A Visionary Collector – Marjorie Merriweather
Post
By Randall Decoteau
All photos courtesy of the
Hillwoood Museums & Gardens.
A Portrait of Marjorie Merriweather Post by Frank
O. Salisbury (1874-1962), 1934, Oil on Canvas.
Hillwood Museum & Gardens just off Rock Creek Parkway in Washington,
DC was the last residence of the heir to the Post cereal fortune Marjorie
Merriweather Post (1887-1973). It showcases a remarkably
comprehensive collection of Russian Imperial fine and decorative art
– probably the finest collection outside Russia.
It includes Imperial porcelain, portraits, gold, silver, Russian Orthodox
icons, vestments,
religious objects, and pieces by Fabergé. The house is also filled
with important 18th century French furniture, tapestries, and Sèvres
porcelain.
The mansion is spacious, and can be found in a 25-acre wooded park-like
setting. It was built in the 1920s and was acquired by Mrs. Post in
the 1950s. She undertook a two-year renovation, intending from the beginning
that Hillwood should become a museum, showcasing her collection for
the education and inspiration of the public.
When the United States government abolished the customs duty on art
objects in 1911, it established a policy that is largely responsible
for many of the magnificent collections on display in America’s
museums today. There were numerous collectors in the early 20th century
who chose to create their legacy in the form of private museums where
objects are displayed in an intimate home-like setting. Marjorie Merriweather
Post established one such museum.
French furniture and decorative arts
The collection was begun in the 1920s when Mrs. Post began to purchase
outstanding examples of French furniture and decorative arts. “I
am particularly attracted by the beauty of an object, its craftsmanship,
and history…,” she wrote. It was at this time that she began
to formulate her taste as a collector. Among her earliest purchases
is a stunning Beauvais tapestry designed by François Boucher
and dated 1736. Highlights of her French furniture collection include
not one, but two marquetry commodes by Jean-Henri Riesener (the renowned
cabinet maker to Louis XVI), a very important signed Jacob suite of
four chairs and two sofas, as well as a gilt wood and leather swivel
chair stamped with the cypher of Marie Antoinette. She also collected
English enamel boxes and etuis during this period, primarily from the
influential dealer Sir Joseph Duveen. These can still be seen on display
in vitrines on the second floor landing.
From Russia with love
When in 1937, her husband, Joseph E. Davies, was appointed second US
ambassador to the Soviet Union, the couple moved to Moscow, where Marjorie
developed a strong interest in Russia’s artistic culture. She began
to collect Russian religious objects as well as the fine and decorative
arts, and established the core of her Russian collection at this time.
She wanted objects to be beautiful, but demanded that they be of superb
craftsmanship, and have historical importance as well. Mrs. Post was
a pioneer collector who assembled her Russian Imperial works of art
long before they were widely recognized or appreciated in the West.
Icons in her collection are primarily ‘late icons’ from the
Romanov era, which were sold by the Soviet government in exchange for
much-needed western currency. These icons were considered of little
artistic or historical value at the time, and Mrs. Post’s visionary
purchase of them offers unparalleled opportunities for scholars today.
She continued to pursue fine examples of French and Russian decorative
arts throughout her life, building an eclectic collection that exists
much as it did in many 18th and 19th century Russian palaces.
The house is dominated by a magnificent stair hall with a collection
of Russian Imperial portraits illuminated by a massive rock crystal
chandelier. The largest of these portraits is of Empress Catherine II
in full state regalia including the diamond collar of the Order of St.
Andrew First Called and the orange and black striped sash of the Order
of St. George. It was originally painted for Henry Hope, the Crown’s
Amsterdam banker and was a gift to Mrs. Post by her husband, Joseph
Davies, for Christmas in 1950. Other notable paintings in the collection
include a Portrait of Empress Eugénie (1857) by German royal
court painter Franz Xavier Winterhalter, Jean-Mark Nattier’s portrait
of The Duchess of Parma and her Daughter Isabelle (1750), and Makovskii’s
A Boyar Wedding Feast (1883).
Porcelain and glass
An enormous wealth of French porcelain is showcased in the mansion.
