Hand-Painted Antique Chinese Vase Lamp With a Storied Provenance!

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Antique Chinese famille rose enamel vase lamp, late Qing red signature, 4-character markings on reverse, from Caroline Dodd Butts Kilbourne’s … Read more Antique Chinese famille rose enamel vase lamp, late Qing red signature, 4-character markings on reverse, from Caroline Dodd Butts Kilbourne’s Floridian estate, a descendant of the Havemeyer family. Purchased from Richard Stedman Estate Treasures Auction: titled "Vanderbilt Treasures", Lot 111, 1/30/24, featuring heirlooms from 19th C. Vanderbilt-Havemeyer ancestors. The Havemeyer family ran the American Sugar Refining which became Domino’s Sugar company in 1900. In 1910, Electra Havemeyer married into the Old Westbury, Long Island branch of the Vanderbilt-Whitney family, where this lamp is from. Gertrude Vanderbilt-Whitney (1875-1942) was the great-granddaughter of railroad and shipping tycoon Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, married to Harry Payne Whitney. Gertrude was a professional sculptor and philanthropist who founded the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1931, after the Metropolitan Museum of Art refused her donation of over 500 works of art from her private collection and offering to build a wing to house them, because they did not accept American artwork, they only featured European art. This is how and why she founded The Whitney Museum, the first museum to recognize and celebrate American, and female artists in a male dominated art world. At one time Gertrude was regarded as the wealthiest woman in America. She was the aunt who raised Gloria Vanderbilt, after a very public custody battle, Havemeyer’s were prominent art patrons, donors to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, founders of the Shelburne Museum, significant American collectors of French impressionist art, Dutch Old Master paintings, Asian ceramics, and early American Folk Art. Havemeyer Street in Brooklyn was named after their family. A great find for pottery collectors and interior design enthusiasts seeking period pieces with a story!

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