Page 113 - Homes & Antiques (February 2020)

The Essential Antiques
CLAY BOWLS
ANDREAS VON EINSIEDEL,
interiors photographer
For me, the essential antique
is the one well-loved piece that
has accompanied you for many
years. If you removed from our
home the items we call antiques,
we would not be le# with much –
perhaps two chairs. Our house is
$lled with antiques, but the one
our house could not be without
is a small group of Byzantine
clay bowls that were saved from
a watery grave o% an island in
the Mediterranean. I brought
them to the surface myself as a
teenager many years ago. They
were part of an entire cargo of
similar bowls which, a#er the
ship carrying them went down,
sat on the bo"om of the sea for
600-700 years. As they were in
stacks, the inside of the bowls are
surprisingly well preserved, their
glazing still intact in parts and
the simple engravings clear, as if
made yesterday. It is di&cult to
identify a single antique object –
the art of creating an interesting
home is about layering and
combining objects, and no single
piece will be able to achieve this
on its own.
CRYSTAL VASE
WILL FARMER, Antiques Roadshow expert
& auctioneer at Fieldings
Every home should have a good crystal vase. I’m not talking about
the traditional pieces that were the mainstay of many producers
over the years, but the design-led examples created with fantastic
!air from the 1930s to the 1960s. This is something of an Achilles
heel for me, as I am incorrigible when it comes to my obsession
with them. I have dozens, but in my defence I do use them. I’ve
long been a fan of 20th-century clear crystal glass, especially
pieces made by the likes of Stevens & Williams, Webb Corbe" and
John Walsh Walsh, whose output through the 20th century was
immense. The pieces created during the 1900s
by designers such as Keith Murray, Irene
Stevens (vase pictured le#) and John Luxton
are so simple and stylish, and with their
clean lines they are as contemporary today
as they were decades ago. They are also still
out there to be found languishing in charity
shops and antiques centres. Whether $lled
to the brim with cut !owers or grouped on a
sideboard, they o%er instant impact for
l i ve t
LIBRARY CH
FREYA SIMMS,
LAPADA chief execu
This is certainly a chal
as there is such a rich
of antiques to choose f
However, as a big read
one antique I personally
every home should hav
comfortable and elegant
armchair that would loo
almost any room, and tha
to accommodate in any
or space. I think I would
this early 19th-century
bergère – it’s quite t
library armchair
February 2020 Homes & Antiques 113