19TH CENTURY

The American provenance for this pair of cloisonné enamel jardinières can be traced back to the 19th century. William H. Seward was a prominent American politician and statesman leading up to the Civil War and was a fierce opponent of slavery. Having served in various positions, including the New York State Senate and as governor of New York, he became President Lincoln’s Secretary of State in 1861. Seward was wounded in part of the plan to assassinate Lincoln, and went on to serve as Andrew Jackson’s Secretary of State. In his later years he traveled to China as part of a trip around the world, accompanied by his adopted daughter Olive Risley. Miss Risley and Seward wrote the book that accompanies this lot, which documents William Seward’s travels.

According to family history, this pair of jardinières was gifted to Seward by Prince Kung, the sixth son of the Daoguang Emperor (r. 1821-1850). A report of the meeting of Seward and Prince Kung was included in the Daily Alta (California) newspaper on 12 February 1871. A short list of princely gifts presented to Seward is noted on page 221 of Miss Risley’s book, including “one pair of enamelled fish jars,” presumably the present pair. While in Beijing, Seward’s travel group was overseen by Rear-Admiral John Rogers, commander of the US Asiatic squadron. When Seward left China to continue on his world tour, family accounts note that he left the gifts in the care of John Rogers. By the time that Rogers returned to the US at the end of his tour Seward had died and the objects remained within the Rogers family. The sequence of succession within the family is noted in the provenance above.