Page 159 - Christies IMportant Chinese Art Sept 26 2020 NYC

The Wanamaker

Famille Rose ‘Boys’
Jars and Covers

This exceptional pair of famille rose jars and covers was
formerly in the collection of John Wanamaker (1838-
1922) and his wife, Mary Brown Wanamaker (1839-1920).
John Wanamaker was an American merchant, as well
as a religious, civic and political figure, best known as
an entrepreneur and founder of John Wanamaker & Co.
considered the first and grandest department store in
Philadelphia, a business that was expanded to New York,
London and Paris. John Wanamaker was known not only
as an innovator and merchandising genius, but also as
a philanthropist and avid collector of art and antiques,
many acquired on trips abroad. Unfortunately, most of
the collection was lost when their sixty-room mansion,
Lindenhurst, in Pennsylvania, burned down in 1907. After
the fire, the Wanamakers built a new Lindenhurst, and it
is possible that the present pair of jars, as well as a jadeite
figure of Guanyin and a pair of jadeite parrots, were among
the artworks purchased to furnish it. The jadeite Guanyin
and parrots were sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 17-18 January
1989, lots 1001 and 1047. Family history records that the
jars, figure of Guanyin and the parrots were all displayed
together, the Guanyin in the center, flanked by the parrots,
and then the jars at the ends. This arrangement became a
tradition in the family as they were passed down through the
years to other members of the family, the first of whom was
their daughter, Mary Brown Wanamaker, known as “Minnie”
(1869-1954), who married Major Barclay Harding Warburton
(1866-1954) in 1895, and then to Minnie’s son C. Egerton
Warburton (1902-1973).

Mary Brown Wanamaker’s husband Major Warburton
(1866-1954), who became the publisher of the Philadelphia
Evening Telegraph upon his father’s death, was a member
of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, the chargé d’affairs to
President Wilson in London, 1914-1917, and an aide-de-camp
to General Pershing in Paris in 1917. Through their trips to
Europe, including Biarritz in southern France, in the early
years of the twentieth century, the Warburtons became
acquainted with members of the Romanov family, especially
Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, brother-in-law and
second cousin to Tsar Nicholas. The rich family history is
recorded in family photos dating from 1909 to 1914, which
feature Warburton and Wanamaker family members at
various locations, both in Europe and at home in the United
States.

Opposite:
The Wanamaker Family on
vacation in Florida, c. 1904.
From left, John Wanamaker,
Mary Brown Wanamaker,
Mary Brown Wanamaker
Warburton, C. Egerton
Warburton. Photographer
unknown.
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