£8,125
Auction: Design Since 1860
painted and silvered wood and moulded gesso frame, mirrored glass plates, bears ivorine label verso DANIELL 42-44-46 WIGMORE STREET LONDON
Provenance: By repute, purchased from Syrie Maugham in London by the vendor's mother in law as a wedding present in 1937
Literature: Metcalf, P.C. Syrie Maugham: Staging the Glamorous Interior, Acanthus 2010, p.107
Note: Syrie Maugham was the leading British interior designer in the 1920s and 1930s. She is best known for being the first to decorate her drawing room white in its totality and for her stellar client list which included Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, Wallis Simpson, Elsa Schiaparelli, Edward James and Stephen Tennant amongst many others. Maugham opened her first shop in Baker Street, London in 1922. As it thrived, she began decorating, taking on projects in Palm Beach and California and adding shops in New York and Chicago. The current lot, with its design origins in the 18th century and white craquelure paint finish, is typical of Maugham’s aesthetic style.