Love Jewellery – Regency to Revival

England’s Prince Regent George, Prince of Wales, later George IV (1762 – 1830) scandalized the nation with his reckless and lavish living habits. He gave an impressive love gift a diamond riviére (a necklace of precious stones, generally set in one strand) to his mistress Elizabeth, Lady Conyngham, who reputedly received gifts of jewels valued at the time in the region of 80,000 pounds.

Masterpiece London – A Stroke of Genius?

In facing the crisis of the global economic downturn a brave group in London have come up with Masterpiece London, a whole new way of marketing fine quality wares by showcasing the most covetable objects in the world: traditional and modern, old and new, from the finest of fine and decorative art to the best of wines, classic cars, jewellery and contemporary design.

Online Video Course

Adapted for Online Video Presentation, the groundbreaking course the Evolution of Art, Design & Style is illustrated by sumptuous imagery and backed by marvelous music. This unique course of study looks at how western culture its attitudes and philosophies, its fashions and passions developed for over two in relationship to historical events, intellectual and spiritual ideas, other cultural influences and societal change.

In Pursuit of the Perfect House

A villa by architect Andrea Palladio was a place where the owners could feel happy, secure and content, which is after all, what most of us still require and aspire to, a place where one can cultivate the head, heart, body and the soul.

English Regency Painted Furniture

During the life of George IV of England in the period encompassing his Regency and reign (1811 – 1830) a fashion for painted furniture took hold. As well as being colourful, furniture made out of cost effective timbers was painted to simulate expensive timbers as well as exotic materials such as bamboo and tortoiseshell. It wasn’t just found in country cottages but in country houses being renovated by a new generation whose wealth was expanding along with the success of the industrial revolution.

Women of Influence: Marquise de Pompadour

French painter François Boucher (1703-1770) produced many of the images that we have of the enigmatic Jeanne Antoinette, Marquise de Pompadour, Maîtresse-en-titre, or the official Mistress of Louis XV of France.

Women of Influence: Empress Josephine

An impressive woman in her own right, Marie Joséphine Rose Tascher de la Pagerie de Beauharnais (1763-1814) or Josephine (as Napoleon decided she should be known) would aid, through her influence and abilities, Napoleon Bonaparte’s route to power and have a profound influence on the future of horticulture.

Women of Influence: Diane de Poitiers

The mistresses and consorts of the Kings of France have a strong history of helping others with extraordinary talent to achieve their highest potential through patronage, of changing standards of moral or social behaviour and of dictating the design and disposition of domestic architecture and gardens

Aaaachoo…collecting Chinese Snuff Containers

Until the early 1900s the volume of snuff produced in China far exceeded that of tobacco for smoking or chewing. Everyone took it – from the poet Alexander Pope to naturalist Charles Darwin, actress Sarah Siddons and the Duke of Wellington. Lord Nelson took large quantities to sea with him, while Napoleon sniffed over seven pounds a month. Physicians made great claims for it, prescribing snuff for headaches, insomnia, toothache, coughs and colds and recommending it as a measure against contagion.

0240SNBOT1Today snuff bottles remain eminently collectable. The enormous variety in materials, subject matter, colour and shape provides a fascinating trail for the dedicated collector.

Art of Living Well

In the west we are inheritors of a legacy from Ancient Greece and Rome that despite the passing of over 2500 years is still potent. Through their ideas the desire to capture the essence of fine living was born. ’Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well’ Aristotle (384 – 322 BC)