Mantlepiece for Thurlow Lodge, Menlo Park, California

This mantelpiece is from Thurlow Lodge, the no-longer-extant Menlo Park mansion of former California Governor and United States Senator Milton Slocum Latham (1827–1882) and his second wife, Mary McMullin. They commissioned the interior design for their home from the New York City firm of Herter Brothers, whose San Francisco outlet catered to prominent patrons such as Mark Hopkins, James Flood, Darius Ogden Mills, and John D. Spreckels.

The Lathams’ choice of the prestigious Herter Brothers firm reflected the desire of Californians with social and cultural aspirations to import sophisticated art objects from cosmopolitan New York—or from Paris, where
this mantelpiece was carved. The theme of hunting, historically associated with European royalty and aristocracy, was popular with Gilded Age businessmen, who were often described as the modern equivalents of medieval barons. The prominent clock would have suited Latham’s time-sensitive professions as banker and railroad financier.