Category: New Arrivals

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New Arrivals: A Closer Look with Jim Gallagher

Jim Gallagher, Garden Court Antiques

We sat down with Jim Gallagher, owner of Garden Court Antiques in San Francisco, for an overview of the new shipment, which just landed and is now in the gallery. Jim notes a shift in preference from larger, oversized items to smaller, distinctive pieces that blend into and enhance contemporary living spaces.

Interviewer: Jim, could you share some highlights from your recent shipment?

Jim Gallagher: Overall, I adopted a different approach this time. Generally, we aim to source pieces that are immediately striking and evoke a moment of awe. However, based on last year’s sales, I noticed a shift in how people use antiques. Larger items have become more challenging to sell, while there’s a growing preference for smaller pieces that add depth and ‘soul’ to a room. These work well with contemporary designs and light, airy spaces, which contrast the often darker Victorian interiors.

People seem to appreciate having unique pieces that enhance the character of their spaces—pieces that can’t be found just anywhere. It’s about the uniqueness and personal connection to the item. So, this time, I focused on acquiring smaller, versatile items like side tables from various periods and regions—Anglo-Indian, French, and Italian, spanning the 17th to 19th centuries. Their color, style, and exceptional construction are not just beautiful but captivating, offering that moment of awe. We still have larger pieces like farm tables, but these smaller items seem to really stand out.

Interviewer: Are there some specific pieces that caught your eye?

Jim Gallagher: Yes. Among the standout items is a late 19th-century English fireplace shield made of copper and steel. It was designed to sit in front of a small fireplace when not in use, so you’re not looking into an unsightly, empty hearth. But beyond its practical use, it’s a stunning art piece. The copper features a peacock design, making it a remarkable example of late 19th-century English folk art. It’s quite manageable in size, perfect for a tabletop display.

Interviewer: That’s great. What’s next?

Jim Gallagher: This is another unique piece. It’s an Edwardian stool, not particularly old or historically significant, but striking nonetheless. It features gorgeous aged green leather with brass nailhead trim and a touch of mahogany at the base— just a fun, wonderful piece you won’t find in anybody’s house. You can’t get leather to do that today. It takes 100 years.

Interviewer: What about the larger pieces in this collection?

Jim Gallagher: One of the magical aspects of sourcing antiques is the connections you make with people in Europe. A good friend, Peter Collingridge, who has a shop in Stow-on-the-Wold, called me about six months ago. He had a piece that wasn’t right for him, but he thought it might suit me. It turned out to be this spectacular Spanish trestle table, nearly 400 years old, previously in a private collection in England for the last 50 years. Its top is made from a single plank of walnut, about 7 feet long and 3 feet wide. It’s a rare find, especially in such original condition. This is certainly a more impressive piece and was a moment of awe.

Additionally, we have a pair of Italian walnut demilune tables that are as functional as they are beautiful. Originating most likely from a monastery, these tables can be used together as a center table or separately as console tables, adorned with baroque elements and harp-shaped bases.

Interviewer: Excellent, let’s continue.

Jim Gallagher: This piece here is a lovely small French occasional table made of beautiful fruitwood. It’s wonderfully shaped with a quirky shelf, and the drawer passes through to both sides—ideal for discreet transactions. It’s not something you’ll find at mainstream stores; it’s truly unique. And for a touch of whimsy, we have an Omersa leather bulldog footstool from the mid-20th century. This fun piece is a conversation starter and showcases bespoke British design.

Interviewer: That’s wonderful.

Jim Gallagher: And who does chic better than the French? We have French cocktail tables from the 1930s and 1940s, fabulous with brass and antique mirror shelves. They are truly one-of-a-kind, adding a touch of something elegant and old to your house.

Interviewer: That’s perfect, thank you.

We hope this collection is a source of inspiration for designers and collectors; each piece has a story to tell.

Visit us at Garden Court Antiques, 1700 16th Street, in the SOMA design neighborhood. We would love to show you around. ^jh

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Campaign Furniture Comes Home From the Wars

Handsome Mahogany Campaign Chest On Chest, Circa 1850.

by Lisa Hammel, The New York Times, November 5, 1966

Nineteenth-century campaign furniture, is as square-shouldered and bristling with brass as a four-star general.

