A rare Chinese export porcelain dome shoulder tea caddy hand-painted with the image of a ship flying an American flag and firing off one of its cannons. The ship is flanked by two gilded initials PH most likely for PATRICK HAYES (1770-1856) of Philadelphia. Hayes made at least four trips to China, the first time with John Barry – later becoming the Commodore’s adopted nephew – and  also became a Captain in his own right as well as becoming a very successful merchant. He was also a member of the Order of the Society of the Cincinnati. Hayes is recorded as having received two ciphered services from China in 1807 so this piece is almost certainly from that shipment. Illustrated in Schiffer’s China for America, page 162 and Mudge’s Chinese Export Porcelain for the American Trade, page 194. Measuring  5 1/4″ tall.  $5,800.00

A handsome pair of Chinese export porcelain baluster form garniture vases with panels of blue and gilt decoration featuring classical urns, flowers, and butterflies against a finely molded basket weave ground with foo lion covers. Exemplifying the neoclassical influence that was so popular in the late 18th and early 19th century, the spare, elegant decoration popular during the early years of our new republic. Measuring 11 1/2″ tall with a small firing line to the body of one, and minor restoration to covers, otherwise very good condition. Circa 1790s/1800.  $950.00

A very fine pair of Chinese export porcelain dinner plates made for the American market bearing the central drape and shield motif inscribed with the gilded initials NAB from a dinner service ordered for Nicholas and Ann Brown of Providence, Rhode Island. The Browns were already wealthy traders by the time Nicholas Jr. graduated from The College of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations which was eventually renamed Brown University due to Nicholas’ very generous donations. Nicholas later formed Brown & Ives, a mercantile trading company with ships sailing around the world – from which he most likely ordered this dinner service – and with that wealth he further invested in the burgeoning textile industry increasing his fortunes even further.  Despite this wealth, the Browns didn’t seem to entertain too heavily as there is virtually no wear on these dinner plates, the gilded monogram in pristine condition!  measuring 10″ in diameter, one with a faint spider to the reverse, not showing on the front. Circa 1800. A great gift for any Brown graduate or alum! $450.00 each.

A very elegant pair of Chinese export porcelain 8″ plates from a special order service made for the very prominent Chew family of Philadelphia, each centered with a roundel bearing a gilded C within a gilded eight-pointed star. The Chews were deeply involved with the China Trade and one family member, Benjamin Chew Wilcocks (1776-1845) played a very important role in the development between the United States and China, at one point living in Canton as a resident commission agent. The family was the leaders of Philadelphia society and fashionable taste with both residences in town and at their country house Cliveden. These plates undoubtedly part of that lavish and elegant lifestyle. Extensively discussed and illustrated in the Philadelphia Museum’s publication Philadelphia and the China Trade, pages 48-49. ` Both in very good condition, Late 18th century. $1,250.00 each.

A rare and attractive Chinese export porcelain saucer dish hand-painted with the central Arms of Boudinot from a service made for Philadelphia lawyer Elias Boudinot (1740-1821).  Boudinot was not only a lawyer (attending Princeton), but also a statesman, early abolitionist, and advocate for women’s rights. During the Revolutionary War he was an intelligence officer and prisoner-of-war commissary under General George Washington. The dinner service was gifted to him by the Continental Congress in recognition of his service as President of the Congress in 1782, the same year he was the signatory of the Preliminary Articles of the Peace Treaty with England, i.e. the Treaty of Paris. After the war he was elected to three terms in Congress and in 1795 he became Director of the United States Mint.

It was not especially popular to use heraldic devices to demonstrate social standing before the American Revolution, so it is very unusual to order a service decorated with the family coats-of-arms after the War. Measuring 8 1/2″ in diameter and other than some very minor rim frits it is in very good condition. Illustrated and discussed in Howard’s Chinese Armorial Porcelain, Vol II, page 684, as well as Schiffer’s China in America, page 51, as well as there being an example in the collections of the U.S. State department. Circa 1785 – 1795. $5500.

And with much appreciation to Ched & Sandy Cluthe for sharing their thorough and brilliant research with us. 

