The Captain Bushrod Bennett Taylor camphorwood secretaire… - The Nancy Hall Collection; Fine Furniture & Decorative Arts - Bonhams & Goodman (No longer trading)

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Description:

The Captain Bushrod Bennett Taylor camphorwood secretaire campaign chest, Circa 1840, the three-quarter gallery carved with scrolling foliage and with a moulded edge above a single large drawer, a central fold out secretaire drawer containing its original scroll roller, flanked by one deep and two short drawers above three further graduated drawers and raised on turned bun feet, the whole decorated with reeded ebony and ebony stringing, with original Bramah type locks and brass handles, in two sections with original handles, 113 cm wide, 55 cm deep, 127 cm high. Provenance: Almost certainly acquired by Captain Bushrod Bennett Taylor (1832-1883) for his personal use during his extended US Naval commands, thence by descent to his son Bushrod Wilbur Taylor (1859-1937) thence by descent to his son Bushrod Wilbur Taylor, junior (1897-1973) thence by descent to his wife Leona Kenton Schoen (nee Sauer) Taylor (1905-1994) thence by descent to her son Donald Le Schoen (stepson of Bw Taylor Jr) 1929-present. Since arriving in Australia the chest has been relocated several times from Sydney to Adelaide to Brisbane where it was sold at public auction and acquired by the current owner. Note: It is highly likely that Captain Bushrod Bennett Taylor purchased this chest on one of his forays into China as he was amongst the first Americans to conduct trade with the Chinese, as the following quote from 'The China Trade and the Asiatic Squadron' verifies; 'The Grant and Ammen sets in turn led to the discovery of a remarkably complete Medallion service shipped to the U.S. in 1870 by Commo. Bushrod B. Taylor, U.S. Navy. Both Ammen and Taylor were assigned successively to the Asiatic Squadron in the late 1860s. How much in the way of Chinese export porcelain and other items were purchased by American naval officers in the Far East will never be know, but such transactions were not uncommon' . The China Trade and the Asiatic Squadron, by John Quentin Feller, Winterthur Portfolio, Vol.18, No.4, pp. 291-299, published by The University of Chicago. This chest comes with a copy of an article first published in The American Neptune (Journal of Maritime History) in the Fall 1985, Volume Xlv, No 4, entitled 'China Sojourn: A Brief Account of Commander Bushrod B. Taylor's Tour of Duty with the Asiatic Squadron, 1869-1871, Together with Some of His Purchases', by John Quentin Feller. The article outlines the Captain's life and details of his tour of duty (1869-1871), in which he purchased the above mentioned 158 piece monogrammed (Bbt) Rose Medallion dinner service from Canton China all of which is listed on the original bill of lading from Hong Kong, dated 8 July 1870. This is historically significant as it was similar to 'The White House Rose Medallion dinner set 'of Ulysses S. Grant, except for the monogram. On page 241 of the article it mentions that in addition to the dinner set and some silver flatware various pieces of furniture were also shipped back to the Captain's home in Madison Indiana, including 'a two-part desk with brass fittings in the style of a campaign chest'. It is unusual to find chest such as these still with their original scroll rollers. A scroll roller was a round piece of wood (fitted) that was used to roll a letter into a cylinder to be placed in a scroll holder before being sealed and dispatched. The chest comes with copies of Captain Bushrod Bennett Taylor's seven Naval Commission, which were issued between 1855 and 1880 showing his promotion from Midshipman to Captain and signed by US Presidents Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andres Johnson and Rutherford B. Haynes, two of them being granted during the American Civil War (1861-1865). There are also a number of copies of letters written home whist at sea, possibly at this very chest and a photocopy of a newspaper article published by the Indianapolis News listing his US Naval career. Reference: The above mentioned documents are courtesy of The Filson Historica

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Category:

Unclassified