Robert H. Ellsworth

Robert H. Ellsworth (July 13, 1929 – August 3, 2014) was a Manhattan-based American art dealer of Asian paintings and furniture from the Ming dynasty. His art collection can be found in museums in the United States. He was a supporter of architectural restoration in Huangshan, China and an honorary Chinese citizen.

Early life

Robert H. Ellsworth was born on July 13, 1929 in Manhattan, New York City.^[1] His father was a dentist and his mother, an opera singer.^[1][2] On his paternal side, he was a descendant of Oliver Ellsworth.^[1] His parents divorced when he was four years old.^[2]

He was a high school dropout.^[1] However, he started working in an antiques store in Manhattan, where he was mentored by Alice Boney.^[1]

Career

He was an art dealer of Ming dynasty furniture and modern Chinese paintings.^[1] One of his clients was John D. Rockefeller III, who donated his collection to the Asia Society posthumously.^[1] Another client was Sir Joseph Hotung.^[2] Herbert Irving, the co-founder of Sysco, was yet another client.^[2]

He published Chinese Furniture: Hardwood Examples of the Ming and Early Ch'ing Dynasty in 1970; it was reprinted in 1997.^[3] He also published Later Chinese Painting and Calligraphy: 1800-1950, a three-volume art book, in 1987.^[1][2]

He purchased Christian Humann's art collection for US$12 million 1981.^[1] It included 1,600 paintings and objets d'art.^[1] He later sold 15 paintings to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and 15 more to the Cleveland Museum of Art as well as some more to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.^[1] Some of the furniture he sold to the Met can see at the Astor Court.^[1] He also donated 500 paintings to the Met in 1986.^[1]

Sotheby's auctioned 113 of his paintings in 1993.^[2] Two decades later, in 2012, Christie's auctioned 70 of his Chinese bronze mirrors.^[1]

Philanthropy

He was the founder of the Hong-Kong based Chinese Heritage Art Foundation, a non-profit organization whose aim is to restore Ming and Qing dynasty-era architecture in Huangshan, Huizhou District, China.^[1][2] He became an "honorary citizen of China" in 1993.^[2][2]

Personal life

He resided in a twenty-room apartment at 960 Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.^[1][2] His apartment was burglarized in 1977, and artwork worth $300,000 was stolen from him.^[1] He lived for forty years with a companion, Masahiro Hashiguchi, a Japanese restaurateur with whom he co-owned Gibbon, a former restaurant on the Upper East Side.^[1][2] He spent his weekends in New Fairfield, Connecticut.^[2]

He was a member of high society.^[1] He was friends with heiress Brooke Astor and actress Claudette Colbert.^[1]

Death

He died on August 3, 2014.^[1] He was eighty-five years old.^[1] A posthumous auction was organized by Christie's;^[4] it was attended by Chinese billionaire investor Liu Yiqian.^[5]

Ellsworth's companion, Hashiguchi, as executor, sued attorney George L. Bischof who drafted the will in 2015, arguing that it "fails to qualify for the federal estate tax charitable deduction."^[6] Meanwhile, the will revealed that he donated US$50,000 to two waitresses at Donohue's Steak House on the Upper East Side, where he often dined.^[7][8]

References