Bonhams 1793 : A pair of green and cream painted serpentine side cabinets supplied by John Fowler of Colefax and Fowler

supplied by John Fowler of Colefax and Fowler
The serpentine moulded faux marble tops above vertical striped bowed doors enclosing a shelf, flanked by similarly decorated sides, on ring turned tapering legs, mid 20th century, 84cm wide, 39cm deep, 80cm high (33" wide, 15" deep, 31" high).

Sold for £2,500 inc. premium

Footnotes

Supplied by the London decorator John Fowler (1906-1977) of Colefax and Fowler for the vendor's London townhouse circa 1960.

It was with painted furniture that John Fowler's creativity was developed, having fled his office job in the 1930s and joined the London decorators Thornton Smith. Initially he restored and 'faked' Chinese wall papers before going on to run the painted furniture department and Peter Jones before he joined Sibyl Colefax (1874-1950) at her firm. When Nancy Lancaster (1897-1994), one of Fowler's clients, purchased the firm from the retiring Colefax and the end of World War II, the firm was reborn as Colefax and Fowler. Although Fowler's interiors became grander and he went on to work at many of the National Trust's most important houses, he continued to use painted furniture in his private commissions.

Category: Furniture / English Furniture and Works of Art

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