 |
| Jane Engelhard |
Billy and I were driving out to Boca grande to see our client Mrs. Labrecque, and my phone rang -it was Albert Hadley calling- Of course I was delighted to hear from Albert and I told him where we were going and I'm sure he was familiar with it since Parish Hadley did a lot of work for Charles and Jane Engelhard- They kept an estate on the island known as Gasparilla which was called Pamplemousse and Bunny Williams had shared a funny story about going there one time and not bringing dinner clothes but of course Mrs. E saved the day-
I found this vintage image of Jane so compelling as it shows several elements of timeless and classic decor including the pair of Louis XV armchairs- In reading social history I've learned that Jane and Brooke Astor both started their lives in China and I found this an interesting coincidence and also that Janes daughter Annette was very good friends with Brooke Astor- The Engelhards owned seven homes around the world and many of them were decorated by sister parish -they were also involved in the world of horse racing- in a major way -
Notice the Chinoiserie screen in the corner -another timeless element which has become extremely fashionable in the 2000s- Wouldn't it be fun to own that screen and be able to say that it had belonged to Jane? Similar to the story about the couple who attended bunny mellons auction and bid an outrageous price for a sculpture of a bunny rabbit that had been bought in a gift shop for very little money- ! The couple was quoted as saying because it had belonged to bunny they had to have it-
To read more about Jane and Charles check out "the devoted classicist" by my friend John Tackett who once worked at Parish Hadley -he did a very interesting post on Cragwood - the far Hills estate belonging to the Engelhard family - Which Jane sold after (he) died prematurely and subsequently she moved to Nantucket where she died of pneumonia. RIP DF
