The World of Interiors | A Right-Bulb Moment
Words by Polly Nicholson
April 18, 2025
‘Broken’ or ‘Rembrandt’ tulips dating from the 1700s in Polly Nicholson’s flower room; the tulips will be on display at Dennis Severs’ House. Photograph: Andrew Montgomery
For this obsessive collector of rare tulips with an expensive passion for tulipières, the invitation to fill the ceramic creations of Simon Pettet with fresh flowers for an Easter installation at Dennis Severs’ House proved hard to resist. I wrenched myself out of my garden in Wiltshire, where I had firmly taken root in the build-up to tulip season, and made the trek up to the fantasy world of 18 Folgate Street in Spitalfields in east London to meet the curator, Rupert Thomas.
Dennis Severs’ House first came into my attention in 2023, when countless friends from the world of flowers pressed me to visit the exhibition ‘Making History: the Ceramic Work of Simon Pettet’. I never made it, but I now understand the obvious connection between my historic tulips and Simon’s delft-style ceramics. They are a match made in heaven. His exquisite attention to detail is evident in all of his pottery creations, from his meticulously researched construction to deftness of decoration. This perfectionist approach chimes with the painstaking efforts I have taken to curate and care for my National Collection of historic tulips, and the standards to which I aspire.
‘Silver Standard’ tulip from The Tulip Garden: Growing and Collecting Species, Rare and Annual Varieties by Polly Nicholson. Photograph: Andrew Montgomery
Detail of a painting showing tulips among other flowers and a nest with eggs by Jan van Huysum, 1682-1749
The English Florists’ Tulips I grow are usually destined for the showbench, where the form and flamed or feathered markings must be perfectly symmetrical in accordance with the Tulip Society’s rules, whereas the Dutch cultivars have painterly swirls dancing across the petals in an abandoned, unruly fashion. The patterned, or ‘Rembrandt’, tulips hailing back to the time of tulipmania in the 1630s were infected with Tulip Breaking Virus and are called ‘broken’. Solid-coloured ‘breeders’ such as Tulipa ‘Je Maintiendrai’ are often in bruised, moody hues whose colours fall outside the standard lexicon. Some of the tulips are truly old, dating back to the end of the 16th century, others such as T. ‘Inner Wheel’ (2008) are relatively new but exceptionally rare.
A tulip vase, or tulipière, by Simon Pettet at Dennis Severs’ House
Rare and exquisite bulbs blooming in a corner at Dennis Severs’ House
Two tulips displayed in a jug from the Dennis Severs’ collection
The weather will dictate which tulips will be in flower for 17 April, when I will choose which cultivars to carefully wrap and carry up to London. The short stature of T. ‘Silver Standard’, with its petals of flickering red and white, will marry well with Pettet’s little bud vases, and its registration date of 1760 make it an apt choice for the Georgian setting. T. ‘Absalon’ hails from the same era, and its slender stems should fit nicely into the narrow spouts of the delft-style tulipières, the mahogany-and-gold flowers creating a contrast against the blue-and-white glazed backdrop. Mixed in with these reverent old varieties will be a selection of species or botanical tulips, and a smattering of modern annual tulips to bring a smile of recognition. I trust that the fictitious Jervis family who inhabit Dennis Severs’ House will derive great pleasure from their Easter decorations, and appreciate their provenance.
April 18, 2025 | The World of Interiors
