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PatchWork III- Cabinet of Curiosities


the Cabinet of Curiosities, late seventeenth century-Anonymous




Vogue Cover May 1946, Irving Penn




Untitled (Medici Boy), Joseph Cornell (1942-1952)




Kitchen of Ann Shore,stylist, Spitalfields, East London, 2000
photographed by Melanie Acevedo





Living Room of Gilles Dufour, Paris, 2001
photographed by James Waddell

gemini THE TWINS

gemini 20 maggio - 21 giugno



the Gainsborough twins, Mary & Margaret (1759)
by their father, Thomas Gainsborough




Dragon Empress



MY DRAGON EMPRESS ADDICTION






the Original

in the late 1800's The Dragon Empress CIXI ruled China with a ruthlessness that would make any Dragon breathe harder. CIXI ruled for 48 years-Her modi operandi: CIXI held court from a red throne shaped like a dragon- hidden behind a silk screen. Her dictums concluded with “Hear and obey." ( I think my GranMa used to say that- In fact , she had a wonderful special Chinese frock I was allowed to wear when spending the night!)

THE PRETENDERS

Hollywood's Dragon Empress

Competing Dragons


photograph of Marlene Dietrich and Anna Mae Wong in Shanghai Express


John Galiano's Dragon Empress


Alexander McQueen's kinder gentler Dragon


from style.com


HEAR & OBEY HEAR & OBEY


DRAGON EMPRESS
by Clarence House

this Dragon is currently under wraps in a Guest Room -


love the scallop hem detail



another Dragon in the Library








Drew Barrymore's Dragon



photographs from Domino Magazine

Clarence House's Dragon Empress happens to be my favorite fabric. I have used it in my own home three times. This has to be a record. A wicked combination of Turquoise, Orange and Mustard exists- and I used that colorway on a little slipper chair in my White Oak House. That was my first Dragon Empress.



The club chair in the Pink, Green and Orange was in my bedroom there and now lives quietly after an intervention of slipper covers from old crochet work. It must be in SHOCK- but I know underneath all that old white lies the Dragon.

Lastly- I returned to the Dragon when trying to finish off a chair for the Library- the Empress said "Hear and Obey-" the perfect fabric - muted tones of toast, blue, turquoise and cat tongue pink.





PatchWORK II- GLORIOUS

Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper in the KITCHEN- working PATCHES, by way of walls and apron. Both-her own design.

from Vogue Better Living and Food 1975-1976, no photo credits given




Read GV FACEbook (click) from a previous post.

religious knives vs. gem hunter




my friends in religious knives  let me remix one of the tracks from their recent ecstatic peace LP The Door, probably not realizing what they were getting themselves into, as in my gem hunter aka billy withers aka 1/2 of glacial lakes guise I transmorgified their shambolic urban demonism into a shadowy yet mellow dubbed-out shoreline jam. RK often pledge the debt of their hoary, submerged sound to the charms of Brooklyn squalor, I say, well Fort Tilden's in Brooklyn too. Or, as Debord 'n' friends always said: under the paving stones, the beach! 

PatchWork I

PUCCI's COLORS

image from Vogue's Houses, Gardens, People photograph by HORST

footman hanging Pucci prints from the Pucci Palazzo window-Pucci found his inspiration in Indian fabrics, African designs, cathedral stained glass, Chinese embroideries.

Grand mère Grand Madeleine

all photographs-unless noted-by Roland Beaufre



Autographs & Historic Documents

Sales & Purchase

Expert Valuations

30 Rue Jacob

Paris





Surrounded by the signatures of Zola, Hugo, Proust, TE Lawrence, and Faulkner-in a previous life- a history teacher-FREDERIC, is now head of the family business-that specializes in autographs since 1830.


Along with being immersed in all this history, he is surrounded by many of his grandmother's beloved possessions in a sea of "Bleu Castaing."* For these objects to have once belonged to the legendary grande dame of the Rue de Jacob- MADELEINE CASTAING- Must make us all pea green.



