Page 38 - Met Museum Export Porcelain 2003

Saucer,detailofarmorial as early as about 1715, the date of a service
owned by the Horsemanden family, some
42. Saucer.Chinese (American market),ca. 1785-88.Hard paste. Diam. 3I/2in. of whom settled in New York(fig. 12). Other
(8.9 cm). Rogers Fund, 1936 (36.52.2) early examples include porcelains for the
Higginson family of Salem, Massachusetts,
Thissaucerwas madeforJamesH. GilesofNew York,lieutenantin theartillery and for the Clarkefamily of New YorkCity,
duringtheRevolutionaryWar.Giles'sbookplatewas evidentlysentto Chinaforthe the former dating to the early 1730s and the
artiststo copy.Theresultis a richlyornamentedRococoarmorialwith scrollsand lion latter to 1735. Plates from a service made
rampant.Thepatrioticpseudo-armoriadl isplaysboththeAmericanflagand themotto
Libertas et Patria Mea (Myfreedomand my country).Thetea bowlfor this saucer for Samuel Vaughan (1720-1802) of Boston,
has a simplfieddecorationconsistingonlyof thecrestwith thefamily initials. London, and Jamaica, which date to about
1750, are embellished with his coat of arms

(fig. 39).
The popularity of armorial designs grew

over the ensuing decades, as large person-
alized services appealed to American mer-
chants eager to profit from a trade that had
been dominated by the British East India
Company. During the American Revolution
and the years immediately following it,
commerce for Chinese goods through Great
Britainwas curtailed. However, shortly after
the United States signed the Treaty of Paris
in 1783, signaling the country's ultimate
independence, a group of four enterprising
businessmen from Philadelphia and New
Yorkformed a syndicate that would embark
on direct trade with China for the first time.

America's entry into trade with China was
equally fortuitous for the Chinese, who
had experienced a drastic decline in busi-
ness from England and the Continent,
where domestic products had achieved a

competitive edge.
The Empress of China, with a cargo of

ginseng from Maryland and Virginia, furs
from the northern states and Canada, and
lead, wine, tar, and silver dollars, sailed
from New YorkHarboron February 22, 1784,
bound for Canton (Guangzhou). She was
captained by John Green of Philadelphia,
and her ship's agent, or supercargo, was
Bostonian Samuel Shaw (1754-1794),

40