 |
This sale featured the
important one owner estate jewelry collection of a long Island, NY
socialite formed after her 1906 marriage. The collection emphasized the
best artistic design, quality and workmanship of the early 20th
century. Rarely does a one owner collection of this magnitude come to
market. All of the proceeds of this sale benefited a new foundation for
artists. |
 |
 |
Florens Hutchins DeBevoise was born May 7,
1886, in Oakland California, where she spent her early school years.
When her father, a journalist and contributor to the Atlantic Monthly
among other publications, became interested in mining, the family moved
first to Texas and then to New Mexico. She married Frederick E. Lewis
II in Carlsbad, NM. There, in 1907, their daughter Mary Taylor Lewis
was born. Fred Lewis was from the New York area, the couple moved to
Connecticut about 1908. They purchased a property known then and today
as Long Shore, where Mrs. Lewis became socially prominent in Connecticut
and New York circles, hosting grand benefits for charity and developing
extensive gardens.
Later she married General Charles I.
DeBevoise, and they lived at “Cronamere” in Green Farms, Connecticut,
for the remainder of her life. In 1929, she founded the Cronamere
Alpine Nurseries which became an invaluable source to botanists and
garden club members alike. Her collection of rock and alpine plants was
“considered the largest and finest in the country”. Her catalogue of
Cronamere specimens was regarded as the “rock garden bible,” and
requests came from libraries and universities throughout the country.
Additionally, she founded the Sasqua Garden Club in 1930 and in 1933,
help found the American Rock Garden Society. She studied botany and
landscaping and helped supervise the building of rock gardens in New
York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Her work with dwarfing plants and
miniature gardens were widely exhibited. The Garden Club of America
awarded her the Gold Medal for the finest garden entered in the 1936 New
York Flower Show. In 1954, the Florens DeBevoise Medal was established
by the Garden Club of America for “horticultural achievement in
hybridizing with emphasis on plant material appropriate for rock
gardens.”
Her daughter, Mary Taylor Lewis, was
a nationally recognized painter who inherited her mother’s jewelry
collection in 1953 and added to the collection until her death in 1978.
|
 |
