Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2020 i Homes & Antiques

Autumn has arrived and with it come thoughts of longer evenings, cooler days and a sense that it’s time to retreat indoors. Strange to be welcoming such a thing when much of 2020 has already felt like a form of hibernation; yet the instinct to withdraw and cosy up remains. Selina Lake’s feature on page 38 is filled with excellent advice on how to ready your home for the coming months, and our heartwarming recipes on page 116 celebrate the fruits of the season. This month’s houses are the perfect antidote to the shortening days. Read our feature on St Benedict, an extraordinary B&B where guests are transported to the 1880s. The restoration has been a labour of love and the interiors are filled with exuberant wallpapers and beautiful antiques…

Dished out gifts My godmother was born in 1915 and, like many country girls, she went into service when she was 15, working her way up from scullery maid to parlour maid. The servants always remained in Scotland when the family travelled to their London home for Christmas, but funds were left for a party and there was a wrapped gift for each staff member. In 1931 she opened her present to find a bowl, not perhaps what she was hoping for, but there was great hilarity amongst the servants as everyone had received a piece of the same dinner service! Lesley Reid, Aberdeen…

A world of colour From the greens in the canopy of the Amazon rainforest to the varied pinks of cherry blossom in Japan, the natural world is filled with colour. So we’re particularly taken by the titles given to the 114 shades in the new paint collection from design brand Andrew Martin, which capture a kaleidoscope of hues from around the world. Our favourites are the full-bodied burgundy Mendoza Malbec, Satsuma (pictured), Norwegian Fjord, Polar Bear, Tuk Tuk, Guatemalan Jungle, and Varanasi Dawn (from £51 per 2.5l) – which describes the sun rising over the Ganges in India’s holy city of Varanasi. All pay tribute to sights, smells, textures and tastes in every corner of the globe. andrewmartin.co.uk Get the look Those who love the style of Soho House hotels…

Tell us about your background I began my journey into silversmithing at the age of four, when I used the spiked end of an umbrella to ‘engrave’ letters and shapes onto the wall in the hallway of our family home! Although I was pleased with my outpouring of self-expression, it was some years before I experimented with engraving again. I studied for a 3D design degree in metalwork and jewellery, and then completed a postgraduate course for jewellers and silversmiths. This was a milestone in my creative path, and is where I developed my signature techniques. I also spent a week studying hand engraving with Malcolm Appleby, and I found his approach to working with silver transformative. I have been a professional silversmith since 2008, creating pieces for clients and…

‘More is quite definitely more,’ says Paul Brewster as he describes the dramatic visual story that threads through the Hastings townhouse he shares with his partner, Shaun Clarkson. Indeed, almost every boldly decorated room is an unexpected mix of furnishings, pattern and vibrant colours, along with eclectic collections that have been amassed over the years and are displayed with verve. ‘We’re always hunting out treasures in antiques shops and vintage markets. Some curios might not look like anything special at the time, but they can be transformed with a bit of thought,’ Paul explains. ‘And while displaying one object might not have any impact at all, put 20 similar things together and suddenly – wow!’ The house, along with the two neighbouring properties that sit on either side, was constructed…

Tasha Green Director, Weaver Green ‘I love a strong rug design! Big geometric patterns will generally benefit from low-key companion textiles and accessories, so choose soft furnishings with subtle or little pattern. You don’t need too many patterns shouting at you in any room as, often, less is more.’ Matt Roe Director, London House Rugs ‘To make sure your treasured antique rug or runner is still enjoyed a century from now, take the following steps. Remove dirt as quickly as possible with light vacuuming; use a mild and natural wool detergent when removing light spillages; use an appropriate underlay to hold the rug still and prevent wrinkling.’…