Treasures include the priceless bleu celeste Sèvres Cardinal
Prince Louis de Rohan service, which adorns the table in the oak-paneled
dining room accompanied by a full complement of Val St. Lambert crystal.
Just outside is the French porcelain room, whose collection attests
to the passion Mrs. Post entertained for the famed Sèvres porcelain
factory. Beyond is the pantry, which is typical of modern American design
of the 1950s. This expansive room contains dozens of services of china
ranging from Derby to China Trade to Meissen, as well as glass essential
to the entertaining that was done in the house.
At the far end of the mansion leading into the spacious French drawing
room is the core of the important Russian porcelain and glass collection.
The Russian porcelain room is lined with built-in lighted display cases
filled with examples from four dessert services commissioned by Catherine
the Great in the late 18th century. They are distinguished by stars,
badges, and ribbons representing Russia’s most elite orders for
military service. The St. Andrew service bears the gold and enamel chain
or collar that only members of this elite order wore. The St. Aleksandr
Nevskii service is distinguished by a solid red moire ribbon and a silver
star. The St. George service is painted with an orange and black striped
ribbon and a gold star, while the St. Vladimir service is decorated
with a red ribbon bordered in black and with a gold and a silver star.
Glassware to match abounds, much of it purchased at the renowned Popov
sale in Paris 1970. The double-headed Imperial eagle inlaid in the center
of the floor sets a tone for this gallery.
Fabulous Fabergé
Mrs. Post set aside a special room for priceless Objects de Vertu that
were her passion. The Icon Room is a type of treasury with over 400
objects that include 80 creations by Carl Fabergé, jeweler to
Russia’s Imperial families. Here can be found bejeweled military
decorations, chalices, carved gemstones, and two Imperial Easter eggs.
Both eggs were gifts from Russia’s last tsar, Nicholas II, to his
mother, Maria Fedorovna. The stunning diamond-studded midnight blue
Twelve Monograms Easter Egg is decorated with the Cyrillic initials
AIII, for Alexander III, and MF, for his wife Maria Fedorovna.
The second egg is the Catherine the Great Easter Egg produced in 1914.
This egg’s pink and white cameo-like medallions bear scenes of
the arts and sciences. This egg was named for Catherine the Great because
of the marvelous ‘surprise’ it once held inside – a miniature
figure of the empress, a great patron of the arts and sciences, seated
in a wind-up sedan chair carried by two servants. The surprise, revealed
by opening the top of the egg, was unfortunately lost long ago.
Exhibits everywhere
There are treasures and collections everywhere one looks at Hillwood.
The former owner’s collection of bloodstone objects (her birthstone)
fills a vitrine in her bedroom; an assortment of commedia dell’arte
figures occupies cases in the upstairs hall. Her collections of jewelry
and clothing are preserved for posterity as well. The staff dining room
has been refurbished as the Russian Liturgical Gallery with its gilt
vestments and highly important gold chalice made in St. Petersburg in
1791. The latter is an outstanding example of the Russian goldsmiths’
art.
One of America’s great collectors
Mrs. Post was a visionary collector, which distinguishes her from those
who merely amassed huge numbers of ravishing objects. Her plan was to
bring her two favorite artistic expressions together just as they were
in Russian palaces – 18th century French decorative arts with the
art of Imperial Russia.
“Marjorie Merriweather Post was one of America’s great collectors
of fine and decorative arts, who chose to create a museum out of her
home, like Isabella Stewart Gardner, Henry C. Frick, or Henry du Pont,”
asserts Frederick J. Fisher, Director of the Hillwood Museum and Gardens.
“Mrs. Post, who was schooled early in her collecting career by
leading art dealers including Sir Joseph Duveen, was a knowledgeable
and passionate collector and philanthropist who developed her life to
sharing her treasures and good fortune with others.”
Hillwood Museum and Gardens is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday,
10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and is closed Sundays, Mondays, the month of January
and most federal holidays. Due to Hillwood’s residential location
and zoning conditions, public access to the estate is by reservation.
The limited number of visitors will ensure your comfort and provide
a more enriching experience.
Hillwood Museum & Gardens, 4155 Linnaen Avenue, NW, Washington,
DC 20008, (202) 686-8500, www.hillwoodmuseum.org
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