The house needing a redo for husband number four and sparkling it up with silver gilt all over the place. Maybe the fourth time’s the charm. If not it’s back to Meissen little people for the next one. Edwardian silver gilt accent touches, various auction houses.

Silver-gilt inkstand. Tripod shaped and with three dolphin supports, the body reeded and with foliage and milled bands and the hinged domed cover chased with scalloped medallions with husks on a textured ground, with a reeded baluster finial Glass liner. Victorian, made in 1883. British. Edward James Watherston, London, maker. Maker’s marks: Mark of Edward James Watherston, London. The stand and body marked underneath, the cover marked inside. Image © Christie’s 2026. Fair use license. https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5565241
Silver-gilt vase of elegant rounded campagna form and replete with intricate applied decoration from the lip to the foot with the partly fluted flower body and the base decorated with alternating chased acanthus and palm leaves with an applied ropework border connecting the upper and lower body. The upper body is applied with further acanthus and palmette scrolls and rosette foliage with four identical monograms separating the scrolled foliage, each surmounted by marquess coronets and likely being the initials of the individual for whom the vase was made. Surmounting the sides of the vase are twin silver-gilt serpent handles, each formed of two intertwined snakes, the snakes being etched with scales. Copper liner. mid 19th c. Made in Belgium. Maker’s marks: various marks engraved into the rim and side of the base, including a Belgian fineness mark, an unidentified maker’s park PI, and a French Weevil import mark. Image © 2026 Mayfair Gallery Limited. Fair use license. https://www.mayfairgallery.com/large-antique-belgian-silver-gilt-vase-snake-handles
Pair of sterling silver-gilt furnishing vases of ginger jar form, the bodies entirely chased with foliage on a matte ground and the detachable domed covers with cascading acanthus leaves and palmettes above cylindrical necks. Edwardian, made in 1906. British. Made in Chester by George Nathan and Ridley Hayes. Image © Bonhams 2001-2026. Fair use license. https://www.bonhams.com/auction/31949/lot/16/a-pair-of-edwardian-sterling-silver-gilt-furnishing-vases-george-nathan-and-ridley-hayes-chester-1906/
Silver-gilt inkstand with applied, engraved, and chased work with a prominent acorn leaf motif. The inkwell, pounce pot, and quill pot are formed to resemble covered urns with the addition of floral garlands and quatrefoil accents. All three vessels rest atop their base which is distinguished by gadrooned handles and scrolling feet centered by lion makes and paws. William IV period, Hallmarked London 1832. English. William Bateman II, maker. Maker’s marks: Stamped WB and hallmarked 1832 to the base. Image © 2026 M.S. Rau. Fair use license. https://rauantiques.com/products/silver-gilt-inkstand-by-william-bateman-ii?utm_term=&utm_campaign=PLA_Standard_All-Products&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=4254617837&hsa_cam=19982553761&hsa_grp=148565502173&hsa_ad=657295298876&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=pla-2443610679816&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19982553761&gbraid=0AAAAAD9DBtqt-xn500EKqBJRvOnoua0zT&gclid=CjwKCAjw3NHWBhANEiwAtpwId4GoYq2bhE2spov11941qMbNVheb7peJxZqAQ9YOJUb22Dc7y4WqpBoCgGoQAvD_BwE#product-desc

Picnicing with a Coracle wicker picnic basket with the plates and all that. One with a cane wrapped flask for the lemonade. Mostly from the 1920s and looking like something Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson could put hard boiled eggs and a spot of marmalade in along with a flask filled with whiskey and sneak off to the back gardens of Sissinghurst for tea.

A four piece picnic set by Coracle. The black leather cloth covered case with nickeled brightwork, lid and fall-front opening to reveal wicker cage interior fully fitted with accessories including provisions boxes, twin vacuum flasks, wicker covered bottles, glasses, butter and preserves jars, enamel plates, ceramic cups and saucers, the lid housing cutlery. 1920s. British. Coracle by G. W. Scott and Son, maker. Image © Bonhams 2001-2026. Fair use license. https://www.bonhams.com/auction/31949/lot/76/a-four-person-picnic-set-by-coracle-1920s/
Picnic basket for six people in wicker with handles and the lock and clasp in brass, the lid opening on an interior lined with canvas, containing three thermoses, four boxes, cups, and cutlery for six people including silver metal forks. ca. 1930. British. Coracle by G. W. Scott and Son, maker. Image © 1stDibs.com, Inc. 2026, Fair use license https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/decorative-objects/bowls-baskets/decorative-baskets/picnic-basket-6-people-coracle-g-w-scott-son-circa-1930/id-f_29922602/
Picnic basket with green dishes. Cups and saucers, plates, boxes, a bottle and a few thermoses. ca. 1950s. British. Coracle by G. W. Scott and Son, maker. Image ©1870-2026 Bukowski Auktioner AB. Fair use license. https://www.bukowskis.com/en/lots/806444-picnic-basket-coracle-england-1950th
Detail of a 1920s Coracle picnic basket, showing the spirit lamp to boil water for tea in. The cane wrapping the handle is so you won’t burn your hand. 1920s. British. Coracle by G. W. Scott and Son, maker. Image ©1870-2026 Hemswell Antiques. Fair use license. https://www.hemswell-antiques.com/antiques/antique-collectables/1920%25E2%2580%2599s-%25E2%2580%2598coracle%25E2%2580%2599-four-person-picnic-basket-132108.html