‘As a girl, I used to stay with my grandmother and, in my bedroom, there was a workbox made from sadeli [small repeating geometric patterns], which fascinated me. When the estate was broken up in the 1970s, I was given the box as I had always loved it. My husband and I then moved up to Manchester and – partly because there were one or two things missing from the box – I started going round the antiques fairs and realised that I could pick up things to go into this box. My love of antiques snowballed from there.’ Rose has been collecting boxes, largely from Mark Goodger Antiques, ever since. ‘Mark has the most beautiful boxes, and he always says that I have one of the largest collections he…

Plum & hazelnut pandowdy A pandowdy is made with a sweet dough baked on top of fruit, the crust being ‘dowdied’ by pushing it into the fruity juices before serving. SERVES 6 900g plums 125g light soft brown sugar 1\2 teaspoon ground cinnamon finely grated zest and freshly squeezed juice of 1 small orange 40g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed chilled cream, to serve FOR THE PANDOWDY CRUST 250g plain flour 3 tablespoons caster sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder 100g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed 75g finely ground hazelnuts about 200ml single cream caster sugar, for dusting a cast-iron frying pan, skillet or heavy baking tin (about 26–28cm diameter) Preheat the oven to 220°C/Gas 7. Halve and slice the plums. Put them in a bowl and add the sugar, cinnamon,…

You would be hard-pushed to find a more atmospheric backdrop for a weekend’s antiquing than the pastel-washed streets of Hastings Old Town. Tucked between two hills, it’s home to continental-style cafes, pocket-size eateries, cool concept stores, bric-a-brac shops and vintage co-operatives. The whole town is characterised by its architecture, which stretches from medieval – the ruins of the Norman castle date from the infamous battle – to the unabashedly modern. Hastings Contemporary, the town’s black tile-clad art gallery, was inspired by the local Victorian ‘net shops’ (towers used for storage by fishermen), while the beautifully restored Victorian pier won the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2017. This is a creative place on the beautiful south-east coast, where grey weather is more poetic than gloomy, and delightful surprises can be found at…

Amy Kent shares her expertise in ‘The Edit’ Amy is a British designer and the owner of bespoke rug company Amy Kent Bespoke Rugs, which sells beautifully crafted, colourful rugs handmade in India and Nepal. ‘I live in the countryside, so cosy autumns are what we do! Log fires, autumn walks, blackberry picking, family Sunday roasts – most of my family live close by, so we take it in turns to make lunch.’ Dr Hazel Tubman gives her advice in ‘Ask an Expert’ Hazel works at the antiquarian booksellers Maggs Bros Ltd, where she specialises in early European books and manuscripts. ‘Creating cosiness in the flat I share with friends is a collaboration, and we all lean towards bright colours and interesting, eye-catching ‘things’. I’m a little biased,…

1 the ANTIQUE TABLE CLOCKS From the early 18th century, table clocks became an essential furnishing for the comfortable home, placed on side tables and mantelpieces, telling the time in drawing rooms and parlours. Not only did clocks mark the hours of the day, the introduction of pendulums reduced the daily margin of error in earlier clocks. This green japanned table clock, decorated with chinoiserie garden scenes, reflects the 18th-century vogue for Chinese style. Made c1770 by the London workshop Markwick Markham, Perigal, the clock has a ‘bell top’ case, brass carrying handle and pierced steel hands, and chimes every quarter of an hour. It was part of the collection of architect Sir William Whitfield, which sold at Dreweatts recently and made £6,000. At auction, you can expect to pay…

KEY: OLD / NEW…

Victorian jewellery is seeing a resurgence of interest at auction. If the condition is good, a gilt-metal necklace in Victorian revival style could fetch over £1,000. Antique paste jewellery of a strong design and colour can also achieve surprising prices: a ‘parure’, which includes necklace, bracelet, earrings and brooch, can make between £1,000-£5,000. Recent results at Olympia Auctions include a gilt archaeological revival necklace from the 1860s that sold for £1,500 (far right), and an early 19th-century green and gold paste parure, which made £4,200.…

