ESTATE SALE | DOMINICK DUNNE

Assorted "Hotel Finds" from Claridges to the Plaza Athénée

On November 20, Stair Auctioneer & Appraisers of Hudson, New York will auction the Estate of writer & journalist, Dominick Dunne. The sale includes items from Dunne's Connecticut house and New York City apartment. Lots include his beloved Jaguar XJS convertible he called "Audrey" {after his friend Audrey Hepburn}... books, quite a bit of Staffordshire and Majolica, paintings, European and American furniture, and a lot more. I am particularly interested in the small personal desk and entertaining lots—from the hotel finds above to the miscellaneous flatware, small sterling trays and Chinese scalloped-edge plates shown below. You can see all lots here.






Another interesting sale takes place this weekend at Northeast Auctions in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It includes items from the estate of an old friend, Richard B. Faber. Richard "Dickie" started buying antiques at the age of 12 and was an avid collector until his death, just last year. Dickie had a profoundly educated eye and combed for antiques for years from New England and New York to Europe. For a while, he kept a flat in '60s London and he lived in a chic chocolate-brown apartment on Boston's Beacon Hill. Click the image below to view lots at Northeast Auctions.

LATTICE | TREILLAGE | CHINOISERIE

Late 19th century garden room with treillage effects [The French Archive of Design and Decoration by Stafford Cliff]

Whether it's to bring the garden indoors or to create walls of airy chic, I love the lattice pattern in design and interiors. Ancient lattice looked like fisherman's net and was used in warm Middle Eastern countries to keep the sun out and allow the air to flow freely—much like the modern day screen block, that was used in Palm Springs in the 1950s and 60s. Treillage can be traced back to the 12th century when used to support the vines growing on simple French farms, and on to the 17th century where it appeared in the formal gardens of Versailles. From the royal palaces of Europe, treillage made its way to cities where architects and designers embraced its use from building facades to elegant interiors. At the turn of the century, it was first introduced to America by decorator Elsie de Wolfe in her Trellis Room at the Colony Club. In the 1930s, the use of chinoiserie bamboo and lattice found a glamorous spot in the houses of the Hollywood Regency Style. And, today the trellis motif is still a favorite of the country's best decorators. To follow are some of my dog-eared pages of trellis/lattice inspiration.

Elsie de Wolfe's Trellis Room at the Colony Club
[original 120 Madison Avenue location]
photo courtesy of gutenberg


Trellis Room photo from British House and Garden magazine


Also from The French Archive of Design and Decoration, David Herbert's Tangier veranda with trompe l'oeil lattice painted by Lawrence Mynott

Sculptor, Daniel Chester French [1850-19310] house Chesterwood in Stockbridge, Masschusetts
photo, my dog-eared pages


Trellis on my grandfather's house [architect Alfred A. Scheffer] Amagansett, Long Island house
photo courtesy of Newsday, Ike Eichorn


Trellis panels on Dominick and Lenny Dunne's Walden Drive house in Beverly Hills, 1960
photo from The Way We Lived Then


Sarah Jessica Parker in a chic pale blue trellised room, Vogue

Anne Harwell's [annechovie] Chinoiserie and Orange It's Complicated chair silhouettes


Meg Braff Interiors, yellow Chinese Lattice fabric headboards and bedskirts


Meg Braff Interiors, Bob Collins Chinese Lattice wallpaper from Todd Romano


Tom Scheerer's Lyford Trellis wallpaper for Quadrille at Lyford Cay Club


Yellow Lattice Lamps from Pieces


Dek Tillett Lattice in Rosemary from Todd Romano, House of KWID's Imperial Trellis from F. Schumacher