President – James Monroe 3D

Musuem Object File Information:

Accession Number: JM76.213

Collection: Laurence Gouverneur Hoes Collection

Category: Armaments

Subcategory: Firearm

Description: One of a pair of flintlock pistols presented to President James Madison as a gift from Argentina in 1816. Made with silver capped handles and inlaid in an intricate scrolling design of silver on the handles and barrels.

General Ignacio Alvarez, Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, sent “a specimen of the first essays of the Manufacture of arms established in the Provinces of Buenos Ayres and Tucuman under the auspices of a free government, as an homage due to the Chief Magistrate of the United States of North America.” [James B. Rhoads, National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D.C., to Daniel Milton, U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, TLS, June 22, 1962. James Rhoads examined the Department of State records from the 1815-1816 period to verify this gift of pistols. A copy of this letter is in the Curator’s Files, “JM76.213”].

As the U.S. government had not yet officially recognized the independence of the United Provinces of the River Plate, Madison was somewhat embarrassed by the gesture. He instructed the Chief Clerk of the Department of State, John Graham, to handle the gift in a quiet manner. “The present of Pistols may be deposited in the Department of State with a simple expression of the proper sensibility to it” [Rhoads to Milton, June 22, 1962, 2].

It is unclear how Monroe obtained the pair. It has been suggested that President Madison gave the set to him as a gift in honor of Monroe’s bravery during the War of 1812, since Monroe was the last member of Madison’s cabinet to leave Washington — just as the first British troops approached the Capital City in August of 1814. [Observations and discussion between John N. Pearce, Director, James Monroe Museum, and Lee Langston-Harrison, Curator, May 1997]. It is also possible that Madison gave Monroe the brace when he took the oath of office as the fifth President of the United States. Or possibly that Monroe accepted the pistols in 1823 when the U.S. officially recognized the independence of Argentina.

There is no official record of the set being removed from the Department of State, and a 1962 search for the pistols given to Madison came up with nothing [Rhoads to Milton, June 22, 1962, 2], suggesting that this set is the one now at the James Monroe Museum.

Date: 1815-1816

Condition: Fair

Length: 11.500 in

Width: 2.000 in

Provenance: James Monroe his younger daughter Maria Hester Monroe and her husband, Samuel L. Gouverneur, Sr. then to SLG and his second wife, Mrs. Mary Digges Lee Gouverneur -1868 by order of the Orphan’s Court of Loudon County, VA to Mr. Samuel L. Gouverneur, Jr. and his wife, Mrs. Marian Campbell Gouverneur. Following Mrs. Gouverneur’s death to her daughter, Mrs. Rose Gouverneur Hoes who willed it to her youngest son, Mr. Laurence G. Hoes and his wife, Ingrid Westesson Hoes. Gift to the James Monroe Memorial Foundation by the Hoes family. Deed of Gift to the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Collector: James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library

Originally Owned By: James Madison, James Monroe

Place of Origin: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Material: Steel/Silver

Citation: “Pistols.” JM76.213. James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library.

Object Bibliography:

James B. Rhoads, National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D.C., to Daniel Milton, U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, TLS, June 22, 1962. James Rhoads examined the Department of State records from the 1815-1816 period to verify this gift of pistols. A copy of this letter is in the Curator’s Files, “JM76.213.”

Observations and discussion between John N. Pearce, Director, James Monroe Museum, and Lee Langston-Harrison, Curator, May 1997.

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Napoleonic Chair
by jamesmonroe3d
on Sketchfab

Museum Object File Information:

Accession Number: JM76.216

Collection: Laurence Gouverneur Hoes Collection

Category: Building Furnishings

Subcategory: Furniture

Description: A ceremonial French empire-style chair made of mahogany. The chair has a straight, squared-back topped with an arched brass crest. The crest of the chair is hand-carved with an eagle motif. The eagle, depicted with its wings spread, is standing within a laurel wreath holding a scrolling ribbon in its talons. On the top-most portion of the crest rail is a carved sheaf of wheat with floral and oak leaf decorations. The stiles of the chair resemble fluted columns with Corinthian capitals, the side-rails are cushioned in the center and the hand grips are fluted. Supporting each padded arm rest, is a winged lion head, sitting atop a block corner, then decorated with an applied flower. The front legs end in claw feet, while the back legs are slightly raked and tapered. The full back cushion is surrounded by decorative beading. The seat, back and arm rests are upholstered in a gold and green striped silk fabric provided by Scalamandre in New York. The entire piece, with the exception of the upholstery, is gilded.
[C. G. Sloan, “Appraisal of the Collections at the James Monroe Museum” (unpublished, 1989), 45.]

Family tradition suggests that Monroe owned the piece and used it in the President’s house from 1817 to 1825. Today, a large group of pieces are now on view at the White House, on long-term loan from the Philadelphia Museum of Art [William G. Allman, the White House, to Rosalie Sullvian, James Monroe Museum, TLS, July 22, 1983. This letter is in the Curator’s files, “JM76.216.” The Philadelphia Museum of Art received its set in 1931 from Henry Livington Lee, descendants of May Digges Lee, second wife of Samuel L. Gouverneur, Sr. the set was loaned to the White House from a New York source and a private donor. Monroe’s entire original suite may have been sold by Samuel L. Gouverneur, Sr., c1852 when he sold Oak Hill after Maria Monroe Gouverneur’s death].
The origin of the chair is unknown though research suggests that it was one of a large suite made in Italy. The Minneapolis Institute of Art owns such a chair with a “Fine Italian Empire” attribution and found that there were others at the Villa Demidoff a San Donato near Florence [Jennifer Komar, Minneapolis Institute of Art, to Lee Langston-Harrison, James Monroe Museum, TLS, March 17, 1995. Ms. Komar included a copy of a catalogue entry from an auction at Christie’s in New York (1994). Christie’s suggested the “Italian” origin]. However, there is a strikingly similar chair at Josephine Beauharnais’ home Malmasion, near Paris, that has been referred to as a French “Ceremonial chair” or an “a la Reine” chair from a set made for Napoleon in 1810 [Alvar Gonzalez-Palacios, The French Empire Style (London: Hamlyn Publishing Co., Ltd., 1966), 112].

Date: 1805-1815

Condition: Excellent

Provenance: James Monroe – – – Marian Campbell Gouverneur – Mrs. John Cropper who returned it to Rose Gouverneur Hoes as part of her estate – Laurence G. Hoes – JMMF – State of VA.

Collector: James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library

Used: President’s House, 1817-1825

Originally Owned By: James Monroe

Place of Origin: France, Italy or United States

Material: Mahogany/Brass/Gilt/Silk/Straw

Citation:“White House Chair.” JM76.216. James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library.

Object Bibliography:

Sloan, C.G. “Appraisal of the Collections at the James Monroe Museum.” 1989.

Gonzalez-Palacios, Alvar. The French Empire Style. London: Hamlyn Publishing Co., Ltd., 1966.

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