"She was free, free, free, totally free, with a fantastic independence of spirit and liberty of thought. Conformity bored her." Frederic Castaing



If you don't worship at design altars - follow any of my blog favorites and you will find some reference and much reverence devoted to Grand Madeleine. High on the list paying homage to Castaing (click the titles) An Aesthete's Lament, & again AAL, The Peak of Chic & Topsy Turvy. Emily Evans Eerdmans - topping the list at 5 posts since Dec 2008-is working on a book about the Grand Madeleine called The World of Madeleine Castaing- much anticipated by those of us waiting in reverence.



the Grand by Soutine, hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art



" She developed emotional connections between herself and objects and between the objects themselves. It seems to me that I do something rather similar with autographs. When you find yourself faced with the handwriting of a famous person, it's like a nod or a wink, a signal reaching down to you through the ages... With the ink, the lines, the crossings-out, you discover an intimate aspect of people-you are getting in touch with them in a physical, emotional way. It is like Proust's madeleine." FC



"The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it... "But, "...as soon as I had recognized the taste of the piece of madeleine soaked in her decoction of lime-blossom which my Aunt used to give me... Immediately the old grey house Upon the street, where her room was, rose up like a stage set to attach itself to the little pavilion opening on to the garden which had been built out behind it for my parent."

PROUST





Spending time with GRAND at her country estate LEVES - as a child, FC must have done what most children do- ramble, explore, spin through the rooms and come to rest in his favorite chair. Most of the pieces decorating his shop came from LEVES and the furniture was designed by FC and inspired by the furniture there.



HIS

30 Rue Jacob

(Lamps from Leves)





HERS

Grande dame de la Rue Jacob





LEVES



photograph Francois Hammond for the NYTIMES



"Some houses have magnificent meubles, you know, furniture that's very expensive, museum pieces, but she wasn't like that...The furniture at Lèves was nothing by itself. It was simply part of the art of living, something to be happy with, something to sit on and discuss literature." FC



30 Rue Jacob

bathed in BLEU CASTAING-

About "the blue-green color of Mr. Castaing's autograph shop - I was interviewing him and MC's assistant - and they said the current blue of the shop is le bleu Frederic Castaing - MC's blue is more sky blue with less green, and she intentionally wanted it to resemble the sky." Emily Evans Eerdmans



photograph Pierre Olivier Deschamps







references and links- NY TIMES, Mitchell Owens article A Diva's Eccentric Legacy, and WoI, Marie-France Boyer, Reading Between the Lines (April 2008)



*A note about the blue-green color of Mr. Castaing's autograph shop - I was interviewing him and MC's assistant - and they said the current blue of the shop is le bleu Frederic Castaing - MC's blue is more sky blue with less green, and she intentionally wanted it to resemble the sky. EEE

The Moonstone Part II Sir Richard Burton

all the Burton images are from burtoniana.org

MR. MURTHWAITE in The Moonstone , (Wilkie Collins) is said to be based on Sir Richard Francis Burton.

I just ordered the book The Collector Of Worlds by Iliya Troyanov reviewed in the The Sunday Book Review (Ben Macintyre). I am sure Burton's first hand accounts are the best reads- and there are many.


"the celebrated Indian traveller, Mr. Murthwaite, who, at risk of his life, had penetrated in disguise where no European had ever set foot before"

(from Chapter X of The Moonstone)

"the more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself"
Sir Richard


...and there are many.

Just a small glimpse of Burton's published works. His catalog is astonishing. See it all on the definitive Burton site linked at the beginning of this post.







SIR RICHARD aka Mr Murthwaite


The mausoleum of Burton and his wife Isabel -an impressive desert tent of sandstone.


"All Faith is false, All Faith is true:
Truth is the shattered mirror strown

In myriad bits; while each believes
His little bit the whole to own."

Sir Richard

Burton's wishes were for the two to “lie side by side in a tent” for eternity.

"HONOUR, NOT HONOURS"
Sir Richard's favorite self composed motto