Coracle specialized in “motoring” tea and luncheon sets designed specifically for early twentieth-century automobile travel. These are some of them.

Very Eerie Pre Halloween Art for Saturday the 17th of October in the 2026 fall show with the winds already picking up for whatever or whoever is blowing in next

whispering on air as the last words of the dying pharoah’s curse escape his lips as far into the sand and a long time after the explorers poking through his mother’s tomb strip away her golden walls . . . a need to be careful for sure . . . the ancients having left their watchmen to keep guarding the Valley of the Kings . . . armed they are with ghostly knives and swords that flash red and green into the night . . . if they touch you . . . well that’s it . . . no more Shepheard’s Hotel for you . . .no . . . a turning into a white mist and gone . . . better hide . . . here they come

my series post for today published to my Substack if you’d like to see it. Thank you!

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/very-eerie-pre-halloween-art-for-591

Grief. Augustus Saint-Gaudens, sculptor. Marian Clover Hooper Adams memorial, Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, DC. She died in 1885. @badbrahmin on Instagram. via Instagram.

Very Eerie Pre Halloween Art for the 15th of October in the 2026 fall show . . .

smiling on air as in the great square of a city somewhere in Europe something goes wrong with the fountain . . . serpent looking creatures in day glo orange but with lots of heads like a hydra and all of them spitting pinkish slime . . . creeping from where the water comes out with an especially big one coming from Venus’s nose up at the top that’s a weird shade of marigold . . . growing and growing like spaghetti coming out of the holes in a colander . . . each head down a different street and out like a fan and back in down at the great gate . . . oh no . . . they are all beginning to squeeze with the houses on the outside bulging out first and then further in . . . the lost pythons from the zoo . . . went down the sewer but who would have thought they would emerge less friendly than they went in and not friendly back then . . .

my series post for today published to my Substack at the link if you’d like to see it

Serpent-shaped cast iron bench supports. ca. 1910. Made in England by William Lanes. Courtesy of @coolingandcollinginteriors. via @lostfoundartny.

Very Eerie Pre Halloween Art for October 14th in the 2026 fall show . . .

effervescing on air on the paws of a baby jaguar as he cuddles up with his mother as down in the valley the lake begins to shiver and shake . . . something rising in the middle with a headdress covered with feathers like the ones in the Aztec exhibit at the museum . . . warlike they looked then and this is even worse . . . spear with one of these jade knives stuck to the end and a hot pink colored miasma cloud coming from its sandals and hovering around . . . maybe it will shrink or turn gray and fade away . . . one can only hope

my series post for today published to my Substack at the link if you’d like to see it. The crystal pumpkin in the thumbnail is from Steuben.

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/very-eerie-pre-halloween-art-for-3be

Very Eerie Pre Halloween Art for the 12th of October in the 2026 fall show . . .

Sparking on air as an avenging angel on a winged horse makes her way past the moon . . . things awry and needing to be made better and that right away . . . sent by the ancient gods who live in the last planet on the other side of the sun a few galaxies over . . . better be careful . . . sent to do the gods’ bidding . . . the new gods ignored for too long and the old no longer waiting to return . . .

my series post for today published to my Substack at the link if you’d like to see it. https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/very-eerie-pre-halloween-art-for-6da

Saul and the Witch of Endor. 1777. American. Benjamin West, painter (1738-1820). via fineartamerica.com.

Very Eerie Pre Halloween Art for the 11th of October in the Year of Our Lord MMXXVI

sparkling on air as a ghostly ship from a long-ago time sets sail on a frozen sea . . . a wraith at the wheel, one for a lookout and more to man the dories . . . the ice melted through and closing up behind . . . where next . . . the seals asleep and the polar bears too . . . prey in human form this time . . . not whales

my series post for today published to my Substack at the link if you’d like to see it

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/very-eerie-pre-halloween-art-for-e6a

Feathered skull from the series My Lovely Bones. Contemporary. French. Resin base with feathers sourced from animals farmed for the food industry in Europe. Laurence le Constant, artist, via laurenceleconstant.com.

