Jock Peters designed this display table for the celebrated 1929 Bullock’s Wilshire department store, a landmark of Art Deco architecture in Los Angeles. Born and trained in Germany under architect and designer Peter Behrens, Peters settled in Los Angeles in 1922. Working under the direction of interior decorator Eleanor Le Maire and with store planners Feil and Paradise, Peters was responsible for the entire interior decoration of the first three floors of the glamorous department store, and this table occupied pride of place in the sportswear department beneath the famous Gjura Stojano Spirit of Sports mural. The Bullock’s Wilshire commission included furniture, wall and window treatments, display cases and architectural elements, all executed using extremely fine materials. The table’s geometric inlaid top is made of a variety of exotic hardwoods with geometric motifs that relate to the store’s elevator doors and other architectural elements and testifies to the store’s aura of luxury. The table remained in use until the department store’s closure in 1994. (Bobbye Tigerman, Assistant Curator Decorative Arts and Design)
