Mixing Old and New to Decorate Your Home
by Kelly Keating on 01/29/11
When decorating your home with antiques, it is often striking and more interesting to mix in newer pieces or combine antiques from different periods in order to create a more eclectic, collected and dynamic look. A room decorated all from one period, for example Louis XVI's France could be quite mesmerizing, a hallucinatory dream, but such a room is probably difficult and expensive to achieve. And even if realized, it could perhaps be too much of a single and atypical decorating note in our ahistorical, postmodern and everchanging world. Such a room would seem out of place and time as if it were a room in a museum or historic house rather than a comfortable home where people in the 21st century live and endure.
Instead, why not combine elements of 18th century French style and design with a pair of Phillipe Starck Ghost Chairs which although translucent (and also colored) polycarbonate, it is shaped like a Louis XV fauteuil. Or take a pair of 18th century French period chairs or a revival pair and cover them in a modern, bold, geometric fabric or even more intriguing, upholster them in an old burlap grain or feed sack with their great texture, neutral coloring and graphic lettering often in black. (The burlap sack French chair pictured below is for sale. Email me at [email protected] for more information.) Mixing old and new objects from accessories to furniture produces something unexpected and visually stimulating. Odd combinations create interesting spaces in which to live and endure in the 21st century world.
In my drawing room, for example, I have a 1930's/1940's English sideboard with gorgeous walnut veneers. On the sideboard is a pair of glass and gilt lamps. The glass portion of the lamp is decoupaged with chinoiserie figures, flowers and birds on a black background. These lamps were probably made as a craft project by an artistic someone in the 1940's or 1950's. Modern string shades in a neutral taupe color top the lamps and their texture provides a nice contrast to the smooth, opaque glass of the lamp body. A new, oval black stone finial set in a gold wire frame finishes the look and pulls the black of the lamp body up to the top of the piece.
Hanging on the wall between the lamps is an old, massive, gilt and carved wood frame that my mother found in the trash more than 20 years ago. The frame adds a touch of luxe and over-the-topness to the room and compliments the gilt mounts of the lamps. To add some color to this vignette and the white walls of a rented apartment, I painted a canvas a deep crimson red with an enamel finish and simply placed it in the frame. It gives a bold, graphic and modern look that is in striking contrast to the traditional gold frame and its intricate carving. My red painting also serves to draw the red color of a nearby chair and the red in the rug to the midlevel area of the room.
Between the 2 lamps on the sideboard, I placed a large brown English Aesthetic transferware platter on a brass stand. The pattern is named Caius by George Jones & Sons, circa 1883. Notice the chrysanthemum motif and the pseudo-Japanese characters. Flanking the platter are a pair of American Aesthetic tiles c. 1880 by International Tile which was located in Brooklyn, New York. The pair of tiles are unusual examples of American pottery especially the one tile that depicts a group of Asian men in a humorous scene of a breaking cauldron. In front of the platter are a large 19th century silverplate sugar and creamer in an Aesthetic design by Rogers Smith & Co. circa 1877-1880. I enjoy this grouping of different Aesthetic objects on a contrasting sideboard that is more Deco in its inspiration.
On the wall on either side of the large frame are a pair of Italian gilt wood shelves in a scroll design decorated with acanthus leaves. New molded gilt urns holding a moss ball are placed on each of the shelves. This touch of formalized nature is a pleasing contrast to the overall "culture" of the sideboard top vignette.
Below the shelves are a pair of black/white French? transferware plaques. One depicts a bird seller; the other depicts a basket seller. Each plaque surronds the center motif with a border of grapes and leaves. They are unmarked and probably mid-20th century in date. Their whimsical nature appeals to me. And their coloring and oval shape looks wonderful on the wall and pulls the black fabric of my Victorian fainting couch to that side of the room.
The entire tablescape on the sideboard in its disparate yet complementary elements creates a charming symmetrical composition in the drawing room, made up antique, vintage and new items. The aesthetic and visual joy lies in the mix of the scene.
A new client in California also achieves a wonderful look by mixing antique pieces with modern ones. In the dining nook of her kitchen, she has created a "pottery border" at the top of the wall using blue and white plates and platters in the traditional Willow pattern which was first designed by Thomas Minton in 1790 and has been copied by many other manufacturers since then and until today. What is so inspired about the decor of this eating area is the combination of 19th century blue and white pieces with modern Willow plates by the British artist Richard Dawson. Dawson takes elements of the orthodox Willow pattern and "sabotages" them- they are enlarged or cropped or reoriented to produce a new and dynamic transferware plate that is throughly modern, but rooted in a long enduring subject of the past. For example, in one plate the pair of birds usually a small motif in the original pattern are blown up to become the dominant and central subject of the plate. The border of this plate consists of magnified elements of the trees and a cropped portion of the geometric patterning on a 19th century Willow plate.
