Sweetmeat Dish (from a dinner service)

Public Domain

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Images(2)

CultureChinese

Titles

Sweetmeat Dish (from a dinner service)

Datec. 1800–1810

Made inChina, Asia

MediumHard-paste porcelain with enamel and gilding

Dimensions1 3/16 × 6 3/8 × 5 3/8 in. (3 × 16.2 × 13.7 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase in honor of the Bayou Bend Docent Organization on the occasion of its 50th anniversary

Object numberB.2011.5.119

Current Location

Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens

Bayou Bend Dining Room

On view

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

CERAMICS

DescriptionThis object is part of a large dinner service that was probably a special order by Thomas Willing, one of Philadelphia’s wealthiest men at the time of American Revolution and later an active participant in the China trade. He served in a number of civic offices, including mayor of Philadelphia and as part of Pennsylvania’s delegation to the Continental Congress. He was later named the first president of the Bank of the United States, working closely with Alexander Hamilton as the Treasury Secretary. Decorated with urns and swags, Willing’s dinner service kept pace with the decorative fashions of the federal period.

Throughout the colonial period, Chinese manufacturers made wares specifically designed for Western markets, but it was not until after independence that Americans traded directly with China, and they did so beginning in 1785 as the ship Empress of China returned with its cargo.
ProvenanceThomas Willing (1731–1821) and Anne McCall (1745–1781), Philadelphia; by descent to Evelyn Eyre Willing Bromley (1914–2000), Philadelphia; Estate of Evelyn Eyre Willing Bromley; purchased by [Philip H. Bradley & Co., Downington, Pennsylvania, 2000]; purchased by private American collection; consigned to [Christie’s, New York, “Chinese Export Art,” January 25, 2011, lot 306]; purchased by [Polly Latham Asian Art, Boston]; purchased by MFAH, 2011.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

PL #3721

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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