Sense and Sensibility

No matter how many times Hollywood tries to remake one of Jane Austen's classics into a film, I can never quite enjoy them. All I see are perfect movie stars and make believe. That's why I will always prefer the BBC versions. They always draw me and make me forget that I am watching a movie and the latest, Sense and Sensibility, is no different. The first part aired Sunday night on PBS and if you missed it, or like me couldn't wait for part two, it's also available on DVD. The actors, costumes and sets are all perfect, including the stately Wrotham Park (above) that stands in for Norland. I just don't know if I find it comforting or distressing that the relations between men and women should be any less confusing today than they were when the novel was published in 1811.

Next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then. - Jane Austen

If things are going untowardly one month, they are sure to mend the next. - Jane Austen

It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was ten years before. - Jane Austen

There are certainly not so many men of large fortune in the world, as there are pretty women to deserve them. - Jane Austen

The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid. - Jane Austen

Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor. Which is one very strong argument in favor of matrimony. - Jane Austen

Chintz Bedroom

I just wanted to clarify that the Chinese wallpaper from Harewood House being sold at Mallett was from the Chintz Dressing Room. The other wallpaper that was found was from the Chintz Bedroom and was restored and installed at Harewood House and can be seen in these photos.

"Thomas Chippendale's commission of 1767 to 1778 to furnish Harewood House for Edwin Lascelles was not only the most valuable of his career but also the most sumptuous. The commission was for a complete decoration of the house and included the hanging of wallpaper and supplying of damask and paper. The Chippendale bill for the early years of the commission is now missing but, in 1772, £3,024 19s 3d was carried forward on to the existing bill."

"It is not possible to ascertain whether Chippendale himself provided this wallpaper, as was the case at Nostell Priory, or, as was more normal because of its rarity, whether Lascelles acquired it personally. Series of such panoramic paper became fashionable in the middle of the 18th century and were exported from China via Canton. There is but one known reference, of 1755, to paper forming part of a ship's cargo, so it is assumed that it was carried on commission by ships' captains of the East India Company, thereby avoiding the wallpaper tax."

"It is the Day Work Book kept by Lascelles' steward, Samuel Popelwell, noting how Chippendale's workmen spent their time from 1769 to 1775 which enables us to identify this wallpaper. It is recorded that a Mr James arrived at Harewood on 18th October 1769 and 'stayed until Christmas fully employed papering, unpacking and fixing furniture'. Between 14th and 16th December that year he spent twenty-eight hours 'Hanging the India paper in the Chintz pattern cotton bedchamber' and between 21st and 23rd December he spent twenty-six hours 'At the patterns in the Chintz pattern cotton room'."

"This suite of rooms with their oriental 'India' paper inspired the green japananed furniture made for them by Chippendale, comprising a clothes press, dressing commode, pier glass, shaving table, night table and two bedside tables. This furniture was recorded as still in these rooms in an inventory of 1795. However, at some time in the 19th century, probably during the remodelling of the house by Barry in the 1840's, the wallpaper was removed and put into storage." This wallpaper from the Chintz Dressing Room and the Chintz Bedroom was discovered in 1988, rolled up in the carpenter's shop at Harewood.

"The conservation report notes that the decorative painting is an early example of its type and is of extremely high quality. A great deal of the paper is still in its original condition where as many papers have suffered from years of over painting."

The East Bedroom (Chintz Bedroom) before the restoration and rehanging of the wallpaper.

February Competition - Win a So Organic £20 gift voucher (NOW CLOSED)

Congratulations to our winner from Pembrokeshire!

Have fun shopping online or in-store at So Organic with this £20 gift voucher. Choose from gorgeous skincare and make up products from Nvey Eco and Neal’s Yard or stock up on essential cleaning supplies such as Soapods Laundry Soap Nuts, E Cloths, Liv fair-trade and organic towels or even Moltex Oko Eco disposable nappies. Men can also enjoy quality skincare products from brands such as Spiezia and Lavera.

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Read more about So Organic here.
Visit So Organic online

To enter our February Competition, email your name and answer to the question below to: tarar23@hotmail.com (please write 'Green Lashes February Competition' in the email subject line).




Question
Where is So Organic’s shop located?


