Blue and White Wares
Property from a California Institution bequeathed by Mrs. Lou Henry Hoover

Blue and white tianqiuping from the Yongzheng period are very rare. Those that exist in recorded collections vary in size. For examples in the Qing Court collection with a closely related main body decoration see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red, vol. III, Shanghai, no. 82, and another no. 83 with fruit and floral sprays under a classic wave band at the rim. Lou Henry Hoover (1874-1944) was First Lady and wife of President Herbert Hoover (President 1929-1932), the 31st President of the United States. She was born in Waterloo, Iowa, the daughter of Charles Henry, a banker and outdoors-man. When Lou was eleven, the family moved to California. A tomboy, horsewoman and nature lover, she was the first woman to graduate in Geology from Stanford University in 1898. There as an undergraduate and student of Professor J. C. Branner, she met his senior assistant, Herbert Hoover, who was sent as a geologist for a British mining company to Australia in 1896. He proposed to her by cable from his post in 1898, and they left for China the day after their wedding in February, 1899, where Mr. Hoover assumed the post of Director General of the Department of Mines for the Chinese government. They spent the next two years in Tientsin (Tianjin), China, during which Mrs. Hoover learned to read, write and speak Chinese, and developed a passion for Chinese art, and in particular, Chinese porcelains. She became a guard for the city and a volunteer to build barricades during the Boxer rebellion of 1900. She and Mr. Hoover left Tientsin (Tianjin) after the siege was lifted for London, where Mr. Hoover inspected mines for Berwick, Moorehead and Company. They traveled through Europe and Asia. During their time in London, Mrs. Hoover began to study and collect Ming and Qing dynasty porcelain which she displayed in their home, the Red House. They remained in London until 1914, when Mrs. Hoover moved with their two children back to California. She commuted from Stanford to London to support her husband, who was Chairman of the Commission for Belgian relief; she was responsible for raising funds to send the first ship to Belgium from California. When the United States entered World War I, Mrs. Hoover joined her husband in Washington, D. C., where she worked with him in his new role as America's Food Administrator. During this time, she became heavily involved in the Girl Scouts, and in the women's division of the National Amateur Athletic Associate, which promoted her interest in women's athletics and in the great outdoors. After his years as Secretary of Commerce under President Harding, Herbert Hoover was elected President of the United States in 1929. Mrs. Hoover was responsible for renovating important rooms in the White House, many at her own expense. She was an active First Lady, who maintained her interest in the outdoors and in social causes. After leaving the White House in 1933, the Hoovers returned to California, where she became active in the Friends of Music at Stanford. Before the outbreak of World War II, President and Mrs. Hoover moved to New York to work for the Finnish Relief Fund. Mrs. Hoover chaired the Western Women's Committee which collected clothing for European war refugees. After a lifetime of service, Mrs. Hoover died from a heart attack in 1944.