Making a Compleat Gentleman

West Wycombe Manor was set in a beautiful Park and the perfect setting for a man of means who also enjoyed the good life. Its colonaded west front is highly unusual, for a climate like England recalling perhaps many happy times spent lazing in the loggia of an Italian Palazzo. While smaller than most of his friends country houses today it is a perfect film set for eighteenth century period films because it encapsulates and reflects in architecture the society of a time when young men of privilege went in passionate pursuit of civilised life. Is it the perfect Temple to Taste of a Compleat Gentleman?

Sydney’s Hidden Jewel – 150 Year Celebration of The Nicholson Museum

In 2010, The Nicholson Museum, Sydney’s and perhaps Australia’s best kept secret, will celebrate its 150th year with a special exhibition Charles Nicholson: Man & Museum

Collecting antiques …what do you need to know?

If you would like to become a collector, potential purchaser or, a dealer in antiques we offer FREE, An Introduction to Collecting Antiques sharing some of the considerations dealers, connoisseurs and experienced collectors make when purchasing. Take the journey…join us and the world will never look quite the same again…

Evolution of Art, Design and Style – Antiquity to Avatar

‘Just as a palate can be educated to appreciate fine wine so too can both the eye and the ear be educated to distinguish the rare from the ordinary, the exquisite from the mundane’. Pare Keiha, Associate Professor, Dean – Tumuaki AUT, Auckland NZ

THE EVOLUTION ART, DESIGN & STYLE
ARTISTIC TASTE – ANTIQUITY – AVATAR
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Introduction to Collecting Antiques – FREE online video presentation

Collecting aesthetically pleasing items is quite normal and fulfills a deep emotional need within us all. You can become “hooked” on the search for that special piece, forgotten, unappreciated and unloved.
If you would like to become a collector, potential purchaser or, a dealer in antiques we offer FREE, An Introduction to Collecting Antiques sharing some [...]

Living in the East has its rewards…

Dr Sheena Burnell appeared on the ABC program ‘Collectors’ in 2007 with her collection of bound feet shoes and related objects.
Sheena is an anaesthetist currently living in Shanghai and she began collecting Chinese objets d’art and Japanese ukiyoe (wood block prints) in the 1980s.
Her shift in focus to collecting Chinese dress accessories dates from her [...]

Enjoy a holiday hunt…recycle grandly

Forming collections is a matter for the heart, not the head, and often it needs some inspiration or significant event to trigger off what for many of us becomes a lifelong, and very emotional obsession.

Creating a Wonderful Room – English Style

author Carolyn McDowall
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works…Steve Jobs
The English style of interior has remained popular for over a century because it looks good, makes people feel comfortable, is wonderful to live with, nurtures your family and friends and is great for entertaining from four [...]

Women of Influence – Empress Josephine, a rose for all time

And I will make thee beds of roses, And a thousand fragrant posies…Christopher Marlowe
Author Carolyn McDowall
The very arresting beauty, and quite remarkable Marie Joséphine Rose Tascher de la Pagerie de Beauharnais (1763-1814) was imprisoned in the Bastille with her husband General Vicomte de Beauharnais during the French Revolution.
He and the men [...]

Love Jewellery – Romantics to Retro

Mrs. Wallis Simpson, later the Duchess of Windsor, was an enthusiast of jewellery, fashion and the prevailing modern style. The stunning jewellery fashioned for her by Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels, Belperron and Harry Winston and given to her in love by her Prince, King, or was it a Duke, inscribed ‘My Wallis from her David’ says it all. What more could any woman want than a man who would give up being a King for love.