Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1203909
Opposite page top: In the living room, the Billy Baldwin hand-painted cabinet is from an estate sale. Rare Indian temple sculpture at end of hallway. Opposite page bottom: The powder room's wallpaper was hand-painted by Vick Xie, Yrmural Studio, Shanghai. Currey & Company commode with custom onyx top designed by Merryman. This page top: In the living room, a 1980 Dorothy Hood painting. Black marble lamp by J. Randall Powers for Visual Comfort. Jim Thompson silk pillows. 81 catalog it, then transfer it to a staging area. It was quite a process," he says. Prizes that made the cut included dozens of antique bronze and cinnabar vessels, Nepalese shrines, and ancient Buddha and Quan Yin figures from Tibet, China, Burma, and Japan. He discovered multiple boxes containing a dismantled, ornately painted Asian chest from the early 20th century. "It was one of those puzzles you weren't quite sure what it would be until it came together," he says. Merryman also culled through Kuperman's collection of hundreds of artworks, selecting a raft of Indian Pishwa allegorical illustrations on silk, along with nude and figurative drawings and paintings. Among the contemporary art, the most notable is a large 1980 painting by celebrated Texas artist Dorothy Hood. "I started with these collections and built the entire project around them," Merryman says. In the study, three dozen Illuminated niches showcase gilded and cloisonné treasures, inspired by a room Yves Saint Laurent created in his Paris apartment. Not many designers — or their clients — would be brave enough to cover the walls in Ralph Lauren black grasscloth, but Merryman knew how successful the dark hue would be. "It's a dramatic envelope that allows the antiquities to shine," he says. "The windows become black at night so black grasscloth makes sense." Too, Kuperman requested that the windows be left bare, which adds to the seamless effect. Colors in the upholstery and rugs throughout the apartment were pulled from hues found in cloisonné figures, antique coral, lacquered cinnabar chests, and gilded reliquaries. In the bedroom, teal cloisonné figures from China make a striking display set atop Italian gilt pedestals and mounted against Phillip Jeffries teal sisal wallpaper. An exotic vintage satin textile that Merryman had discovered years earlier features all the colors in the room and was made into a duvet cover. A large, ornately carved Indian door frame has been repurposed into a headboard and inset with a tufted silk ikat print that layers with the room's myriad patterns and prints. In contrast, custom sofas and chairs designed by Merryman are clean-lined, and he's combined them with vintage modern classics by Charles and Ray Eames, T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, Milo Baughman, and Mastercraft. Added to the mix are a pair of R&Y Augousti shagreen-and- silver side tables and Kelly Wearstler- Designer David Merryman