1951 James Reynolds Painted Coral Red Chinoisierie Cocktail Coffee Table

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A classic part of any decor, the cocktail or coffee table is an integral part of any sitting room. Painted … Read more A classic part of any decor, the cocktail or coffee table is an integral part of any sitting room. Painted In a beautiful red chinoiserie but in the Thai style. Heavy wear to the top but overall presents very well

This unique example, signed and dated, was painted in 1951 by James Reynolds (NÉ Harold Warner Reynolds, 1891-1957), an award-winning costume and set designer, book illustrator, author , and wallpaper and textile designer who was born in New York City and died in Bellagio, Italy. His works include murals for the Palladian Ballroom at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., the Old Warson Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri, Italy's Villa Torrigiani, near Padua, and Manhattan's House of Hellas, the headquarters of the Friends Of Greece. He also painted a portrait of Happy Landings racehorse owned by beer heiress Mrs. August Busch, and designed costumes for the 1921, 1922, and 1923 editions of the Ziegfeld Follies as well as for Jerome Kerns musical "Sunny", Cole Porter's "fifty Million Frenchmen", and Charles Dillingham's production of "The Last of Mrs. Cheney", Reynolds's paintwork on the item offered here reflects a postwar evocation of the European craze for chinoiserie in the 1700s, its coral-red lacquer finish richly embellished monkeys, and Thai-costumed figures building a pair of caparisoned elephants, the howdahs sheltering a mandarin and his wife. The fantastical effect recalls the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The King and I", which had its Broadway premiere the year that Reynolds painted this extravagant furnishing. The presence of shells, both carved and painted, underscores the exotic impression. It is made in two pieces: the electrified vitrine sits atop the commode. Reynolds signed the piece, as well as a matching cocktail table with his initials, J.R., followed by a five-pointed star and the the date. The case piece install, styled after 18th- century Genoese furniture , likely was sourced from Lavezzo, Inc., the Manhattan furniture shop of Reynold's friend Daniel H. Lavezzo (his family long owned the old0guard pub P.J. Clarke's), which was noted for "Period Reproductions". per a 1945 guidebook, and for its Italian-style furnishings, per Reynolds's book "Baroque Splendour" (1950). Lavezzo's firm provided vintage furniture and lighting to Vizcaya, the great Miami mansion of James Deering, and designed a custom-made headboard for actress Marilyn Monroe: John D. Rockefeller was also a client. See less