The late Peter Twining in his King’s Road shop in the early 70s.
Born in Oxford on November 20, 1935, Peter read law at Hertford College, Oxford, after his National Service in the army in Malaya.
Moving to London, Peter started from scratch. With a modest inheritance he set up shop at the heart of swinging sixties King’s Road in Chelsea, where his star shone bright within that constellation of creativity.
His long slender shop close to Paultons Square gave insight into Peter’s ideal interior, the window typically centring on an ornate 18th century Irish side table, perhaps attended by some fine early Islamic metalwork and crowned with a full length 17th/18th century noble portrait or a wonderful dog or horse painting.
His pioneering spirit during the mid sixties was perhaps a foundational influence on the contemporary London trade, and even, the antiques trade further afield.
Peter was constant, he never retired, trading primarily in London and briefly in New York, his purpose unaltered – to express his vision through his seeking and his capacity to measure and to appreciate.
A starring lot from Peter’s shop in Ledbury Road, one he bought from Sotheby’s in the mid 1970s and sold on – Dogs Belonging to the Medici Family in the Boboli Gardens by Tiberio Di Tito (1573-1627).
Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In later decades, as dealer and collector, he’d busy himself at Portobello Road, never missing a Saturday market and every week calling in to see his favourite dealers and hoping to spot an engaging piece, a large scale Middle Eastern or Indian brass lota always a favourite to find.
An exceptional character, singular in aesthetic and creative discipline, of unique and inspirational vision, Peter was a modest self-effacing man for whom friends were very much a passion and consequently a great good fortune for those who knew him.
A memorial will take place early in this coming spring, the date to be announced shortly.
Written in collaboration by Peter’s close friends
