Dorothy Draper Viennese Collection Chest Lacquered in Ivory, circa 1963

Exquisite Dorothy Draper Viennese collection chest professionally refinished in ivory lacquer and embellished with original acanthus leaf motif back plates. Brass hardware was professionally polished and lacquered to retain the brass glow – no need to polish. The profile is whimsical featuring a curved bow-like front. The legs follow with more curves that come together and continue with gold details from front to back. The chest is authentic and bears the Dorothy Draper label. The appearance is joyous, beautiful and timeless – designers the like of Jonathan Adler and Kelly Wearstler were hugely influenced by Dorothy Draper. An exemplar piece of authentic Hollywood Regency Style that’s timeless designed by “America’s most fabulous decorator” Dorothy Draper credited with inventing Hollywood Regency style. Dorothy Draper’s famed taste expanded to furniture design. She produced collections for Ficks Reed, Heritage and Henredon. The España (circa 1955) and Viennese (circa 1963) collections became infamous and are highly sought after. And within the celebrated Viennese collection, this style is the hardest to find. A wonderful acquisition for collectors and all aficionados of Hollywood Regency Style.

“Few would argue with the statement that Dorothy Draper was the most influential American interior decorator of the past century. They might make a case for Elsie de Wolfe, who had banished heavy dark furnishings and finishes from late Edwardian-era rooms, or plump for Sister Parish, and her easeful gentrified look. But Draper simply was the face of decorating. Savvy, decisive and trim — she looked the part. And her 1939 book Decorating Is Fun! and a regular column for Good Housekeeping maintained that public image. As did, of course, her work. Born to wealth in Tuxedo Park, New York, Draper received little formal schooling but did travel extensively in Europe, where she refined her eye and tastes. Draper invented the interior design style known these days as Hollywood Regency. She loved bold vibrant color, which she deployed in unusual combinations (pink paired with eggplant was a favorite). She had a penchant for black-and-white checkered floors. Draper liked a room to have a statement piece on the wall, preferably a plaster scrollwork-framed mirror. But most of all Draper liked such things as huge moldings brimming with Baroque detail; upholstery fabrics with overscaled florals, such as her signature print called “Cabbage Rose.” Draper could keep it simple. Many of her chairs are unfussy slipper or club chairs, with maybe a little tufting. Her cabinets and other case pieces are equally elegant — the quiet España chest, which has three drawers with round brass pulls, has been a staple of classic decorating ever since Draper designed it for Henredon in 1953. Because of her passion for scale and the grand gestures, most of Draper’s commissions were for hotels, resorts and apartment towers. In these spaces, she could follow her whim and produce such extravagances as the massive, playfully modernist chandelier in the lobby of the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia; the wildly Baroque fireplace in the lounge of New York’s Hampshire House; and the towering lacquered doors of the Arrowhead Springs Hotel in California. The woman thought big.”