Mildred Mottahedeh

Mildred R. Mottahedeh (August 7, 1908 - February 17, 2000) was one of the most important figures in the area of luxury goods in the twentieth century. During her lifetime she amassed the largest privately held collection of Chinese export porcelain in the world, a feat which was catalogued in the book China For The West by David Howard. Her company, Mottahedeh & Company, was the number-one maker of luxury porcelain in the U.S. market for many years, and her designs graced the tables of places such as the White House, three Presidential Inaugurations, and the State Department.^[1]

While she amassed enormous wealth during her lifetime, including one of the largest estates in Connecticut during the 1950s and 1960s, she gave nearly all her wealth away by establishing charities such as the Mottahedeh Development Services, building over 10 schools in Uganda, and many other endeavors. Her company, while no longer owned by the Mottahedeh family, continues to make luxury porcelain.

Mottahedeh was strongly committed to her religion, the Bahá'í Faith; she was a long-serving member of the International Baha'i Council and representative of the Baha’i community to the United Nations.

Mildred Mottahedeh's son, Roy Mottahedeh, is a renowned historian of the medieval Near East and recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship who teaches at Harvard University.

References

1. ^ "Mildred Root Mottahedeh, 91, Collector of Chinese Porcelain."

Bibliography

• "Mildred Root Mottahedeh, 91, Collector of Chinese Porcelain". New York Times Obituary. February 23, 2000. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/23/arts/mildred-root-mottahedeh-91-collector-of-chinese-porcelain.html. Retrieved 2010-08-26. 
• Justice, Universal House of; collected by Geoffry W. Marks (1996). Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-86. Wilmette, IL: Baha'i Publishing Trust of the United States. pp. 116, 745. ISBN 0877432392. http://bahai-library.com/uhj_messages_1963_1986. 
• Rabbani, Ruhiyyih (Ed.) (1992). The Ministry of the Custodians 1957-1963. Bahá'í World Centre. pp. 282, 287, 291, 325, 329. ISBN 0-85398-350-X. http://bahai-library.com/uhj_ministry_custodians. 
• Hassall, Graham (1992). "Pacific History: Papers from the 8th Pacific History Association Conference". In H. Rubinstein, Donald. University of Guam Press & Micronesian Area Research Center, Guam. pp. 73–95. 
• Krause, Joy (June 15, 1997). "Character comes through in porcelain". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. http://bahai-library.com/newspapers/061597.html. Retrieved 2010-08-26. 
• R. Sims, Barbara (1998). Unfurling the Divine Flag in Tokyo: An Early Bahá'í History. Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo: Japan Bahá'í Publishing Trust. p. 66. ISBN 4938975068. http://bahai-library.com/sims_raising_divine_flag. 
• Atkinson, Anne Gordon; Robert Stockman. "Introduction to Green Acre Baha'i School". Essays. Bahá'í Library Online. http://bahai-library.com/essays/greenacre.html. Retrieved 2010-08-26. 
• Keller, Rosemary Skinner; Rosemary Radford Ruether, Marie Cantlon (2006). Encyclopedia of women and religion in North America, Volume 2. Indiana University Press. p. 786. ISBN 9780253346872. http://books.google.com/books?id=WPILfbtT5tQC&lpg=PA786&ots=3NiKDCvhKO&pg=PA786#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• "Mildred Mottahedeh, first Bahá'í International Community representative to the United Nations, passed away". One Country (Bahá'í International Community) 11 (04). January-March 2000. http://www.onecountry.org/e114/e11415as_Mottehedeh.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-26. 
• "Representatives to the UN; Past Representatives". Who We Are. Bahá'í International Community. 2009. http://www.bic.org/who-we-are/Our-Staff. Retrieved 2010-08-26. 

Persondata
Name	Mottahedeh, Mildred
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1908-08-07
Place of birth
Date of death	2000-02-17
Place of death