The "pottery border" creates a visually dynamic look that is heightened by the combination of antique and modern transferware. It is an inspired look that I will remember and "put" in my bag of tricks for future clients. Imagine a Welsh cupboard filled with traditional blue and white Willow plates and platters along with Mr. Dawson's "twisted" creations or as he refers to them- pieces of "aesthetic sabotage". Such an arrangement would produce a gorgeous and rich combination of old and new.
In my bedroom, I took an old maple highboy from the 1940's and had my friend who is an outstanding artist and decorative painter transform it into a piece of black and gold chinoiserie reminiscent of the 18th century. The transformation is extraordinary and it is perhaps my favorite piece of furniture in my home.
But how does one accessorize the top of a faux 18th century chinoiserie highboy? I used once again a mixture of old and new pieces to fashion an intriquing tablescape. The first element of this design is a pair of onyx footed lamps with gold metal fittings and new bronze colored string shades. Between the lamps I placed a large brown Aesthetic transferware soup bowl in the Jeddo pattern by Brown-Westhead Moore & Co. circa 1884. It's depiction of birds, Japanese fisherman and a central motif of a fan and ribbons complements the pagoda landscape of the highboy quite well.
On the right side of the tablescape I placed an German Art Deco porcelain figurine of a dancing couple by Sitzendorfer circa 1920-1930 on a black square wooden stand for added height. The gold, creamy white and tan coloring of the figurine plays against the beige translucence of the onyx lamps and their bronze shades.
In front of the German Deco dancers, I put a Royal Doulton figurine of a dachshund which was a gift and a small round brass frame with garlands holding a silhouette image of a dachshund with what appears to be a crown in its mouth. This picture and frame was also a gift from friends who know my love of this breed and particularly of my dog Arthur, a red doxie.
On the left side of the tablescape is a small brown Aesthetic transferware vase. The pattern and maker are unknown, but the piece dates most likely to the 1880's. The vase complements the Jeddo soup plate and its bulbous shape is a good contrast to the rectangular shape of the lamps.
Accompanying the Aesthetic vase is an earlier 19th century black transferware octogonal shaped pitcher in the Washington Vase pattern by Podmore, Walker & Co. circa 1834-1859. In front of the small pitcher on a wood stand is an Occupied Japan (1945-52) porcelain figurine of an Asian man with 2 rabbits. The piece is marked: Handpainted, Lenwile China, Ardalt, Occupied Japan. It is unusual to find a porcelain Occupied Japan figurine and also one that is marked more than just Occupied Japan. Usually these figurines were made out of pottery and exported to the United States for sale in stores like Woolworth's where they cost around 35-45 cents and up per piece. The man with the 2 rabbits is a slightly higher grade of export. It complements the chinoiserie highboy and the Aesthetic transferware and provides a contrast to the German Deco figurine and the Doulton dachshund.
To complete my tablescape, I hung a decorative, modern sunburst concave mirror in a bronze finish that I bought rather cheaply at West Elm. Its circular shape mimics the Aesthetic soup plate, the profile of the Aesthetic vase, the string shades and the brass frame containing the dachshund silhouette. These round shapes are offset and punctuated by the verticals of the dancing couple and the man with rabbits figurine as well as the angular 8 sided shape of the black transferware pitcher and particularly in its squared off handle.
The chinoiserie highboy tablescape combines disparate elements in terms of period and style, but unites them through complementary and contrasting shapes, color and their artful placement. Most importantly, the mixing of antiques and modern pieces creates a strong visual vignette that delights me and hopefully any viewer of the highboy and intriques them with the subject and meaning of each individual piece.
If you need help combining your antique and modern pieces in a unique and decorative way, The Antique Flaneur can help you. I can fashion beautiful tablescapes in your home, be it on a sideboard, a dining room table, a china cabinet or a display vitrine. As always I am happy to find you a gorgeous antique to adorn your home, start a collection or add to one. Contact me at [email protected]. Also, if my painted highboy appeals to you, contact me for information about my friend who is an accomplished artist and superb decorative painter.
Kelly T Keating
The Antique Flaneur