Redecorating so Mary Todd Lincoln or the Empress Eugenie would feel right at home. Imagery from the 1865 pattern and sample book by Hippolyte Gruz titled “Motifs de peinture decorative pour appartements modernes.”Hippolyte Gruz was a prominent French interior decorator and painter known for his ornate decorative schemes for fashionable hotels and residences.

Frontispiece, Image 7 of Motifs de peinture décorative pour appartements modernes par Hippolyte Gruz Peintre – Décorateur. MCXXXLX. C. Claesen, Éditeur, printer and lithographer. PARIS – LIÉGE – BERLIN. Published in 1865. Collections of the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History, New South Wales. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/Gruz11378/page/n8/mode/1up
Front cover, Image 1 of MOTIFS DE PEINTURE DECORATIVE POUR APPARTEMENTS MODERNES. Hippolyte Gruz, author. C (Charles) Claesen editor, printer and litographer. Collections of the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History, New South Wales. In the public domain due to age. via \https://archive.org/details/Gruz11378/mode/1up
Venteaux de Porte: Genre de Louis XVI; LA PEINTURE DECORATIVE. Designed and drawn by H. Gruz. Charles Claesen Éditeur, printer and lithographer. PARIS – LIÉGE – BERLIN. Image 12 of MOTIFS DE PEINTURE DECORATIVE POUR APPARTEMENTS MODERNES by Hippolyte Gruz. Published in 1865. Collections of the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History, New South Wales. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/Gruz11378/page/n12/mode/1up
Panneau Tenture – Dessus de Porte; Genre Louis XVI. LA PEINTURE DECORATIVE. Designed and drawn by H. Gruz. Charles Claesen Éditeur, printer and lithographer. PARIS – LIÉGE – BERLIN. Image 24 of MOTIFS DE PEINTURE DECORATIVE POUR APPARTEMENTS MODERNES by Hippolyte Gruz. Published in 1865. Collections of the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History, New South Wales. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/Gruz11378/page/n24/mode/1up
Ecoincons a motif; Genre Louis XVI. LA PEINTURE DECORATIVE. Designed and drawn by H. Gruz. Charles Claesen Éditeur, printer and lithographer. PARIS – LIÉGE – BERLIN. Image 30 of MOTIFS DE PEINTURE DECORATIVE POUR APPARTEMENTS MODERNES by Hippolyte Gruz. Published in 1865. Collections of the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History, New South Wales. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/Gruz11378/page/n30/mode/1up
Motif d’Angle – Motif d’Entourage – Motif dans Partie Cintrée; Genre Louis XV; LA PEINTURE DECORATIVE. Designed and drawn by H. Gruz. Charles Claesen Éditeur, printer and lithographer. PARIS – LIÉGE – BERLIN. Image 66 of MOTIFS DE PEINTURE DECORATIVE POUR APPARTEMENTS MODERNES by Hippolyte Gruz. Published in 1865. Collections of the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History, New South Wales. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/Gruz11378/page/n66/mode/1up
Fond de Tenture; Louis XIV; LA PEINTURE DECORATIVE. Designed and drawn by H. Gruz. Charles Claesen Éditeur, printer and lithographer. PARIS – LIÉGE – BERLIN. Image 88 of MOTIFS DE PEINTURE DECORATIVE POUR APPARTEMENTS MODERNES by Hippolyte Gruz. Published in 1865. Collections of the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History, New South Wales. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/Gruz11378/page/n88/mode/1up
Motif d’Incrustations; Genre Louis XIV; LA PEINTURE DECORATIVE. Designed and drawn by H. Gruz. Charles Claesen Éditeur, printer and lithographer. PARIS – LIÉGE – BERLIN. Image 116 of MOTIFS DE PEINTURE DECORATIVE POUR APPARTEMENTS MODERNES by Hippolyte Gruz. Published in 1865. Collections of the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History, New South Wales. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/Gruz11378/page/n116/mode/1up
Plafond – Chambre a Coucher; Genre Louis XIII. LA PEINTURE DECORATIVE. Designed and drawn by H. Gruz. Charles Claesen Éditeur, printer and lithographer. PARIS – LIÉGE – BERLIN. Image 126 of MOTIFS DE PEINTURE DECORATIVE POUR APPARTEMENTS MODERNES by Hippolyte Gruz. Published in 1865. Collections of the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History, New South Wales. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/Gruz11378/page/n126/mode/1up
Lambris – Salle a Manger – Lambris – Salle de Bain; Genre Renaissance; LA PEINTURE DECORATIVE. Designed and drawn by H. Gruz. Charles Claesen Éditeur, printer and lithographer. PARIS – LIÉGE – BERLIN. Image 172 of MOTIFS DE PEINTURE DECORATIVE POUR APPARTEMENTS MODERNES by Hippolyte Gruz. Published in 1865. Collections of the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History, New South Wales. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/Gruz11378/page/n172/mode/1up
Lambris – Salle a Manger; Genre Renaissance; LA PEINTURE DECORATIVE. Designed and drawn by H. Gruz. Charles Claesen Éditeur, printer and lithographer. PARIS – LIÉGE – BERLIN. Image 210 of MOTIFS DE PEINTURE DECORATIVE POUR APPARTEMENTS MODERNES by Hippolyte Gruz. Published in 1865. Collections of the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History, New South Wales. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/Gruz11378/page/n210/mode/1up
Plafond – Fumoir; Genre Renaissance Moderne. LA PEINTURE DECORATIVE. Designed and drawn by H. Gruz. Charles Claesen Éditeur, printer and lithographer. PARIS – LIÉGE – BERLIN. Image 222 of MOTIFS DE PEINTURE DECORATIVE POUR APPARTEMENTS MODERNES by Hippolyte Gruz. Published in 1865. Collections of the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History, New South Wales. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/Gruz11378/page/n222/mode/1up

