Page 46 - Met Museum Export Porcelain 2003

5I. Punch Bowl. Chinese (American market), ...: t.S i..: ; P..u..nchbowl,detail
ca. I785-90. Hard paste. H. 53/4in. (I4.8 cm). of interior
Bequest of Elizabeth V. Loudon and Gift of
John C. Dreier,Theodore C. Dreier, Dana S.
Lamb, Mrs. Garrett R. Stearly and Mrs.
Peter V. S. Voorhees, i973 (I973.I67)

A numberofpunchbowlsareknown that depict
a continuoussceneof the Cantonwaterfrontand
itsforeignfactories.Thisexampleis distin-
guishedbyanAmericanflag, whichappearsto
beoriginalbut wasperhapsan afterthought,
given its incorrectplacemenatmidstthesequence
of theforeignfactories,orhongs; its size
(slightlysmallerthan the otherflags);and its

irregularshape.Typically", hong"bowlsfeature
ajforal motifon the interior,but in this instance
the interioris decoratedwith a ship.Thevesselis
shown not underfullsail but in theprocessof
beingconstructedT. hat vignette,in combination
with the initials BGE aboveit, give the bowl
historicaland biographicailnterest.Thecipher
refersto BenjaminG.Eyre (b.i738), in whose
family thebowl descendedE. yre,an aide-de-
campto GeorgeWashingtonw, as oneof three
brothersA. ll of themwereshipbuildersin
Philadelphia,wheretheylaunchedfrigatesused
duringtheRevolutionaryWar.Thebowl may
have beencargoon the Globe, oneof theEyre
shipsthat madeeightvoyagesto Canton.

52.Plate. Chinese (American market), ca. I796-I805. Hard paste.
Diam. 87/8 in. (22.5 cm). Sansbury-Mills Fund, I97I (I971.94)

Thisplate comesfroma servicemadeforDeWitt Clinton (1769-1828)
and his wife, Maria Franklin Clinton (1775-1818), ofAlbany,New
York,and bearsa monogramof bothof theirinitials, DWMC, in gold
on theborderof eachpiece.Therestof theborderis decoratedinpoly-
chromewith eight Chineseimmortals,eachstandingon stylizedcloudsof
varying colors.Thecentraldesignfeaturesa broadChineselandscapein
a complementarpyalette.

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