We are fortunate enough to have this fine Chinese export porcelain sauce tureen and undertray from a bespoke dinner service made for the American market, each piece bearing a central shield with gilded initials GC for George Crowninshield of Salem, Massachusetts and edged with an overglaze blue enameled grapevine border with gilded detail, the design most likely after English patterns of the period. The Crowninshields’ importance to Salem cannot be overstated, they owned one of the three major wharves in the port city and they helped turn it into one of the major trading centers of New England and America’s new republic and in the they process became enormously wealthy. George Crowninshield  (1733-1815) founded Crowninshield & Sons shipping business, one son later served as Secretary of the Navy, another was a Congressman, and a third, George Jr. built and sailed America’s first yacht, christened Cleopatra’s Barge across the Atlantic. The oval undertray measuring 8″, the tureen 7 1/2″ and the height of both 6 1/2″. In good condition, circa 1800.

A fine Chinese export porcelain strap-handled mug made for the American market with a hand-painted image of a three-masted ship flying a large American flag, the rim edged with a sepia and gilded grapevine border. Measuring 5″ tall and in good condition with only wear and fading to the delicate rigging.  An excellent record of the American republic’s early maritime history. Circa 1790-1805.

A very elegant pair of Chinese export porcelain strap-handled sauceboats made for the American market, each bearing a family crest of a small hare and with the gilded letter W just under the lip of each sauceboat.  From a service made for the Winthrop family of Boston – one of New England’s oldest families with ancestor John Winthrop having arrived on the Mayflower and setting up the Massachusetts Bay Colony and becoming its first governor in 1620. In addition to their pedigree, these sauceboats wonderfully represent the connections of the China Trade – the delicate floral sprig pattern most likely originating in late 18th century France when it was ‘adopted’ by various English porcelain factories such as Minton, the pattern then being reproduced on Chinese porcelain for a special order service for a Boston family whose ancestors emigrated from England…quite a circle!  One in very good condition $1,050.00, the second with a line sealed $775.00.  A piece from this service illustrated in Schiffer’s China for America, and an example in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

A very handsome and substantially portioned Chinese export porcelain tankard or mug with a well-rendered ‘country house’ landscape within an oval medallion decoration along with blue and gilt cornflower swags in the neoclassical taste.  Most likely the design depicting one of the grand country estates along the Delaware River.  Measuring 6 1/4″ tall and in very good condition. Circa 1800.  $1,650.00

From a rare American market ‘armorial’ service, which Angela Howard says “was almost certainly assumed without official permission” this  gilded border berry dish was from one of two services made for Joseph Smith of Philadelphia (1770-1845) who was a very prosperous merchant with trading interests in India, China, Ireland, and Germany. He was also partner in the ship the China Packet which sailed for Canton in 1818. Illustrated and discussed in Howard’s Chinese Armorial Porcelain, vol. II, page 660.  Measuring 5 1/2″ in diameter and in very good condition.  Circa 1815.    $1,150.00.

A great addition to any American Market Collection, this Martha Washington ‘States Plate’ is a vintage reproduction of an example now in the Smithsonian Institution, commissioned as part of the bicentennial celebrations of George Washington’s birth in 1936.  The original service was given to Martha Washington by a Dutch merchant and celebrates all the states of the new republic, centered with Martha Washington’s initials in a gilded sunburst. Measuring 9 7/8″ in diameter with very minor wear to the gilding, otherwise good condition. Set of four available for your next Washington-themed dinner party. $190.00 each.

A truly exceptional piece of American history, this extremely rare Chinese export porcelain ecuelle or covered soup bowl is from a bespoke service ordered by Samuel Shaw, one of George Washington’s staff, who after the Revolution, went to China aboard the ship Empress of China in 1784.  The service bears the insignia of the Order of the Society of the Cincinnati which was a fraternal organization, still active today, for the officers who served on General Washington’s staff and their direct male descendants. This piece bears the faint SS initials of its original owner Samuel Shaw under the insignia. In remarkably fine condition, with only slight wear of the insignia on the reverse side of the bowl. Examples in the collection of Mt. Vernon and the Diplomatic Reception Rooms amongst other major institutions. An entire page is devoted to the history this service and another one for made for George Washington on the page for the Order of the Society of the Cincinnati online.

