Lot Details
Lot 123
Chinese Export Porcelain Great Seal of the United States Handled Cup
Circa 1796
With cobalt and gilt chain border above the polychrome enamel-painted Great Seal, and blue floral garland interior border. Height 2 1/2 inches, cup diameter 2 3/4 inches.
Literature:
William R. Sargent, Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics from the Peabody Essex Museum, Peabody Essex Museum and Yale University Press, p. 411, no. 224; includes a discussion of a coffee cup and saucer from the same service.
Note: This cup is almost certainly from the well-known service ordered by Providence, Rhode Island, China Trade merchant (and later the fifth governor of Rhode Island) Henry Smith (1766-1818), who travelled to Canton in the late 18th century, and, William Sargent tells us, "was supercargo on the 1796 voyage to China of the George Washington" Many pieces from his service are in the Rhode Island School of Design, and RISD reports that this is the only known service of Chinese export porcelain bearing the Great Seal of the United States. Other pieces related to the service are at the Peabody Essex Museum, Washington & Lee University, and Winterthur. Sargent tells us that it is likely that Smith provided the Chinese enameler with a copy of a Providence newspaper, the United States Chronicle, which used this somewhat idiosyncratic version of the Great Seal in its banner between 1786 and 1804.
C
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