Celebrating reception room donations.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in late May hosted a reception to thank donors to the Diplomatic Reception Rooms for their gifts in 2011. The Secretary gave special thanks to contributors to the Patrons of Diplomacy initiative, which created the first endowment to permanently preserve the Diplomatic Reception Rooms and their collection, and make the rooms' historic collection of Americana accessible to students worldwide via new educational outreach and tools.

By October 2011 the initiative's $20 million goal had been exceeded by $300,000. Gifts and pledges ranged from $100 to $1.6 million.

At the donors' reception, Secretary Clinton thanked Patrons of Diplomacy Co-Chairs Carlyle Eubank and Nina Ansary, as well as participants in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms Educational Roundtable. Guests enjoyed the newly renovated Secretaries of State Terrace, made possible by the Fund for the Endowment of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms.

Under law, taxpayer funds cannot be used to maintain the 42 Diplomatic Reception Rooms or their collection of more than 5,000 historic decorative and fine art objects. The rooms, located on the top two floors of Main State, were the setting for more than 500 events in 2011, many of them diplomatic.

Among the 2011 gifts celebrated at the reception were the funds donated by Muslim Lakhani and family, which supported the acquisition of a hand-crafted federal style mahogany dining table and a contemporary hand-loomed Egyptian Oushak for the Secretary of State's Conference Room. The table has satinwood banding and rests on four urn-shaped pedestal columns with handcarved, reeded saber legs, acanthus leaves and brass-paw castered feet.

Also in 2011:

* Mrs. Eugene B. Casey donated panels of French scenic wallpaper named Les Paysages de Telemaque dans L'ile de Calypso (Dufour Manufactory, c. 1815-1820) along with funds to conserve and install the wallpaper panels in the Henry Clay Dining Room in August 2012.Identical wallpaper can also be found in The Hermitage, home of Andrew Jackson.

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* Paul D. Cronin donated a collection of Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) blue-and-white porcelain in honor of Elizabeth Ann Swift, his wife and a Foreign Service officer (1940-2012).

* The National Trust for the Humanities donated books to U.S. embassies and consulates throughout the world. In accepting the books for the Department, Under Secretary Patrick Kennedy thanked the trust's chairman, Robert Perry, and said that the books will allow the embassies "to share the story of American independence." The gift was made in recognition of Albert H. Small, whose Declaration of Independence Collection is featured in the book, and who has been instrumental in the formation and preservation of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms.

* Frank L. Hohmann III gave a bronze sculpture of an eagle modeled by Harriet Whitney Frishmuth in 1910. It was placed beneath the seventh-floor portrait of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, mirroring the eagle pin she wears in the painting.

* Robert Kogod Goldman gave several items of Chinese export porcelain, including a pair of famille rose plates (c. 1780), a Chinese export porcelain teacup with the arms of New York State (c. 1790), a Chinese export porcelain cream pitcher and spoon tray (c. 1785-1795) and a Chinese export porcelain teapot (c. 1795-1810), the latter two both made for the American market. The teapot's elegant spout counterbalances the intertwining strap handle and is surmounted by a gilt berry "knop," a small decorative knob. Goldman also gave a 9-foot by 12-foot hand-woven modern Turkish rug.

* Funds donated by Patricia Anne Morton were applied to a 25" x 19" portrait of Ruth Bryan Owen done by Samuel J. Woolf in 1935. America's first woman diplomat, Owen was sent to Denmark as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary in 1933.

* Funds donated by Dr. and Mrs. James W.Frank were applied to a pair of Chippendalestyle mahogany sofas. Made in the late 20th century, the sofas were reproduced from an original Chippendale sofa illustrated in "American Collections at the Metropolitan Museum," published in 1963.

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By Brianne Brophy, project coordinator, Diplomatic Reception Rooms

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Author:	Brophy, Brianne
Publication:	State Magazine
Date:	Jul 1, 2012
Words:	662
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