A beautiful example of Chinese export porcelain made for the American market, this helmet creamer, undoubtedly from a tea service, was made for Henry Smith of Rhode Island and bears an especially fine example of an early version of the Great Seal of the United States. Smith was a supercargo aboard the ship George Washington on her first voyage to China in 1784. It was only fitting that such a ship return with such an ‘American’ themed tea set and demonstrates the patriotism and enthusiasm citizens bore for their new republic. Very good condition, discussed in Chinese Export Porcelain in the Reeves Collection at Washington & Lee University, page 142.

We are fortunate enough to have several examples from a partial bespoke dinner service made for the American market, each piece bearing a central shield with gilded initials GC for George Crowninshield of Salem, Massachusetts and edged with an overglaze blue enameled grapevine border with gilded detail, the design most likely after English patterns of the period. The Crowninshields’ importance to Salem cannot be overstated, they owned one of the three major wharves in the port city and they helped turn it into one of the major trading centers of New England and America’s new republic and in the they process became enormously wealthy. George Crowninshield  (1733-1815) founded Crowninshield & Sons shipping business, one son later served as Secretary of the Navy, another was a Congressman, and a third, George Jr. built and sailed America’s first yacht, christened Cleopatra’s Barge across the Atlantic. The oval platter measuring 10 1/2″ across, the saucer is  5 1/2″. Both in good condition, the handled cup with a line to around the base, and the interior border worn.  Circa 1800. The platter $950.00, the cup and saucer $650.00.

A very richly decorated Chinese export porcelain drum teapot made for the American market, the cover and shoulder of the pot with  intricate borders, swags, and flowers in sepia, peach, brown and gilded detail, both sides of the pot with a central roundel featuring a delicate sepia landscape with the original owner’s initials RB. Unfortunately the owner unknown to us at present, but a similar bespoke tea set with the same swag decoration is identified and was made for a prominent Philadelphia family, so it is safe to assume this is most likely intended for the same market. The decoration most likely inspired by classical English design of the period, the pot 5 1/2″ x 9″ and in good condition.  Circa 1800-1810.  $550.00

A great example of Chinese export porcelain made for the American Market, this dome-shouldered tea canister is delicately hand-painted on one side with an image of an early version of The Great Seal of the United States with a spread eagle bearing an E Pluribus Unum banner in its beak beneath a radiating halo of gilded stars. Part of a special-order tea service ordered in the early years of our Republic as a sign of patriotism and pride. The reverse side with an oval  inscribed with the original owners’ gilded monogram. 5 1/2″ x 3 1/4″.  Very good condition. Circa 1800.

Two very finely rendered Chinese export porcelain tea bowls made for the American market with a Philadelphia connection. Both hand-painted en grisaille with this well-known scene of a farmer and a cow in a tree-bordered field, a goat resting beneath one of the trees. Purportedly after an original drawing by a member of the Hollingsworth-Morris family of Philadelphia. With one of the family members being in the China Trade, the design was taken to China and rendered on several different special order tea sets for the family – this one being the earliest version. Illustrated and discussed in Schiffer’s China for America, pages 172-173.  Measuring 3 1/2″ in diameter and 2″ high. One tea bowl with a short rim line sealed, the other with a short rim line and a longer one into the bowl, both sealed, otherwise good condition with painting so fine it resembles an engraving.  Early 19th century.

$1100. each

A  very handsome Chinese export porcelain lighthouse form coffeepot in really great condition decorated with an insignia for the Order of Freemasons. Almost certainly from a complete bespoke tea and coffee service which would have all the pieces decorated with these Masonic emblems.  The Freemasons was a semi-secret fraternal society especially popular in England and America in the 18th and early 19th centuries and these symbols appear on silver, ceramic, and glass objects of the period as a source of pride in being members of the society. Measuring 10″ x 8 1/2″ and in fantastic condition with a Suchow & Siegel provenance.  Circa 1790-1810.

An elegant 7 3/4″ Chinese export porcelain plate from one of several services made for the very wealthy and prominent Chew family of Philadelphia, this particular service centered with a roundel bearing the initial C within a gilded eight-pointed star and refined gilded spearhead and lattice work borders – typical of the spare aesthetic of the Federal period.  The Chew family country house, Cliveden is now part of the National Trust of Historic Preservation.  Illustrated in Schiffer’s China for America, page 29.  Ex- Phil Dubey Collection.  $2,200.00.