- 213
A Pair of American Silver Presentation Chinoiserie Water Pitchers, Robert Keyworth, Washington, D.C., circa 1830-40
Estimate
15,000 - 25,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed
Description
- marked on outside rim of foot, Keyworth capitals in rectangle
- SIlver
- height 12 1/4 in.
- 31cm
baluster form, elaborately chased with pagodas, pavilions, a boat, and birds amongst flowers angular floral handles, the fronts with presentation inscriptions under chinoiserie canopy
Provenance
John Henry Eaton (1790-1856), United States Secretary of War and his second wife Peggy O'Neill Timberlake (1796-1879)
Catalogue Note
North Carolina native John Henry Eaton (1790-1856) was the youngest United States Senator in history. Eaton studied law at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, before becoming a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1815. Three years later, at the age of twenty-eight, he was elected Senator, a position he served until 1829. Sadly, his first wife, Myra Lewis, died the same year he was elected Senator.
Eaton was a personal friend of Andrew Jackson, and became a member of Jackson's Cabinet when Jackson was elected President in 1829. Later that year Eaton was named Secretary of War, and resigned his seat in the Senate.
Eaton only held the position of Secretary of War until 1831, when he resigned after a social scandal involving his marriage to his second wife ensued. Two years earlier Eaton had married Peggy O'Neill Timberlake (1796-1879), a long-time friend and recent widow of a purser in the US Navy. A number of women in elite Washington society, including the wife of Vice President John C. Calhoun, refused to socialize with the new Mrs. Eaton due to her humble upbringing and a rumor that she had had an affair with Eaton before her first husband, John Timberlake committed suicide aboard the USS Consititution in 1828. The controversy which was dubbed the "Petticoat affair", divided Jackson's Cabinet as wives took sides on the issue. Jackson's attempt to intervene on behalf of Mrs. Eaton, disrupted his relationship with the Vice President, whose wife was a society leader, and thus he turned his favor to Martin Van Buren, a widower, who was deemed much less scandalous. Eaton later served as ambassador to Spain, where he and his wife were well-received.
When Andrew Jackson took office in 1828, the issue of Indian removal had already become a national concern. It was well-known that Jackson was a proponent of removing Indians from their native lands and likewise one of the first measures pushed upon taking up the presidency was to enact the Indian Removal Act. As members of Jackson's cabinet, Eaton and John Coffee were dispatched to carry the law into effect. In August 1830 they met with the Chicasaw delegation at Eaton's home in Franklin, TN, the following day the Chickasaw nation ceded to the United States all of their land east of the Mississippi River.
Eaton was a personal friend of Andrew Jackson, and became a member of Jackson's Cabinet when Jackson was elected President in 1829. Later that year Eaton was named Secretary of War, and resigned his seat in the Senate.
Eaton only held the position of Secretary of War until 1831, when he resigned after a social scandal involving his marriage to his second wife ensued. Two years earlier Eaton had married Peggy O'Neill Timberlake (1796-1879), a long-time friend and recent widow of a purser in the US Navy. A number of women in elite Washington society, including the wife of Vice President John C. Calhoun, refused to socialize with the new Mrs. Eaton due to her humble upbringing and a rumor that she had had an affair with Eaton before her first husband, John Timberlake committed suicide aboard the USS Consititution in 1828. The controversy which was dubbed the "Petticoat affair", divided Jackson's Cabinet as wives took sides on the issue. Jackson's attempt to intervene on behalf of Mrs. Eaton, disrupted his relationship with the Vice President, whose wife was a society leader, and thus he turned his favor to Martin Van Buren, a widower, who was deemed much less scandalous. Eaton later served as ambassador to Spain, where he and his wife were well-received.
When Andrew Jackson took office in 1828, the issue of Indian removal had already become a national concern. It was well-known that Jackson was a proponent of removing Indians from their native lands and likewise one of the first measures pushed upon taking up the presidency was to enact the Indian Removal Act. As members of Jackson's cabinet, Eaton and John Coffee were dispatched to carry the law into effect. In August 1830 they met with the Chicasaw delegation at Eaton's home in Franklin, TN, the following day the Chickasaw nation ceded to the United States all of their land east of the Mississippi River.