‘Rugs work well in any room that you’d like to divide, such as an open-plan kitchen with sofas at one end and a dining table at the other, as they’re perfect for helping to differentiate between spaces. I also always love adding a rug into a hallway, whether it’s a runner or a normal size – I think it helps to make an interior out of an area that’s often just a ‘walk through’ and not given much attention. Rugs always make a space look bigger, and it’s amazing how they can essentially create another room within a space – for example, my son’s play area is based on our landing, which is centred around a rug with beanbags. You also can’t beat a statement rug in a drawing room…

MARK GOODGER ANTIQUES 07779 654879 markgoodger.co.uk STALHAM ANTIQUE GALLERY 29 High Street, Stalham, Norfolk, NR12 9AH 01692 580636 mikehicksantiques.co.uk SPENCER SWAFFER 30 High Street, Arundel, West Sussex, BN18 9AB 01903 882132 spencerswaffer.co.uk ADRIAN ALAN 66/67 South Audley Street, London, W1K 2QX 020 7495 2324 adrianalan.com SALLY TURNER ANTIQUES 07860 201718 lapada.org/dealers/ sally-turner-antiques MAYFAIR GALLERY 39 South Audley Street, London, W1K 2PP 020 7491 3435 mayfairgallery.com…

COSY INVESTMENT Comfy wingback chairs are always popular at auction, and this 19th-century mahogany one was especially so because of its 18th-century tapestry fragments. Estimate £1,500-£2,500 STICK STASH With winter on the way, now’s the time to invest in a stick stand for your brollies. This mahogany example, c1860, measures 83cm tall and has a drip tray. Estimate £300-£500 DISH OF THE DAY Novelty majolica from the 19th century is all about amusement, as exemplified by a ‘mouse’ oval cheese dish and cover, c1876, created at the Minton factory. Estimate £5,000-£7,000…

A love story I love this figurine and have had it for over 20 years. I am wondering if it is Korean and how old it might be. Any information you can give me would be great. Linda Price, Bridport Your figure is a 20th-century piece depicting the heroine from the traditional Chinese opera The Butterfly Lovers. It tells the tragic love story of Zhu Yingtai, a 16-year-old girl who disguises herself as a boy to attend school, where she falls in love with Liang Shanbo. Unfortunately, her parents marry her to a wealthy merchant and Liang Shanbo dies, heartbroken. In response to her supplications, Liang’s grave later opens up and Zhu throws herself in; their spirits then transform into a pair of butterflies and they fly away together. Zhu…

Floor-to-ceiling rows of round wooden breadboards line the walls of Madeleine Neave’s unconventional front room in Putney. Huge glass-fronted display cabinets are packed full of boards, too, and there are more still, stacked neatly in racks inside the fireplace. ‘It all started in the 1980s when my late mother, Rosslyn, found a pretty breadboard in an antiques shop,’ explains Madeleine. ‘It just caught her eye. The carving was beautiful; it was portable and practical. It was priced at £5 but she refused to pay that much, then spent the whole week kicking herself. When she returned to the shop, it was still there and she paid £3 for it.’ Rosslyn – an antiques dealer and collector – began selling breadboards to her clients, but soon found she couldn’t part with…

FAIR OF THE MONTH The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair The autumn edition of The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair is planning to go ahead from Thurs 22nd to Sun 25th Oct. Over 140 specialist dealers in British and European design, decorative and fine antiques and art will gather in Battersea Park. The event will be filmed to offer a virtual online fair, walking the aisles and making accessible to view every stand from the comfort of your home. Favourite stands can be accessed directly from an interactive floorplan, so regular customers unable to attend can browse and buy direct from the dealer. Evolution London, Battersea Park, London, SW11 4NJ. Pre-booked, timed tickets only. Book online from early September. 020 7616 9327; decorativefair.com FAIR DATES North & Scotland 3rd Leeds…

