NYBG Antique Garden Furniture Fair

In a busy week of art and design events, another stands out as a must-visit this weekend. The NYBG Antique Garden Furniture Fair is the country’s most renowned venue specifically sourcing garden related art and antiques for the home inside and out. Through this Sunday, May 7th, the New York Botanical Garden will host a wide variety of dealers presenting their unique wares as well as a specialty plant sale featuring an extensive selection from the finest growers. Thursday evening I attended the preview party where I picked out a few items that caught my eye.

Barbara Israel always creates such evocative settings for her collectins of period antiques including the impressive carved marble tiger, above, from England circa 1890.

My friends at Balsamo Antiques offer an alluring display for their collection of eclectic European antiques. I was intrigued by these unusually shaped 18th century English staddle stones, below, which were originally used to support and raise granaries off the ground to protect the grain from rodents.

The Hamptons Antique Galleries, here in Connecticut, had a stylish booth anchored by an enormous English garden urn on a classic architectural base.

Who wouldn’t want to enter a garden framed by this charming antique hand wrought iron gate from Cottage & Camp?

Many of the pieces offered are as appealing for indoors as out as this set of Italian 1960’s bamboo lounge chairs at Fleur with their sexy swooping shape. The enormous Moravian mirrored star pendant would be a fabulous statement piece in enty or garden room.

I also liked the deco shape of these early 20th century teak armchairs with Mongolian lambswool cushions from the Chinese port city of Tianjin at the Pagoda Red booth.

Owner Betsy Nathan always has a great grouping of Asian antiques, art and accessories.

Garden benches with character are a great addition to any property. Aileen Minor painted this rare pair of 19th century wrought steel settees a perfect shade of go-anywhere green.

She is also offering this enchanting tole and tin orange tree on a faux bamboo lattice which could bring the garden in year round.

And Finnegan Gallery presented this rare small cast iron garden seat from 1868 in the Horse Chestnut pattern.

A closer detail below.

There are urns, pots and planters aplenty for every taste and style. Earle Vandekar always has a great selection as evidenced in this charming display, including the large English pearlware blue and white loving cup

and an unusually bright antique transferware urn with fabulous egg and dart detail.

Frances J Purcell has a lovely pair of 1930 bronze footed vases with Bacchanalian scenes. Mounted on ebonized wood bases, they have handy removable bronze liners.

Schorr & Dobinsky unfortunately have no website but if you are in the Hamptons (Bridgehampton) you can visit them to scout their charming antique garden furniture, urns and accessories, below, in person.

I always find something unique at Leatherwood Antiques‘ selection of unusual objects, like this rustic chic stoneware jardiniere.

More and More Antiques had another great version of faux bois with this fun tree trunk planter

and this large decorative French cast iron and enamel cachepot was already sold by the time I arrived at the booth.

This charming three level half-round conservatory etagère with array of small clay pots from Red Horse Antiques was reminiscent of something out of Bunny Mellon’s world.

There is also a wonderful assortment of fine and decorative art from this C. Jeré metal wall sculpture from David Bell Antiques

to this giant wooden hand from Jeffrey Henkel, which I could imagine eliciting a barrage of comments and gestures.

Withington and Company featured a wide variety of decor including this highly decorative mirror.

Nature related fine art is a large category with an enormous range of antique prints such as a set of collectible John Gould Hummingbirds at Arader Galleries

to a set of more contemporary looking fern prints at Hudson, NY’s Vincent Mulford Antiques.

If you live in the NYC area, hightail it over to the Botanical Garden today or tomorrow and don’t miss Design Chair Bronson Van Wyck‘s enchanting center entry, inspired by Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe.

or the spectacular Dale Chihuly exhibit, his first major garden exhibit in New York in more than ten years!

A detail look at the amazing glasswork below

Including more than 20 installations, inside and out,

it is a vision both day and night!

all photos by Stacey Bewkes for Quintessence