Campaign furniture refers to those normally austere pieces used by army officers in the field or naval officers at sea. The explanation for its popularity may lie in an offhand remark made by a furniture buyer, who recently referred to the style as “basically boxes.” Basically boxes is right, yet it is probably the simple rectangular lines of the pieces that make them work well in modern rooms, in many period settings or in a mixed decor. The austerity of shape is offset, however, by the warm gleam of brass hardware. Traditionally on these pieces, drawer pulls are recessed rectangles; corners are capped with metal, and sometimes a strip of metal edges the top of the chest or desk.

Although the idea of field furniture is as old as war, the pieces seen today date mainly from the Napoleonic era in style. Some authorities believe the chests were based on the much older portable oriental chests, the boxy frames of which were decorated with a similar metal trim. The military and naval chests of Napoleon’s day were made so they could be stacked, and many of today’s still can be. Handles on the sides facilitated carrying.

Almost all the old pieces are mahogany. Contemporary versions might be anything from rosewood to brightly colored lacquer.

While the pleces may no longer be used under the narrow panoplied tent, or inside the captain’s snug cabin, observers of today’s decorating scene point out that the add-and-subtract, semi-portable pieces have a peculiar usefulness for today’s space-cramped, on-the-move population.

Campaign Furniture Comes Home From the Wars, by Lisa Hammel, The New York Times, November 5, 1966, Section R, Page 36 – New York Times Archive.

Lisa Hammel (1928-2019) was a staff reporter with the New York Times covering women’s news and education. She later wrote about crafts, artists and exhibitions and interviewed figures such as Edward Albee in their homes. She won a major journalism award in 1969 for an interview with Dr. Spock. In 1978, she became founding editor of Antiques World magazine.

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Wheel Chasers: Historical Paris Street Furniture of the 19th Century.

historical chasse-roues, cast iron ball Paris street furniture and other designs.

Wandering through neighborhoods in Paris, you’ll notice that doorways are often flanked by low structures made either of stone or metal. These guard stones are called chasse-roues (French lit. “wheel chaser“) or bouteroue (“to push the wheel out of the way“). These projecting metal, concrete, or stone exterior architectural elements are usually located at the corner and/or foot of gates, portes-cochères, garage entries, and walls. They function to prevent damage from vehicle tires and wheels. During the period of horse-drawn vehicles, the wheels, including the hub, would protrude beyond the vehicle’s body, and were thus prone to collide with and damage a corner of a building or gate. Chasse-roues were developed as a warning signs: ‘keep back‘, ‘keep your distance’, ‘don’t brush up against me’, and as traffic bollards––or, in the common parlance, ‘traffic cones’ ⚠️😄.  They are a historical item of street furniture and some are still in use today. 1 2 3

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photos: Sylvaine Lang, Moments Parfait blog, Chasse-roues. February 26, 2019

Stone was the favored material for chasse-roues during medieval and Renaissance times but many different cast iron designs were installed during the Haussmannian transformation of Paris. 4 Of the surviving chasse-roues in Paris, many are from that age of economical iron and steel. Cast iron was often preferred because it’s affordablity and versatility. Initially, a pattern or mould of the design––the most expensive part of the process––would be made. Then the molten cast iron would be poured or ‘cast’ into the mould and could take many decorative forms with each subsequent casting being relatively inexpensive to produce. Many ornamental cast-iron pieces from the late 19th and early 20th centuries survive today. These decorative artifacts represent a perfect union of form and function projecting a sense of strength, durabilty and good design.

When automobiles replaced fiacres 5, chasse-roues no longer served their purpose being replaced by objects meant for automobile traffic, such as curbs and guard rails. They were, in fact, undesirable but because they were unusually difficult to remove, most of them were just left in place. Those that remain stand as silent sentinals to earlier traffic on those historic roads. 6

Today these architectural artifacts are treasured for historic reasons and are often protected as part of a city’s cultural heritage.

On one of our recent excursions into Paris, we found a lovely patinaed pair of iron ball, “boule”, chasse-roues which we had electrified and museum-mounted as an impressive pair of table lamps.7 ^jh

Pair Of Iron Ball, "boule", chasse-roues mounted as table lamps, French, circa 1870.
Pair Of Iron Ball, “boule”, chasse-roues mounted as table lamps, French, circa 1870.