The House of Antiques Treen certainly falls into the folk art and curiosities category, plenty of which can be found at The House of Antiques online store. If you’re looking for the unusual and downright bizarre, check out the c1920 treen puzzle ball, the c1870 German treen spice box in the form of a Nuremberg tower, and the late 19th-century miniature roulette wheel. 07568 151752; thehouseofantiques.co.uk Graham Smith Antiques With an online shop and a showroom in Newcastle, established antiques dealer Graham Smith often has pieces of treen for sale among his inventory of antique furniture, clocks, ceramics, glass and metalware. It’s worth checking in now and then to see what he has in stock. He currently has an elegant Georgian ladle and an early 19th-century pestle and mortar. 01661…

Studio pottery is a collecting area that is always a good buy and pieces by well-known British potters have only ever gone up in value. Bernard Leach is one of the forefathers of the movement and his pottery starts at around £500. We have a Leach willow pattern stoneware vase with ash glaze coming up for sale on 6th October with an estimate of £1,500-£2,500. John Ward is another leading potter still working today. The simple stoneware bowl, below, was bought by the vendor in 1989 and is now worth £1,500-£2,500 at auction, and I expect its value to rise in the future. Handmade with real love, these pieces are art forms in their own right.…

This Month: Vampire Slaying Kits It’s that time of year again, when ghoulies and ghosties walk abroad and things go bump in the night. I used to love Halloween. Back in the 1970s it was an understated, charming affair: a ghostly poem read at school, perhaps; a corny old black-and-white horror film on the television, or a spooky cartoon. One golden Halloween afternoon, my grandmother taught me to carve little turnip lanterns. That was about it. I doubt my parents were even aware of the significance of the date. These days I’ve got mixed feelings. Halloween’s everywhere. The shops are full of tacky merchandise, and gangs of masked teenagers roam the streets demanding ‘Halloween candy’. Every year I barricade our front door and Venetia hangs out the garlic – we…

A wall of cream and black tiles in Camille Hermand’s library acts as a reminder of her home’s previous life. The building lies on a narrow side street in the Marais district of Paris and, built in 1870, it was originally the local dairy. Five years ago, Camille bought the ground floor shop space to use as the office for her architecture practice. Then, a year later, the flat upstairs came up for sale, so she moved in and lived above her office for a while. ‘I valued the history of the house and that of the Marais neighbourhood, and have done since I first moved here as a student,’ she says. ‘I loved the tiles and wanted to preserve them as part of the building’s story.’ These days, Camille…

Patterned or plain, these rugs will command attention... Bring personality to a hallway or entrance with a textured runner…

With its attractive marbling and warm translucency, tortoiseshell has been a popular material for jewellery and household objects for thousands of years. The fact that, under heat, it becomes easily malleable into fluid shapes has only added to its desirability. But what exactly is tortoiseshell? The material comes from the carapace – the hard upper shell – of one of the marine turtle species, and almost always from the (now critically endangered) hawksbill turtle. Its usage goes back at least as far as the Ancient Greeks, who often used an entire tortoise or turtle shell to create the back of their stringed instrument, the chelys or lyre. Elsewhere, the Romans imported tortoiseshell from Egypt, to use as a veneer for furniture – especially those elegant couches along which Romans liked…

When it comes to buying tortoiseshell, Mark Goodger’s advice is to get to know a specialist dealer. ‘Once you make your first purchase, they will be keen to look after you as a new collector, learning your taste and giving advice on suitable purchases. If you choose to go online, you will be overwhelmed with the choice. Moreover, the prices may sway you, but beware of the many fake pieces out there.’ There aren’t a great many names to look out for, Mark advises. ‘Named pieces are always great, but most early tea caddies and workboxes rarely have maker’s marks. One maker who does stand out is Thomas Lund (active 1804-45): his pieces are always high quality and much sought after.’ The firm of William Comyns (active 1885-1930s), meanwhile, truly…

