Forbes House Museum withSusan

 The wonderful Forbes House Museum is a great house, an amazing collection of Asian art, and deserves to be known much better.  

A mixed history of evil (the Opium trade), and good (Irish famine relief), the collection brought back from China became the basis for the great Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem. 

But there is plenty to see in the house, with great ceramics in every corner, or hidden away in closets and shelves,  all a delight to discover.

Mark Slawson introduced this collection to me, and I finally got to introduce it to Susan.  We had the fortune of having a wonderful docent, Dina, who made the whole place come alive.  Dina, you were great. 

One of several spectacular collections of Asian place settings made for the family.

Susan and Dina

Portrait of Robert Bennet Forbes  c.1845

A gilded sewing box.  Incredible virtuosic artwork.

Hidden away in a corner cabinet

Portrait of Dorothy Murray Forbes

The legendary Houqua, one of the great merchants in China, great friend of the Forbes.
He traded on the American stock market and keeping his wealth secret from the Chinese
government, became one
of the wealthiest men in China

The "Jamestown" an American sloop of war, which, commanded by 
R. Bennett Forbes, made trips to Ireland with food during the great Irish famine, 1847.

The helm from the "Jamestown" presented to the Forbes

Part of a spectacular screen

The "Lincoln" Room.  One of the Forbes daughters was obsessed with Abraham Lincoln, and
collected Lincoln memorabilia.

The circular staircase, 4 floors of architectural mastery. 

A veranda or extension chair, brought back from China, 18th. C. 

Ben Forbes relaxing in his "extension" chair.

detail of a chest (below)

Looking up.

Favorite pets immortalized

Down in the kitchen
Each of those bells has a different tone.

The replica of Abraham Lincoln's birthplace.

Susan at Pratt Farm