Lambris – Panneaux – Genre Renaissance – Grec -Moderne. LA PEINTURE DECORATIVE. Designed and drawn by H. Gruz. Charles Claesen Éditeur, printer and lithographer. PARIS – LIÉGE – BERLIN. Image 262 of MOTIFS DE PEINTURE DECORATIVE POUR APPARTEMENTS MODERNES by Hippolyte Gruz. Published in 1865. Collections of the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History, New South Wales. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/Gruz11378/page/n262/mode/1up
Frise Courants en Feuillage. LA PEINTURE DECORATIVE. Designed and drawn by H. Gruz. Charles Claesen Éditeur, printer and lithographer. PARIS – LIÉGE – BERLIN. Image 282 of MOTIFS DE PEINTURE DECORATIVE POUR APPARTEMENTS MODERNES by Hippolyte Gruz. Published in 1865. Collections of the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History, New South Wales. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/Gruz11378/page/n282/mode/1up

99% of the works, folios, and books involving art lithographs, engravings and later chromolithographs and pochoir prints were done in Paris. As this was. Where the superspecialists were who could make your work truly sing.

A bit of prettiness for a pretty autumn Sunday. Illustrations from the long forgotten “Nicodemus.” Published in Boston in 1895, it was written by Grace Shaw Duff and illustrated by Frederick Charles Gordon.

Front cover. Image 1 of Nicodemus. Grace Shaw Duff, author. Frederick Charles Gordon, illustrator. Published in the United States in 1895 by the Arena Publishing Company, Copley Square, Boston. Collections of the Library of Congress. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/nicodemus00duff/mode/1up
Page 8 of Nicodemus. Grace Shaw Duff, author. Frederick Charles Gordon, illustrator. Published in the United States in 1895 by the Arena Publishing Company, Copley Square, Boston. Collections of the Library of Congress. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/nicodemus00duff/page/n8/mode/1up
Page 13 of Nicodemus. Grace Shaw Duff, author. Frederick Charles Gordon, illustrator. Published in the United States in 1895 by the Arena Publishing Company, Copley Square, Boston. Collections of the Library of Congress. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/nicodemus00duff/page/n13/mode/1up
Page 17 of Nicodemus. Grace Shaw Duff, author. Frederick Charles Gordon, illustrator. Published in the United States in 1895 by the Arena Publishing Company, Copley Square, Boston. Collections of the Library of Congress. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/nicodemus00duff/page/n17/mode/1up
Page 27 of Nicodemus. Grace Shaw Duff, author. Frederick Charles Gordon, illustrator. Published in the United States in 1895 by the Arena Publishing Company, Copley Square, Boston. Collections of the Library of Congress. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/nicodemus00duff/page/n27/mode/1up
Page 29 of Nicodemus. Grace Shaw Duff, author. Frederick Charles Gordon, illustrator. Published in the United States in 1895 by the Arena Publishing Company, Copley Square, Boston. Collections of the Library of Congress. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/nicodemus00duff/page/n29/mode/1up

Very Eerie Pre Halloween Art for October 3rd in the 2026 fall show . . .

smouldering on air on a whiff of patchouli incense in a long abandoned attic as somewhere between Hadrian’s Wall and the Hebrides in the mists of Scotland the Roman legionaries shiver . . . dusk and a fog, hail and something slippery that sticks . . . a yowl that is not human and then another . . . like the wild cats in Sinai but different . . . these shooting poison from the tips of their whiskers and not purring for sure . . . funeral mound of a long lost king and steps that ascend a few paces ahead and somewhere to hide . . . maybe whatever it is can’t climb . . .

my series post for today published to my Substack at the link if you’d like to see it . . . the pumpkins are from katytrailmo.com

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/very-eerie-pre-halloween-art-for-90a