Further readings and sources:

  1. Moments Parfait, https://www.momentsparfaits.com/blog ↩
  2. The Parisian Fields, Noman Ball, June 2011, https://parisianfields.com/2011/06/26/the-art-of-the-chasse-roue/ ↩
  3. Un jour de plus à Paris, https://www.unjourdeplusaparis.com/en/paris-balades/balade-belleville-menilmontant ↩
  4. Haussmann’s renovation of Paris, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haussmann%27s_renovation_of_Paris ↩
  5. A fiacre is a form of hackney coach, a horse-drawn four-wheeled carriage for hire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiacre_(carriage) ↩
  6. Revolvy : https://www.revolvy.com/page/Guard-stone ↩
  7. Pair of cast iron ball chasse-roues mounted as table lamps, French, Circa 1870 at Garden Court Antiques, https://www.gardencourtantiques.com/shop/pair-of-iron-ball-finials-now-mounted-as-table-lamps-french-circa-1870/ ↩
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It’s 2018 and Back to Work! Welcoming, Wonderful and Inspiring!

Happy New Year 2018 from Garden Court Antiques San Francisco!

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year!

I hope that you all had holidays filled with laughter and love!

Now it’s time to get back to work! There are walls that need color, rooms that need furniture and houses that need to be turned into homes. It is our job to make the places that our clients live and work to be welcoming, wonderful and inspiring. How lucky are we to do this work and how lucky are they to have us!

I am looking forward to working with you in this next year. Please come by and see us at the showroom or take a look at what we have to offer at GardenCourtAntiques.com.

Sincerely,

Garden Court Antiques

Items Featured:


^jg ^jh

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Contemporary Art and Beautiful Antiques.

Modern Art and Beautiful Antiques at Garden Court in San Francisco:
photo: Laurie Ghielmetti.

2016, and we have had a busy first week!

One of our commitments since moving into our new Vermont Center Showroom has been simply, show how modern and antiques can be used to create gorgeous and eclectic interiors.

We’ve been fortunate to work in tandem with Fine Arts Consultant and Interior Designer, Laurie Ghielmetti Interiors in our efforts.

Combining modern with antique reflects the real world of interior design today and we are happy with the results.

.. more to come. Meanwhile, we hope you’ll stop in to view our temporary contemporary exhibit at 151 Vermont Street in San Francisco.

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Zuber Wallpaper: Vue de l’Amérique du Nord

Zuber Wall Paper Panels, circa 1852, Mounted as a Screen
Garden Court Antiques Seven Panel Screen: Views of North America, West Point, New York – Historical Zuber & Cie Wallpaper panel.

“West Point, New York” is one scene from the scenic wallpaper “Views of North America” first produced by the French firm Zuber et Cie in 1834. This scenic contains 32 panels and shows some of the natural wonders of the continent: New York Bay, Boston Harbor, West Point, & the natural bridge of Virginia. Scenic wallpapers were introduced around 1804 and remained popular with new designs being introduced until 1865. Scenic wallpaper allowed the viewer to visually access an historical moment during the July Monarchy (July 1830- 1848) in which America was idealized as the future of France.

“Vues d’Amérique du Nord” offers an idealized view of Jacksonian America as conceived by its designer, Jean-Julien Deltil, who may never have visited the United States and based hiswork on the designs of Jacques-Géard Milbert, and designed the paper for Jean Zuber et Cie in 1834. Zuber crafted the paper using 1,700 hand-carved blocks and 223 different colors. The Frenchman’s scenes of free blacks engaged in trade, dressed in finery, and residing happily alongside their white counterparts presented an idealized (bordering on utopian) view of the newly born country, which may have been intended as a slight to the English as much as it was a glorification of the Americans’ nascent democratic nation.

In 1852, Jean Zuber took advantage of a nationalist wave in the US and republished “Views of North America”, as “The War of American Independence”. He substituted foreground figures so the Boston Harbor became the Boston Tea Party. Peaceful scenes became battlefields.

Zuber et Cie Headquaters Rixheim , France
The Zuber Headquarters, Rixheim , France

Between 1804 and 1860, Zuber Manufacture de Papiers Peints produced more than 25 of these panoramas wallpapers. The process is labor-intensive, requiring hundreds of hand-carved pearwood blocks. Unfortunately, the method of carving the blocks is virtually a lost art, a set for one panorama took up to 20 engravers a full year to complete. For some panels, 70 to 80 different woodblocks might be required, applied one by one in an exacting order. To create the horizon, four people work simultaneously using a complex hand-brushing technique, producing a velvety matte. The papers are then refined by hand and dried on huge racks. Zuber et Cie’s wallpapers are astonishing in their scale and painterly attention to coloration, shading, and detail.

