Page 70 - 2019 September 9th Bonhams Important Chinese Works of Art

Property from the Hobart Collection

Lots 864 - 866

Fig 1. Hobart Family Mansion, prior to 1906 Fig 2. Living room of Claremont, with ten lots in situ
圖 一：1906年以前，霍巴特舊金山府邸 圖 二：克萊蒙特會客室
Ella Virginia Hobart was born into a prominent San Francisco family Virginia and Charles would travel to China and Japan in 1913-1914,
as the daughter of Walter Scott Hobart, a timber, gold and silver returning in time to attend the Pan Pacific exhibition in San Francisco
magnate who supplied wood for the Comstock Lode, Nevada’s in 1915. Several of her Chinese objects were undoubtedly acquired
first silver mine, and later revitalized the Utica mine yielding him a during their Asian tour. In a letter to her son dated January 29th,
vast fortune in the late 19th century. Growing up in a stately San 1913 from Kyoto, she writes with great enthusiasm of meeting the
Francisco mansion, described in contemporaneous accounts as famed dealer Sadajiro Yamanaka and with another Chinese porcelain
“one of the handsomest in the city”, Virginia’s name was frequently dealer in Tokyo the day before.
mentioned in the society pages of newspapers, noting her excellence
in sports and fine taste in fashion. Throughout her life Virginia treasured the art and antiques she
showcased in the grand Colorado home. Visitors to the home
After her parent’s deaths in 1892, the teenage heiress and her would often be treated to a “surprise”- a bronze, a print, a porcelain
two siblings were bequeathed a sizable fortune. In 1896 Virginia or a jade- and the history and aesthetics of the object would be
married Charles A. Baldwin, the son of a Rear Admiral. The wedding discussed. Often visitors to Claremont would be posed with the
was a grand social event, (among the guests in attendance was a question “and, what do you collect?”
young Ethel Barrymore) and the high society affair was covered in
minute detail not only by the local San Francisco newspapers, but Following Charles’ death in
it was considered nationally newsworthy and the story was picked 1936, Virginia sold Claremont
up by the New York Times and the Boston Globe. In several of the in 1949, and returned to her
wedding announcements the young debutante’s artistic nature and native San Francisco. Although
fine connoisseurship is noted. most of the art and antiques
were sold with the Colorado
The newlyweds would first reside in the Santa Clara valley south home, she notably kept the
of San Francisco at Mr. Baldwin’s winery known as Beaulieu, the Chinese porcelain and jades
architecture inspired by the buildings at Versailles near Paris, France. for her return to the Bay Area.
Featuring electricity and one of the area’s first automobiles, the Claremont, now known as the
residence and grounds were designed by Willis Polk and made Trianon, is presently on the
a grand aesthetic statement, featured in a photographic essay in campus of Colorado Springs
the December 1902 issue of House & Garden. Their first home
still stands, now on the campus of DeAnza college in Cupertino,
California and currently the home to the California History Center
Foundation.
After the turn of the century, Virginia and Charles would relocate to
Colorado Springs, Colorado. There they once again commissioned Fig 3. Virginia and Charles in China 1913
the construction of a French-inspired mansion, a scaled-down 圖三：１９１３年弗吉尼亞和查爾斯在中國
version of the Grand Trianon at Versailles, retaining Stanford White
to design the home. However, his untimely murder in 1906 led Mrs.
Hobart Baldwin to hire a prominent local architect, paying him to
travel to Paris to sketch Versailles for inspiration. Completed in 1908
they called their new home “Claremont”, and within the 22,000
square feet floor plan, their collection of art and antiques was
tastefully exhibited.

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