Crime writer Edgar Wallace, famous for penning the screenplay for King Kong, was the unusual inspiration for a fine collection of silk carpets. The British novelist had a knack for an outrageous hero — plucky and full of grit, with an earthy sense of mischief. However, it was the author’s eye for a nicely furnished room that appealed to a young, working-class boy from south-east London.
George Farrow (1916-2001) thrilled to Wallace’s descriptions of oxidised silver grates, thick Persian carpets and rosewood tables, which conjured up a world of Victorian chinoiserie and Orientalism. As a young boy, he determined to become a collector, haunting the Horniman Museum in south London and the Victoria and Albert Museum in Kensington. ‘I did have, from a very early age, a sincere and pure love of art,’ he wrote.
After training as a chartered surveyor, Farrow moved into the property business, and by the 1950s he had earned enough money to realise his dream. Early interests included French furniture and Chinese works of art, but he soon became fascinated by the history of the Silk Road.
