BLOOMING BEAUTY
When the Mario Bua a collection went up for sale at Sotheby’s earlier this year, bidders were enchanted by the American interior designer’s amboyant antiques, which included a feast of decorative ceramics, from Regency dessert services to Sta ordshire ra
Just look at this pretty tulip-form ice cup! It was one of 12 that belonged to the ‘Prince of Chintz’.
On a January day in New York, Sotheby’s salesroom on Manha an’s Upper East Side rippled with anticipation. Already, 4,000 people had visited the pre-sale exhibition of the Mario Bua a: Prince of Interiors auction. Now, the sale itself was about to begin. Two days, 969 lots, 1,200 bidders and eight auctioneers later, the 22-hour bidding marathon came to an end with the famous interior designer’s antique furnishings making a cool $7.6m – more than double Sotheby’s high estimate. ‘We knew we would get an upli because it was a single-owner collection, but we weren’t expecting it to go that high,’ says Sotheby’s Dennis Harrington, who had to order a second print run of the catalogue, so popular the sale proved.
Dubbed the ‘Prince of Chintz’ in 1984, Mario
Bua a adored the English country house style, a look he recreated many times during his 55-year career as one of America’s celebrity interior designers. In true pioneering spirit, he was a self-made man, rising from shop assistant in the furnishings department of B Altman & Co to an interior designer with his own business by
1963. Winning a place on the Parsons School of Design European Summer School programme, while working at B Altman & Co, was the making of him, opening the doors to historic houses all over Britain and Europe where he found his muse.
HEAD OVER HEELS
In 1964, Bua a met John Fowler of Colefax and Fowler. The two became great friends, enjoying the ‘historical clu er’ of English country homes. He loved Fowler’s Hunting Lodge in Hampshire (subsequently owned by Nicky Haslam), and also visited Fowler’s colleague, the in uential interior decorator Nancy Lancaster, at Haseley Court in Oxfordshire and Avery Row in London, where her 1950s ‘bu ah-yellah’ room, a paean to the English country house look, was widely admired.
His passion for English interiors was timely. ‘Mario was at the height of his in uence in the 1980s and early 1990s when a wave of Anglomania washed over America,’ says Dennis.
Brideshead Revisited was on the TV, Charles had married Diana, and the seminal art exhibition, ‘The Treasure Houses of Britain’, was a racting droves of Americans to Washington DC’s National Gallery of Art to see the greatest showcase of paintings from historic British houses ever gathered. Bua a’s wealthy clients – among them Mariah Carey, Billy Joel and Malcolm Forbes – embraced his rich reinventions of their homes using high-quality antiques, period art and the nest chintz fabrics. On mantels, tables and shelves, 18th and 19thcentury porcelain and po ery, from beautiful dessert services to brilliant vegetable-form tureens, provided the decorative underpinning.
Dubbed the ‘Prince of Chintz’ in 1984, Mario Bua a adored the English country house style, a look he recreated many times during his 55-year career.
John Sandon, the Antiques Roadshow specialist and ceramics consultant at Bonhams, remembers those heady times well. ‘This sale was a time capsule of the taste in English antiques from 50 years ago that was exported en masse to America. Every month, dealers in London sent a container full of porcelain dining services from Britain to the United States, destined for New York decorators. Mario Bua a sold to homes large enough to use dinner and dessert sets to display – these weren’t shipped to be eaten o ; they contributed to a particular look.’
A LIFETIME’S COLLECTION
A er Mario Bua a’s death in 2018, at the age of 82, his friend, the design historian Emily Evans Eerdmans, was hired to clear his apartment in New York, country house in Connecticut, and ve storage units – three in Harlem and two in Staten Island. Sotheby’s Dennis Harrington visited the New York apartment – a 1920s Federal-style townhouse on the Upper
East Side – in spring 2019. ‘His apartment showcased his taste – there was a vast collection of things stored in the at,’ he remembers.
Dennis and his team made multiple visits to assess the contents, greatly helped by Emily, who knew the provenance of many things. Alongside top-quality antique furniture and art was a large cache of china, including a collection of blue-and-white Chinese porcelain, dog and rabbit gures, and fruit and vegetable-form boxes and tureens. ‘Mario had no garden or balcony, but bringing a feel of the outside inside was part of his design aesthetic. These pieces made him feel happy; he hated grey.’ In the si ing room, the niches of Bua a’s early 18th-century red japanned cabinet held tulip-form ice cups (for serving newly fashionable ice cream). ‘It was genius – they looked as if they were growing on the shelves,’ says Dennis. At Sotheby’s sale, the cabinet made $52,500 (est $10,000-$15,000), while the ice cups, c1820-30, sold for $22,500 (est $2,000-$3,000).
Although Bua a did li le entertaining in his octagonal dining room, going out most nights instead, he owned 24 dinner and dessert services dating from the early 19th century, including seven by Davenport, ve by Wedgwood and several more by Coalport. ‘They were mostly Regency, a period that epitomises the height of the English country house, when the interiors were almost perfect,’ says Dennis. ‘He didn’t use them, but he had the pleasure of owning them. He wasn’t an academic collector, but he liked the spirit of conviviality they conveyed.’
John Sandon concurs, ‘These tableware sets still look stunning today, just as they did when they were made to display and look purposefully eye-catching in Regency Britain. At the time, most country homes had chinoiserie interiors or the new classical style inspired by the Grand Tour, and owery, plant and shell shapes inspired by naturalists’ prints were an alternative. Davenport and Wedgwood were the two biggest po ery makers during this time, specialising in pearlware – their name for white earthenware made to mimic porcelain.’
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NIGHT
Take lot 267, a Davenport pearlware leaf-moulded dessert service, c1810, with accent bowls and pla ers in leaf shapes; the vibrant set fetched $32,500 (est $4,000-$6,000) at the sale. Another of the auction’s highlights was lot 493, an assembled collection of 80 pieces of Wedgwood’s Wreathed Shell dessert service, c1820 and c1864-82, with
authentic seashell-shaped plates; the successful bidder happily paid $100,000 (est $10,000-$15,000). Also up for sale was a Le uce Ware set by Dodie Thayer, a 1960s exception to Bua a’s antiques rule, which emulated the vegetable-form ceramics of previous centuries. Emily Evans Eerdmans’ observation that ‘he wanted to turn a room into a garden’ explains why Bua a sna ed 107 pieces of it. This haul subsequently fetched $60,000 (est $10,000-$15,000) at the Sotheby’s auction.
Over the two-day sale, bids came in from all over the world and half the lots sold online. At 11pm on Friday 24th January, the nal lot, a watercolour of Bua a on his canopy bed, went for $11,250 (est $2,000-$3,000). The Sotheby’s team gathered for a nal photo to post on social media, shouting ‘Chintz!’ at the camera. ‘Mario Bua a was larger than life, with a great sense of humour, and much loved by his peers and clients. This sale prolonged his legacy and encouraged people to look at antiques again,’ says Dennis.
At 11pm on Friday 24th January, the nal lot, a watercolour of Bua a on his canopy bed, went under the hammer for $11,250.