so surprised!!
The pointy hats and sweet Chinese faces the dead giveaway !
Good Grief! What are the chances of this????
The next time; Good Grief!!
Just recently in the November 2013 World of Interiors, there was an article about the DIVINE townhouse in New York City
built by Bunny Mellon and her husband Paul Mellon which is now on the market!
It was sold to the present owners in 2005!
Seriously, this HAS to be the same artist !!! The people are identical, the palm trees and the cypress trees; the same whimsical
landscapes with the funny ground with grasses and rocks, the colors are identical!
In the World of Interiors article is says “the eighteenth century printed paper screen is the mate to one formerly owned by Jackie Kennedy”!
Well; there is at least one more mate!
This is a part of “decorating” that I find completely fascinating!!!
Aren’t they all completely delicious? Aren’t they so much Fun?
(My prescription for the New Year!!??!! MORE FUN! IN EVERY WAY! FUN!!!
And, isn’t it amazing????
AND NOW!
AFTER I PUBLISHED THE POST, HERE IS ANOTHER SENT BY FRIENDS
AND ARTISTS Doug and Lena at Zoe Designs!
Lena was asked to paint a panel for the Wenham design house using this as a guide! The bows
in the top corners are identical to the last screen in my post…the palm trees; the pagodas.
THE PLOT THICKENS!
32 Responses
In a previous life you commissioned the screens.
They were each painted for YOU.
After several Shirley McClain iterations of your life thru the centuries, or was it Virginia Woolf’s Orlando , you have caught up with your screens again.
Jackie just got lucky.
Would look great in my Conservatory, especially.
Or in the house !
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
Tara!!! Hilarious!! I burst out laughing!!! I also find them enchanting!! Perhaps one of my smart readers might find another one!!!
Please report! Tara needs one!!!
While I regret that I cannot identify the artist, I do agree that all three screens are quite fabulous. Best wishes for a lot more fun this holiday season.
Serendipity at its most charming! The stars aligned so that you could share the story whose end has yet to be discovered. Now that you have put it out in the universe, the rest will be revealed. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Alison!
and thank you for replying! Serendipity is just the right word! Thank you!!!
Penny those are fabulous!! I NEED one too!!
I agree, much fun, fun, fun for 2014!
xoxo
Nope, I do not own one of your lovely screens but I can keep an eye out when I am out on patrol.
I agree that is totally FUN FUN FUN……….a good prescription for the NEW YEAR……….in every way!
I cannot think of a funner( is that a word?)person then YOU MADAME P.KEEP IT UP cannot wait to see what you find in 2014!
Perhaps a red TAFETA OPERA COAT!!!!!
HAPPY HAPPY HOLIDAYS…….and to loads of fun………..to everything being DELICIOUS!
I adore that word and Madame DV uses it A LOT!
XOXOXO
I find LA CONTESSA very similar to Diana Vreeland! (I sent La Contessa the book compiled by Diana Vreeland’s grandson “MEMOS”; because La Contessa sounds so much like Diana Vreeland!)
I suggest everyone buy it! It is FUN; it is “delicious” and it makes one look at the world in an entirely different way!
Through the eyes of a genius!
Just my opinion!!
P
ps “funner” is now a word! I will alert the “merriam webster dictionary”!!!
Nope, I do not own one of your lovely screens but I can keep an eye out when I am out on patrol.
I agree that is totally FUN FUN FUN……….a good prescription for the NEW YEAR……….in every way!
I cannot think of a funner( is that a word?)person then YOU MADAME P.KEEP IT UP cannot wait to see what you find in 2014!
Perhaps a red TAFETA OPERA COAT!!!!!
HAPPY HAPPY HOLIDAYS…….and to loads of fun………..to everything being DELICIOUS!
I adore that word and Madame DV uses it A LOT!
XOXOXO
I find LA CONTESSA very similar to Diana Vreeland! (I sent La Contessa the book compiled by Diana Vreeland’s grandson “MEMOS”; because La Contessa sounds so much like Diana Vreeland!)
I suggest everyone buy it! It is FUN; it is “delicious” and it makes one look at the world in an entirely different way!
Through the eyes of a genius!
Just my opinion!!
P
ps “funner” is now a word! I will alert the “merriam webster dictionary”!!!
Penelope…I feel there is a surprise or two coming based on this post. Your questions will be revealed in the most uncanny way. Just my suspicions. You obviously have a great eye, having scooped the screen up when you did. Never let it go! It is beautiful…
Sending you best wishes for a wonderful holiday Penelope!
