May 27, 2020 Founders & Patriots
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/27/2020
[Juan Miralles, first Spanish Consul to the United States]. Unpublished manuscript "Inventory of the Household and Kitchen Furniture and Generally All the Goods & Chattell of Don Juan de Miralles, deceased ...1780.” ADS, folio, 8 leaves forming 16, each sheet bearing a "ProPatria" watermark with seated figure of Liberty. In 1777, Juan de Miralles, a wealthy Cuban merchant, was sent to Philadelphia as Spain's first consular agent to the infant United States. Miralles rented the palatial townhouse on Spruce Street that had been home to John Penn, Pennsylvania's last colonial governor, and furnished it in the highest style, hosting many lavish entertainments attended by both Congressional leaders and the city elite, as well as General George Washington and many of his senior officers. Miralles successfully paved the way for commercial and military cooperation between the two nations and was to have been named Spain's first ambassador but died of "pulmonic fever" in April 1780 while visiting General George Washington at his Morristown, NJ headquarters. Miralles was buried there with full military honors. His executors, Congressman Robert Morris and Francisco Rendon (his legation secretary and successor), ordered a complete inventory of the diplomat's furnishings and personal possessions, room by room, for both the Spruce St. house, as well as his country estate or "farm" at Mount Pleasant (a mansion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, atop cliffs overlooking the Schuylkill River originally built in 1761, which John Adams called "the most elegant seat in Pennsylvania."
This original, unpublished 16-page inventory, taken by "Lacoste" and John Swanwick during 9-10 May 1780, provides an important window into the material world of diplomatic and social life in Revolutionary Philadelphia, with a detailed enumeration of each room's contents for both the Penn townhouse and Mount Pleasant. As such, it provides social historians and decorative arts scholars with an unparalleled glimpse into the conspicuous consumption of both Miralles and the Philadelphia elite that he entertained, from the consumption of sweetmeats and liquor, to their taste in clothing, books, furniture, ceramics and silver. A particularly poignant entry is the listing of medals and valuables "brought by Don. Francisco [Rendon] from Camp where the late Don Juan had them with him", which included a gold box, a gold cross, a gold medal, two silver medals, gold shoe, knee and stock buckles, a gold watch and chain and a gold seal, the valuables on his person when he visited General Washington at Morristown. Clothing left in Philadelphia included numerous silk and velvet suits, including: "One White Silk Coat, Jacket & 2 pair of Breeches lined with Green & trimmed with Silver", "One Pale Pink Silk Coat, Jacket & Breeches lined and trimmed do., "One Blue Silk Coat, Jacket & Breeches lined with Yellow" and "One new Red Silk Umbrella". Miralles must have quite cut the figure when attending Congressional meetings and private soirees. JLK