Tea in the Salon at Wickham Place
Wickham Place is the London home of Lord and Lady Southgate, their children and staff. Located in fashionable Belgravia it is a fine Georgian terrace house.
Today Lady Southgate is receiving her friend the Honourable Diana Chetwynd in the Salon, and she has had Withers the butler bring in her fine Limoges tea set on a silver salver.
The Salon, situated on the first floor of Wickham Place with views across the square, retains much of its Eighteenth Century elegance in spite of the passing years and the changes to fashionable décor. The salon still retains its white marble Georgian fireplace and hand printed wallpaper featuring birds and flowers. The Marie Antoinette suite with its floral brocade is also original. The instigator of the original décor, Georgiana Lambert - a Georgian relative of Lord Southgate - hangs in a portrait above the fireplace. It, and her two favourite Meissen figurines of the Lady with the Canary and the Gentleman with the Butterfly have been moved from their original home in the Green Drawing Room into the Salon by the current Lady Southgate. There are perhaps a few more signs of the current lady of the house’s taste with two Limoges vases on the mantlepiece, a Queen Anne china cabinet filled with her porcelain collection and an Impressionist painting above the Hepplewhite bonheur du jour (ladies writing desk).
This year the FFF+ Group have decided to have a weekly challenge called “Snap Happy”. A different theme chosen by a member of the group each week, and the image is to be posted on the Monday of the week.
This week the theme, “a cup of tea” was chosen by Lisa (red stilletto),
What better way to take tea than with a Limoges tea set in the comfort and elegance of the Salon. However this upper-class domestic scene is different, for it is made up entirely of 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures, some of which come from my own childhood.
Fun things to look for in this tableaux include:
The 1950s Limoges tea set on an artisan sterling silver salver. The tea set consists of teapot, sucrier (lidded sugar bowl), milk jug, hot water jug and two cups and saucers. Each piece is stamped with a small green Limoges mark to the bottom. The set is larger and some pieces are in the Queen Anne china cabinet next to the fireplace. The sterling silver salver was made in England in 1988.
Two 1950s Limoges vases on the mantlepiece. Both are stamped with a small green Limoges mark to the bottom. These treasures I found in an overcrowded cabinet at the Mill Markets in Geelong.
A Chinese screen dating from the 1920s featuring hand-painted soapstone panels of birds and flowers. It is framed in ebony and capped with fruitwood and is remarkably heavy for its size. The reverse features Chinese scenes with mountains and pagodas.
An Eighteenth Century Hepplewhite bonheur du jour (ladies writing desk), hand decorated with leaves and gilding, made by the Bespaq company, who also made the Marie Antionette suite.
Georgian and Regency portraits of ladies and an Impressionist landscape, all in gilded frames.
A miniature Persian rug made by hand by Mackay and Gerrish in Sydney.
Two miniature diecast lead Meissen figurines: the Lady with the Canary and the Gentleman with the Butterfly, hand painted and gilded by me.
Tea in the Salon at Wickham Place
Wickham Place is the London home of Lord and Lady Southgate, their children and staff. Located in fashionable Belgravia it is a fine Georgian terrace house.
Today Lady Southgate is receiving her friend the Honourable Diana Chetwynd in the Salon, and she has had Withers the butler bring in her fine Limoges tea set on a silver salver.
The Salon, situated on the first floor of Wickham Place with views across the square, retains much of its Eighteenth Century elegance in spite of the passing years and the changes to fashionable décor. The salon still retains its white marble Georgian fireplace and hand printed wallpaper featuring birds and flowers. The Marie Antoinette suite with its floral brocade is also original. The instigator of the original décor, Georgiana Lambert - a Georgian relative of Lord Southgate - hangs in a portrait above the fireplace. It, and her two favourite Meissen figurines of the Lady with the Canary and the Gentleman with the Butterfly have been moved from their original home in the Green Drawing Room into the Salon by the current Lady Southgate. There are perhaps a few more signs of the current lady of the house’s taste with two Limoges vases on the mantlepiece, a Queen Anne china cabinet filled with her porcelain collection and an Impressionist painting above the Hepplewhite bonheur du jour (ladies writing desk).
This year the FFF+ Group have decided to have a weekly challenge called “Snap Happy”. A different theme chosen by a member of the group each week, and the image is to be posted on the Monday of the week.
This week the theme, “a cup of tea” was chosen by Lisa (red stilletto),
What better way to take tea than with a Limoges tea set in the comfort and elegance of the Salon. However this upper-class domestic scene is different, for it is made up entirely of 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures, some of which come from my own childhood.
Fun things to look for in this tableaux include:
The 1950s Limoges tea set on an artisan sterling silver salver. The tea set consists of teapot, sucrier (lidded sugar bowl), milk jug, hot water jug and two cups and saucers. Each piece is stamped with a small green Limoges mark to the bottom. The set is larger and some pieces are in the Queen Anne china cabinet next to the fireplace. The sterling silver salver was made in England in 1988.
Two 1950s Limoges vases on the mantlepiece. Both are stamped with a small green Limoges mark to the bottom. These treasures I found in an overcrowded cabinet at the Mill Markets in Geelong.
A Chinese screen dating from the 1920s featuring hand-painted soapstone panels of birds and flowers. It is framed in ebony and capped with fruitwood and is remarkably heavy for its size. The reverse features Chinese scenes with mountains and pagodas.
An Eighteenth Century Hepplewhite bonheur du jour (ladies writing desk), hand decorated with leaves and gilding, made by the Bespaq company, who also made the Marie Antionette suite.
Georgian and Regency portraits of ladies and an Impressionist landscape, all in gilded frames.
A miniature Persian rug made by hand by Mackay and Gerrish in Sydney.
Two miniature diecast lead Meissen figurines: the Lady with the Canary and the Gentleman with the Butterfly, hand painted and gilded by me.