It was reported that Zuber’s wallpapers were so renowned that King Louis Philippe honored him with the Legion of Honor in 1834, the year that ‘Scenic America’ was printed. The Zuber blocks were recently deemed an historic monument by the French government.

Fascinating & beautiful video from the Manufacturer, Zuber et Cie, which shows us how these these large-scale scenic block-print wallpaper panels are made using the same craftsmanship and time-consuming artistry that has defined their work for centuries. ** We recommend you turn the audio off, there is no narration and the music is, well, lacking. :)

The White House.

West side of the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House showing the panoramic Zuber & Cie wallpaper Scenes of North AmericaJacqueline Kennedy was so taken by the beauty and historical significance of these wallpaper block print panels that she had one installed in the White House in the 1960’s
The Diplomatic Reception Room in the White House is one of three oval rooms in the White House. It was refurbished in 1960 during the Dwight Eisenhower administration in the style of the Federal period with antiques selected by New York interior designer Michael Greer. In 1962, with advice from American antiques expert Henry Francis du Pont, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy had the room papered with antique French scenic wallpaper produced by Jean Zuber et Cie in Rixheim (Alsace), France c. 1834. The Zuber wallpaper, titled Scenes of North America, and features scenes of Boston Harbor, the Natural Bridge in Virginia, West Point, New York, Niagara Falls, and New York Harbor.
The sweeping panorama on the elliptical walls provide a sense of space negating the lack of windows. Additional Federal-era furniture was acquired, and upholsteries and the carpet furthered a soft gold and blue decor.
~ [Source: Author: Paulus Swaen]

[wooslider slide_page=”zuber-wallpater” slider_type=”slides” thumbnails=”default” order=”ASC” order_by=”menu_order” limit=”20″]
^jh

Further readings and sources:

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Lewis deSoto Site Projects 1980-1986

Temple 1986 30 x 30 inches Lewis deSoto
Temple 1986 30 x 30 inches Lewis deSoto

 

Ellipse Tide 1982 - Lewis deSoto
Ellipse Tide 1982 – Lewis deSoto

 

Tideline 1981 - Lewis deSoto
Tideline 1981 – Lewis deSoto

Wave System 1983 - Lewis deSoto
Wave System 1983 – Lewis deSoto

Combining contemporary art alongside antiques reflect the way Interior Designers innovate with their design projects today.

Next time you visit the showroom at 151 Vermont you’ll notice ‘temporary’ exhibitions of contemporary works of art.

Let us know what you think.

Currently in the Showroom we are featuring photographic works from Napa Artist, Lewis deSoto in conjunction with Laurie Ghielmetti Interiors. These ephemeral images were staged in response to the ‘destructive process’ of Land Art, a defining element of Postwar American art.

Lewis deSoto
ARTIST STATEMENT
Site Projects 1980-1986
The Site Projects were the step between my purely photographic work of the late 70’s and early 80’s and the sculpture that was to take precedent by 1989. The work was a philosophical response to “earthworks” sculptors like Smithson, Heizer and DeMaria. What issue was taken, was the destructive process (I mean this in digital terms, where the original is destroyed as a piece of data is constructed); bulldozers marked and moved the earth to serve their metaphorical purpose.

The Site Projects used the site as a stage that left a dwindling trace of my work there. I added a temporal element that was echoed in many works that took place during long camera exposures at night. These works dealt with notions of power and scale; like Chinese landscapes, these works compared the scale of the human against the overarching embrace
of the world, the stars and the galaxies.

Most projects began with drawings, some formalized instructions that could be reengaged at a later date or by myself or other artists. This was, in part, a response to the ephemeral nature of color print photography at the time. Now these works can be translated digitally and placed on paper with pigments for permanent display. The desired print size of the work has also grown over the years, starting at 18” x 18” and ending at 30” x 30” sometime in the early 1990’s. I have engaged larger sizes now that these are translated to digital media.

Read more on the artist’s website: http://lewisdesoto.net/Wallworks/Site_Projects.html

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Warmth and Luminosity: Jerry Carniglia.