Competition closes on the 28th February 2009 at midnight. Entrants will be selected at random after the closing date. The competition winner will be notified by email. Please note the names and email addresses of competition entrants will be passed onto So Organic.

This competition is advertised through The Prize Finder and UK Wins

Harewood House Wallpaper

One of the most amazing sights at the Winter Antiques Show was the Chinese wallpaper in the Mallett Antiques booth that dated from 1765! The paper depicting rural scenes of Chinese life was possibly commissioned by Edwin Lascelles as part of the decoration of the newly built Harewood House in Yorkshire.

According to the Harewood House website, "In 1988 roughly 20 sheets of rolled Chinese wallpaper were found in the outbuildings of Harewood House. Subsequent research has shown that the rolls form a complete scheme which is likely to have been installed in the Chintz Bedroom of Harewood House in 1769. In the mid 1990s the sheets of wallpaper were conserved to a level that would allow them to be stored for future use." And now they are for sale through Mallett and although they cost more than most American homes, they are very beautiful to look at! Enjoy!

The wallpaper conservator who is one of two people in Britain specialising in this type of work has said that the paper "is possibly the finest example of a Chinese wallpaper anywhere in the world."

Window Shopping at the Winter Antiques Show

The Young Collector's Night at the Winter Antiques Show is more about socializing than checking out the booths so I went back on Saturday to really explore the show. Even if you can't afford anything, I highly recommend that you attend events such as this because it's a great environment to educate yourself and your eye. So many of the antiquarians were eager to talk more about a particular artist or piece and I learned so much. Also, a lot people can be intimidated by very high end antique shops but a show allows you to roam around without feeling out of place.

I was especially impressed by Michael Berna of Macklowe Gallery who took the time to explain why a particular citrine ring was a perfect example of 1940's design. I wish I could have afforded that one and a French ring from A La Vieille Russie that was from the 1960's. The colored stones reminded me of the colors that Stefano Pilati uses at YSL now.

I was also inspired by all the flame stitch embroideries that I noticed. Of course, the pattern reminds one of Missoni but it was the color combinations that made me think they would make wonderful color palettes for a room. You never know where inspiration may strike so get out there! You may also learn something too!

Ethical Jewellery at Avasarah

Here is a beautiful ethical jewellery website, Avasarah to discretely or blatantly pass on to your significant other this Valentine’s Day (there is even a gift guide to help).

Small Smoky Leaf Earrings from Essence Collection (Michelle Tuck)
20% of profits go towards charity in India, Apne Ape / Ethically Cut Gems / British Made
Smoky quartz and pink sapphire - £39

18ct Ethical Gold Pod Earrings from Bibi Collection (Oria Ethical Jewellers)
Ethical mining / Ethically sourced gems / British Made
Aquamarine bead and gold - £317

Silver Oval Branch Bird Necklace from Branch Collection (Catherine Weitzman)
Created in Hawaii from 100% recycled sterling silver - £89

Avasarah, meaning ‘opportunity’ in Sanskrit provides the ultimate shopping opportunity for stylish and conscientious women looking for gorgeous earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings. Avasarah also provide an opportunity to learn more about the ethical side of the jewellery industry through informative articles and an ethical star rating system for each piece of jewellery. The website is incredibly user friendly and you can shop by ethics (British made, conflict free, ethically sourced, recycled metals and upliftment project).

Visit Avasarah for more ethical jewellery

Pierre Bonnard: The Late Interiors

If there is ever a reason to make a pilgrimage to New York to see a museum exhibition, it would be to see Pierre Bonnard: The Late Interiors at The Metropolitan Museum of Art that runs through April 19, 2009. It is a beautiful show of 80 paintings, drawings and watercolors from the artist's later years hung in the wonderful Lehman Galleries. I had a chance to see it Sunday and the bright and sunny colors had be dreaming of spring. I know you will love it too.

The demands and the pleasures of seeing, and its reward, crude seeing and intelligent seeing. -Pierre Bonnard

There is always color, it has yet to become light. - Pierre Bonnard

Purple in the grays. Vermilion in the orange. Shadows on a cold, fine day. - Pierre Bonnard

In trying to do what I have never done, give the impression one has on entering a room: one sees everything and at the same time nothing. - Pierre Bonnard

Color does not add a pleasant quality to design - it reinforces it. - Pierre Bonnard