It’s our good fortune that those barrel-shaped, ceramic Chinese garden seats are making a big comeback, surfacing in upscale catalogs and favorite decor haunts.
My mom, an L.A. designer, gave me a reproduction French blue cloisonne stool in the 80s, a highly decorative piece peopled with 18th-century characters and rural scenes. I used it as a magazine table beside my blue and white ticking striped fabric sofa and red paisley chair in my apartment in Atlanta. (Can’t believe I once decorated with such a Brooks Brothers aesthetic, but we artists grown and learn over time.)
I exported the somewhat showy blue and gold stool to the second hand market long ago, but recently plucked one from that new breed of garden seats glazed in trendy shades that might have shocked the Ming emperors: Bright orange, chartreuse and the brightest seat in the crop – canary yellow, such as the beauty with raised dots (called bosses) and pierced emblems sold at Gump’s (above; $295). Mine is a deep, rich coral hue and is used for design magazines in my brown and white master bath. It truly emerges as sculpture, something unexpected.
While I think the drum surface is ideally suited for magazines, the accent pieces were referred to as "cigarette tables in the 50s because they so often held ashtrays and cigarette boxes stationed in living rooms by the best hostesses. Some people have employed them as footstools but I prefer softer poufs for that kind of comfort.
My additional favorites:
Urban Mercantile makes a high-gloss black modern version in a chunky cubed shape that is pretty when paired with outdoor wicker. ($130.)
For a more timeworn appeal, I direct my clients to the antique round carved stools in a distressed vertigris waterproof finish from Orient Living. These unique stools are fired in a high temperature to achieve the gorgeous glaze which takes on an even prettier patina outdoors. The carvings include animal motifs or the double happiness symbol and they are about 50 years old. ($150.)