The collection of antiques and art entitled ‘Wilton Crescent: A Robert Kime Interior’ was due to be auctioned at Christie’s on 1st May, before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Nearly three months later, on 23rd July, the sale finally took place at the company’s King Street premises in London, where 229 lots from the early 19th-century townhouse in Belgravia made over £2m. ‘The sale exhibition the previous weekend had gone surprisingly well, with over 200 people attending it, more than we were expecting in the circumstances,’ reports Christie’s head of sale, Caitlin Yates. ‘Private collection sales like this are always exciting and on the day there were quite a few people bidding in the room – socially distanced, of course – plus lots of telephone and internet bidding from around the…

Bread of life Didn’t quite get to grips with making your own sourdough during lockdown? For £37, Hobbs House Bakery has created a Sourdough Baking Kit with all the tools and tips to produce the ultimate crusty loaf. hobbshousebakery.co.uk Oz Clarke: my favourite culinary antique ‘The Butler’s Friend is a three-pronged device for rescuing crumbled cork from old bottles of wine. My college at Oxford actually had a butler (I got to be his best friend as fast as I could!) and he often had to try to prise the cork from ancient bottles. When I finished my degree, we had a last drink together and he gave me his Butler’s Friend. I treasure it more than any other wine gadget I could possibly have.’ Oz Clarke is a wine…

Don’t leave it sitting in water or near heat. ‘Water will warp it and heat will crack or scorch it,’ warns Madeleine. Oil your board with any plant-based oil that you like the smell of. ‘I use a tiny bit of sunflower oil and rub it in with a paper towel, whenever a board looks sort of hungry,’ explains Madeleine. ‘Leave it to sink in for 24 hours, then you can use it. It will feel a bit greasy for a while but it’s good for the wood. Boards that haven’t been oiled regularly take on a blonder appearance.’ Gently sand your board now and again to remove the upper layer. ‘All wood has its own antibacterial properties. It absorbs, whereas plastic doesn’t. On a plastic board, the residue of…

I grew up in Cambridgeshire and was one of those strange children who used to enjoy going to antiques sales with my parents. I did work experience at Cheffins when I was 14 and from then on knew that I wanted to be an auctioneer. After doing a degree in Fine Arts Valuation at Southampton Solent University I got my first job at Cheffins in 2004 as a junior valuer. Now, 16 years later, I’m a director of the firm – almost part of the furniture. The most appealing thing about this job is that no day or week is the same. I take at least two auctions a month – my favourite task –and at other times go out to see clients or work on cataloguing items that come…

A Alan Wright Stained Glass 01424 753145; glasswright.co.uk Alternative Flooring 01264 335111; alternativeflooring.com Amanda Leader 07887 770406; amandaleader.com Amazon amazon.co.uk Amy Kent 01666 715151; amykent.co.uk Andrew Martin 020 3887 6113; andrewmartin.co.uk &Tradition 020 7222 0574; andtradition.com The Antique Kitchen 07831 389843; theantiquekitchen.co.uk The Antiques Warehouse 01252 317590; theantiqueswarehouse.com Arabesque Antiques 07815 041727; arabesqueantiques.co.uk Ardingly Antiques & Collectors Fair 01636 702326; iacf.co.uk Artisanti 0345 259 1410; artisanti.com Atkin and Thyme 01727 227500; atkinandthyme.co.uk Audenza 0116 298 6393; audenza.com B Beata Heuman 020 8741 0102; beataheuman.com Berdoulat berdoulat.co.uk Bert & May 020 3744 0776; bertandmay.com Béton Brut 020 7018 1890; betonbrut.co.uk Bien Fait bien-fait-paris.com Blackpop 01629 356602; blackpop.co.uk Booth Museum 0300 029 0900; brightonmuseums.org.uk/booth Bradbury & Bradbury 00 1 707 746 1900; bradbury.com Burford Garden Company 01993 823117; burford.co.uk Burlington Bathrooms 01322…