At the Garden Court Vermont Street Showroom, we continue to feature select contemporary works that allow you to visualize how design works in the ‘real world’ intermingling styles and periods, fine Continental antiques and decorative pieces alongside more modern works. We’ve been fortunate to work with the informed Bay area interior designer and fine arts professional, Laurie Ghielmetti in hosting this exhibit.

California’s San Francisco Bay area was a major center for the emergent Abstract Expressionist school of art in the years following World War II. The work was characterized by ‘non-objective imagery that appeared emotionally charged with personal meaning’; an exuberant ‘free-spirited wave of creative energy’.

The Abstract Expressionist Movement in San Francisco derived inspiration from a broad collective of artists: San Francisco’s Beat poets, Dixieland jazz musicians, and the area’s stunning vistas were essential parts of Abstract Expressionism, as were artistic and spiritual contacts with Asia.

Today, we showcase a personal favorite, a large-scale work by the California Bay area artist, Jerry Carniglia.

UT-2151 2014 oil on canvas 81 x 63 inches Jerry Carniglia
UT-2151 2014 oil on canvas 81 x 63 inches

Jerry Carniglia
ARTIST STATEMENT

As much as every instant of the painter’s process requires his in-the-moment decision-making, the resulting works are multi-layered compilations of action over time— gestures and counter-gestures that amplify or obscure one another.

In his large-scale paintings on canvas, monumental non-representational forms hover in pictorial space and imply a potent energy force such as a tidal wave, avalanche, or cosmic flash. The dynamic forms and rich palettes of burnt umber, gold and maroon create an epic quality, like that in works by Titian, one of Carniglia’s influences, but without reference to specific mythic or religious subjects. Although rooted in Abstract Expressionism, Carniglia’s work could be described as contemporary Baroque, with its exaggerated sense of motion, grandeur and implied drama. In what he describes as our post-existential era, Carniglia’s act of painting is a search for meaning, not through religion, myth or history, and not as a personal rationalization in a meaningless world, but meaning that may be found in the unseen and otherwise unarticulated structures that underlie all of existence.

Jerry Carniglia, artist

Jerry Carniglia was born in San Francisco in 1946. He received an MFA from UC Berkeley in 1993. He is the recipient of the Eisner and Phelan Prizes, a Gerbode Foundation Award and a MacDowell Colony Fellowship. His works are in the collections of The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Berkeley Art Museum.

** excerpted from Chandra Cerrito Contemporary Gallery, Oakland, CA

Read More:
Abstract Expressionism
kahn academy – Abstract Expressionism
The San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism UCPress
Artist’s personal website: JerryCarniglia.com

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Dianne Romaine – The Chroma Series

Dianne Romaine Chroma #13 24x24 acryl_cnvs 2010 $1800The blending of traditional, antique and contemporary makes a space interesting, exciting and a bit unexpected. To be sure, interiors design with a focus on all traditional or entirely contemporary stylings are splendid. But, often, when a designer takes the risk to blend styles; mix contemporary with antique, the results can be range from the stunning to dramatic.

A blend of styles reflects the way we live today; a mashup, if you will, that makes a larger statement than strict adherence to an normative or aesthetic.

Today, we celebrate an artist whose work we are showcasing in our Vermont Street Showroom, Dianne Romaine. Her Chroma paintings speak to her fascination with light and its magical properties. Select pieces are now on view.

“Dianne Romaine’s use of saturated pigment in her Chroma series composes a dramatic, almost photographically rendered void flooded with light. This captured moment references the photographic, giving the viewer a frozen glimpse of a transient glow.” – Oakland Art Museum
http://oaklandartmurmur.org/

These “Chroma” painting reflect a fascination with light that has been with me always- how it spills into a room, the edges, the slow, subtle changes as time advances, its magical presence. The light in these paintings come from layers of color, progressing to darks, allowing an internal illumination.

You can read more at the artist’s website http://www.dianneromaine.com

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An April Monday Morning Conversation: Modernism vs Contemporary.

 

Modernism and Contemporary design with Antiques

A Monday conversation on design to start the week:
Jim Gallagher, manager of Garden Court Antiques remarks on a question & dialogue posed to him over the weekend regarding modernism & contemporary interior design elements.

The Vermont Street Showroom is featuring some contemporary works in the coming months to show the exciting partnership to be had when mixing styles