Jeanne xx
Well, Jeanne, already there is one! I am going to post the photograph of my friend Lena’screen she was asked to copy! It seems like the same artist! I have a feeling there may be more surprises coming, also!!
Penelope…I feel there is a surprise or two coming based on this post. Your questions will be revealed in the most uncanny way. Just my suspicions. You obviously have a great eye, having scooped the screen up when you did. Never let it go! It is beautiful…
Sending you best wishes for a wonderful holiday Penelope!
Jeanne xx
WONDERFUL, you know we love chinoiserie and these are beautiful examples. Lena was commissioned to paint a panel for the 2010 Wenham Museum Designer Show House for Honey Collins Design. She gave us photographs of a screen that has many of the same elements, I wish I could attach photos to this reply, I’ll send them in an email. You can see Lena’s screen at:
http://zoe-design.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-on-chinoiserie.html
and as you know, Penny, we have gicleé prints available of most of Lena’s chinoiserie paintings.
Tara, thank you for giving us a good laugh!
Oh WOW!!! For sure the same artist!? Even the scalloped border! I will post the photographs of the screen she was asked to copy and add them to the blogpost! I find this quite amazing! (for new readers, Zoe Designs has been working for me for twenty-five years or more!!)
WONDERFUL, you know we love chinoiserie and these are beautiful examples. Lena was commissioned to paint a panel for the 2010 Wenham Museum Designer Show House for Honey Collins Design. She gave us photographs of a screen that has many of the same elements, I wish I could attach photos to this reply, I’ll send them in an email. You can see Lena’s screen at:
http://zoe-design.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-on-chinoiserie.html
and as you know, Penny, we have gicleé prints available of most of Lena’s chinoiserie paintings.
Tara, thank you for giving us a good laugh!
Oh WOW!!! For sure the same artist!? Even the scalloped border! I will post the photographs of the screen she was asked to copy and add them to the blogpost! I find this quite amazing! (for new readers, Zoe Designs has been working for me for twenty-five years or more!!)
WONDERFUL, you know we love chinoiserie and these are beautiful examples. Lena was commissioned to paint a panel for the 2010 Wenham Museum Designer Show House for Honey Collins Design. She gave us photographs of a screen that has many of the same elements, I wish I could attach photos to this reply, I’ll send them in an email. You can see Lena’s screen at:
http://zoe-design.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-on-chinoiserie.html
and as you know, Penny, we have gicleé prints available of most of Lena’s chinoiserie paintings.
Tara, thank you for giving us a good laugh!
Oh WOW!!! For sure the same artist!? Even the scalloped border! I will post the photographs of the screen she was asked to copy and add them to the blogpost! I find this quite amazing! (for new readers, Zoe Designs has been working for me for twenty-five years or more!!)
Dear Penny these Chinoiserie screens are absolutely stunning. They have such a light filled, ethereal quality about them. Fascinating!
xoxo
Karena
Scalamandre Giveaway!
I AM SO GLAD YOU LOVE THEM! And my dear old (no; lifelong) friend is the new President of Scalamandre! Steven Stolman!! And I am delighted that you are promoting a giveaway! Bravo! Bravo Karena! Bravo Scalamandre!!
And MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
ps you are so right……”ethereal and light filled”!! Beautifully described by you! Thank you!!!
Dear Penny these Chinoiserie screens are absolutely stunning. They have such a light filled, ethereal quality about them. Fascinating!
xoxo
Karena
Scalamandre Giveaway!
pENNY – have harrison howard look at them!! i bet they aren’t the same artist – just copycats????? but ask hh- he might know something!
pENNY – have harrison howard look at them!! i bet they aren’t the same artist – just copycats????? but ask hh- he might know something!
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Take a look at my website weddingwire.com (Martha)
I don’t know what happened to my “subscribe by email” box!
I will immediately take hold of your rss feed as I can’t in finding your e-mail subscription link or newsletter service.
Do you have any? Kindly allow me understand in order that I could subscribe.
Thanks.
Take a look at my website weddingwire.com (Martha)
I don’t know what happened to my “subscribe by email” box!
I will immediately take hold of your rss feed as I can’t in finding your e-mail subscription link or newsletter service.
Do you have any? Kindly allow me understand in order that I could subscribe.
Thanks.
Take a look at my website weddingwire.com (Martha)
I don’t know what happened to my “subscribe by email” box!