Cheffins
Los 745
A pair of “mouse’s back” silk velvet curtains and pelmet, made for Colefax and Fowler, circa 1971, weighted, lined and interlined, with fixed pencil pleat heading, the leading edge and base finished with inset lime green braidPelmet 56 x 295cm Curtains Drop 337cm Top 155cm Bottom 327cm Provenance:The Reading Room, Chequers, BuckinghamshireOne of the most influential British interior designers and taste makers of the 20th century and co-founder of the interior decorating firm Colefax and Fowler, John Fowler (1906-1977) was suggested by Sir Roy Strong as a potential candidate to oversee the redecoration of the Prime Minister’s private residence at Chequers in 1971. By this time Fowler’s address book of clients was the stuff of legend having taken commissions from the most powerful and illustrious institutions and families of the period, and worked on Britain’s finest houses and estates from Blenheim to Buckingham Palace. Chequers had been placed in trust for the nation since 1921, and during the intervening period had become run down and was largely unmodernised, the Elizabethan interiors dark and gloomy, so that despite Fowler’s wealth of experience, Chequers’ renovation represented quite some challenge. Prime Minister Edward Heath and Lord Jellicoe as Privy Seal also had strong ideas about what should be done to the house, all within a “very restricted budget”. However, the Elizabethan house was eventually transformed, John Fowler and his assistant Imogen Taylor oversaw the works, treacle brown vanish was stripped from panelling to maximise light, simple rush matting or oatmeal fitted carpet set off oriental carpets, and many of Fowler’s original schemes continued to endure for half a century.Some fading to braid, otherwise in good condition
