EWM/jl set 4-6 #623054

BRONX, N.Y. — The New York Botanical Garden’s Antique Garden Furniture Show, now in its 13th year, will be sponsored by Garden Design magazine and Jaguar, and will run Friday–Sunday, April 29–May 1.

The event opens with a benefit preview party and collectors’ plant sale on Thursday, April 28, 5:30–8 pm.

The show features antique fountains, urns, benches, statues, wicker, bird cages and botanical prints from 34 premier exhibitors. Each of the booths is to be decorated with plants and floral displays to create a garden setting for the antiques.

Highlights of the show chaired by Barbara Israel, a leading dealer in the field and Bunny Williams, the interior designer who is also a dealer, include Danielle Ann Millican with 16 plates from The Temple of Flora by Dr Robert John Thornton (London, circa 1798–1810), arguably the most important illustrated book on flowers.

Barbara Israel Garden Antiques will offer 25 to 30 ornamental animals from late Nineteenth Century English gardens in varied sizes and materials; and a pair of cast-iron stags, American, circa 1940.

Michael Donovan will feature approximately 20 pieces of wicker furniture made by Heywood Wakefield, circa 1870s-1930, in Victorian and Art Deco styles.

Trifles/Matthew and Helen Robinson will offer a pair of Sung dynasty (Thirteenth Century) cats that once guarded an imperial tomb. The sitting figures, in marble, male and female, each 54 inches tall, were purchased in Beijing ten years ago.

Aileen Minor Antiques will offer garden ornaments from Nineteenth Century New York estates, among a pair of horse hitching posts; an octagonal carved marble obelisk; twin limestone lions; a large cast iron urn featuring profiles of George Washington surrounded by laurel leaves; and a draped female figure, representing Autumn, cast in lead.

Kristin Allen/AvantGarden Antiques will display a pair of faux bois tree trunk benches from England, circa 1940s, and a terrazzo indoor/outdoor desk from France, circa 1950s.

Dawn Hill Antiques/Paulette Peden will feature a six-piece metal set of French garden furniture, circa 1920s, from an estate in Versailles, and a collection of Haws Company watering cans in their original paint, England, mid Twentieth Century.

Fleur/Barbara Cirkva Schu-macher and John Schumacher will display a faux bois bench, French, mid Nineteenth Century; chestnut and wrought iron table, Spanish Eighteenth Century; a pair of stone vases on pedestals, French, early Twentieth Century; an oval stone table, Melun, France, Eighteenth Century; and a cherub and turtle fountain, French, early Twentieth Century.

Newcomers to the show are Jef and Teri Steingrebe, specializing in cast iron furniture and marble statuary; Michael Donovan specializing in antique wicker furniture; and AvantGarden/Kristin Allen, specializing in European garden antiques.

Programs during the show include daily tours as well as in-booth lectures with tips and behind-the-scenes information on garden antiques. Lectures, tours and the special Friday Forum are complimentary with show admission.

At this year’s show, the formation of PAGODA (Professional Antique Garden Ornament Dealers Association) is to be announced. PAGODA is a not-for-profit organization created for the purpose of establishing and upholding high standards among dealers in garden antiques. Its stated purpose is to promote confidence in the field among the buying public.

The show will take place in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory’s special events tent. Admission is $13 for a combination ticket that includes access to the show, Botanical Garden grounds, the Conservatory, Rock Garden, Native Plant Garden, Everett Children’s Adventure Garden and a tram tour.

Show hours are Friday, 11 am to 8 pm, Saturday and Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm. For information www.nybg.org. The garden is a museum at Bronx River Parkway (exit 7W) and Fordham Road.