CIRCA 1720

This bookcase once formed part of the outstanding collection formed by Myron C. Taylor (1874-1959), who succeeded J. P. Morgan Jr. as Chairman of the United States Steel Corporation in 1932. From 1939-1950, he was the Personal Representative of the President to Pope Pius XII, and until 1952, the Personal Representative of the President on Special Missions, charged with investigating religious and political situations in Europe. His extensive collection of early to mid-18th Century English and American Furniture, porcelain, silver, textiles, rugs, paintings and drawings was sold in a 3-day sale at Parke-Bernet Galleries on 3-5 November 1960, while a remarkable group of Gothic and Renaissance furniture and sculpture, old master paintings, oriental carpets, ten Gothic tapestries and a group of French and Venetian 18th Century Furniture was sold on 11-12 November 1960, all of which had been removed from his residences at 16 East 70th Street and Killingworth, Locust Valley, Long Island. An outstanding set of Georgian gothic dining chairs that formed part of the Taylor collection was sold from the estate of the late Sir Emmanuel Kaye, C.B.E., Christie's London, 29 November 2001, lots 50-54.