Page 54 - Chinese Export Porcelain Art, MET MUSEUM 2003

57. Covered Tureen. Chinese
(American market), early Igth
century. Hard paste. H. with cover
io 3/4 in. (27.3 cm). Helena Woolworth
McCann Collection, Gift of Winfield
Foundation, I95I (51.86.334a, b)

This is one the more strikingporcelains
of
to emergefrom theAmerican trade with
China. Thefour quadrants of the so-called
Fitzhugh pattern ofleaves andflowers,
* rendered in brilliant green enamels, serve
to contrast with and accentuate the large
spread eagle clutching an olive branch and
a bundle of arrows in its talons. Such
porcelains oftenfeature the shield of the
United States in the center of the eagle's
body, yet here the shield encloses a mono-
gram or initials-in this case an M-
that would have been painted on site
in Canton per instructions given by the
purchaser.

58. Saucer. Chinese (American market), ca. I795. Hard
paste. Diam. 6/4 in. I55.9 cm). Rogers Fund, 1928
(28.83)

Thirty-three chests ofporcelain, including n4 box China
of
for Lady Washington, "werepart of the cargo of the ship
Lady Louisa, a vessel chartered by A. E. van Braam
Houckgeest (1739-180o), commercial director the Dutch
of
East India Company; it sailedfom China around the
Cape of Good Hope and arrived in Philadelphia on
April 25, 1796. The design of the service is distinctive and
own. Martha
wasprobably van Braam Houckgeest's
Washington' initials adorn the center of thisplate on a
gold circular reserve,from which emanate the rays of a
sunburst. The inscription emblazoned below on a banner,
Decus et Tutamen Ab Illo (A glory and deftnsefrom
it), was takenfrom Virgil's borderfeatures
Aeneid. The
a circle offifteen oval chain links, each of which contains
is
the name an individual state; the message of strength
of
and union. The chain links arefurther encircled a
by
slender blue serpent biting its tail, symbolizing eternity.

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