A Herter Brothers Parcel Ebonized and Rosewood Inlaid Walnut Chimneypiece

Circa 1872

Height 46 x width 87 1/2 inches.

Property from a Private Collection

Provenance:

Executed for the downstairs parlor in the tower of Thurlow Lodge, Menlo Park, California

Estate of Mrs. Mary Kellogg Hopkins (1863-1941), Menlo Park and San Francisco

Butterfield & Butterfield, San Francisco, Sherwood Hall, 5 October 1942, Lot 432

Butterfield & Butterfield, San Francisco, Sale 4637V, Lot 1589

Note:

Mary Frances Hopkins (née Sherwood) (1818-1891) was known as a connoisseur of grand architecture and as one of the wealthiest women in America during her lifetime. Her architectural passions were likely ignited by the construction of an estate in Nob Hill, San Francisco with her first husband, Mark Hopkins Jr., a wealthy railroad magnate who died in 1878—two years prior to the completion of the estate.

Upon her husband's death, Mary Hopkins was lauded "America's Richest Widow," having received the largest inheritable fortune ever in the world at the time. She devoted herself to finishing the construction and decoration of the Nob Hill estate while simultaneously amassing an impressive portfolio of property elsewhere, including a townhouse in New York, a castle in France, a French chateau-style mansion in Great Barrington, Massachusetts named Kellogg Terrace (known today as Searles Castle after her second husband Edward Francis Searles), and Sherwood Hall of Menlo Park, California.

Formerly known as Thurlow Lodge, Mary Hopkins purchased Sherwood Hall in 1883 as a wedding gift for her adopted son Timothy Noland Hopkins (1839-1936). Thurlow Lodge was initially built by former California governor, U.S. Representative and Senator Milton Slocum Latham in 1872. Latham moved to New York City in 1879 to serve as president of the New York Mining and Stock Exchange. He later lost much of his fortune in a stock market crash and died in 1882.

Both Thurlow Lodge and Mary Hopkins' Nob Hill estate were furnished by the San Francisco outlet Herter Brothers (1864-1906), a New York based firm established by German immigrants Christian and Gustave Herter. The firm specialized in comprehensive interior design and furniture manufacturing for their Gilded Age clients, including William Vanderbilt and President Ulysses S. Grant (for the White House).

Following the death of Timothy Hopkins' wife Mary Kellogg Hopkins in 1941, Butterfield & Butterfield conducted an auction of Sherwood Hall's contents, including the present lot.

Depth of mantel top 11 1/8 inches.
Dimensions of aperture (opening): height 34 1/4 x width 42 1/4 inches.

In overall fair, attractive and stable condition. Light surface scratches to the top of the mantel. Having a noticeable section of loss along the left-side border of the aperture. The right-side appears to have some possible instances of repair along the same border as exhibited by thin seams but not immediately noticeable. Having small scattered instances of loss to gilded tassel decoration and along edge of left cartouche frame. Few sections of loss on the very edge of each end just beneath the mantel. Some lifting to veneer along base. Age cracks in figural painted cartouches. The painted figural images appear to have been re-touched. Additional images available upon request.

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Please email for any additional information or questions you may have regarding this lot.

To request further details about this lot, please email [email protected]

Corbin Horn

Vice President, Head of Department, European Furniture & Decorative Arts

[email protected]312.334.4214

Mr. Horn joined the firm in 2009 and has directed numerous sales of important collections, including those of Lilly Pulitzer, Lord Anthony and Lady Jacobs, Lars Bolander, Casa de Sueños in Miami Beach, and Villa Massei in Lucca, Italy. He has also achieved record results for consignments from prominent institutions, including the Toledo Museum of Art, the High Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Minnesota Historical Society. Mr. Horn is a member of the Antiquarian Society of the Art Institute of Chicago and is an alumnus of the Attingham Trust.

Please email for any additional information or questions you may have regarding this lot.

European Furniture & Decorative Arts

A Herter Brothers Parcel Ebonized and Rosewood Inlaid Walnut Chimneypiece

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