I’ll never forget the first time I visited Mr. and Mrs. Getty’s house on Broadway. It was like stepping into a Zeffirelli set or a Gérôme painting–be assured, photographs do not capture the atmospheric experience of those rooms. Equally startling to the feeling of being whisked away to another time and place was the museum-quality of the collection. Often when a collector has an iconic piece out of textbooks, it is displayed as if in an interrogation room, under a pin light and in isolation. But here, Mrs. Getty brought chinoiserie and Chinese, Georgian and Venetian, 17th century and 20th century happily co-existing all together.
Here are a few of the eyecatchers that made me look thrice:
These baroque-o-coco planters are insane and insanely wonderful. To me, they recall Mrs. Getty’s love of Venice and its opulent decadence.
Keeping bees and jarring one’s own honey is a country fantasy to me – as is this whimsical beekeep that is seven feet tall!
This bronze gourd is an appealing piece of sculpture-delighting your guests by opening it to serve a postprandial glass of brandy is optional.
