DeWitt Clinton
Dinner Plate

CommissionerAmerican, 1769–1828
CultureChinese
Titles
  • Dinner Plate
Datec. 1796–1810
Made inChina, Asia
MediumHard-paste porcelain with famille rose enamel and gilding
Dimensions1 3/16 × 9 7/8 in. diameter (3 × 25.1 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by the Crain Foundation on behalf of Mrs. Lacy Crain and Mr. Joe Galloway
Object numberB.2016.1
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Ceramics Study Room
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

In the 17th and 18th centuries, wealthy Americans enjoyed products from the China trade. With the opening of direct trade with China in 1784, there was an abundant inflow of Chinese goods. The plate presented here comes from a dinner service once owned by DeWitt and Maria Franklin Clinton that was likely ordered to commemorate their marriage in 1796. This service has an unusual design in polychrome overglaze enamels, featuring the Daoist Immortals around the rim with a lakeside scene at the center.

DeWitt Clinton was an American politician, who began his career as an attorney. He went on to hold numerous public offices, serving as mayor of New York City and as three-term governor of New York. He is best known for promulgating the idea of the Erie Canal, which opened in 1825. With the opening, he assured the 19th-century development of New York City as the major port of trade with the Midwest.

Related works: Winterthur Museum; Peabody Essex Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Reeves Collection, Washington and Lee University; Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U. S. Department of State; and New-York Historical Society.


ProvenanceMaria Franklin Clinton (1775–1818) and DeWitt Clinton (1769–1824); by descent to Mary Clinton Jones (Mrs. David Jones), oldest daughter of DeWitt Clinton; by descent to Thomas Floyd and Cornelia Haring Jones; by descent to Fannie Floyd-Jones; by descent to Gertrude Riker Harrison (her great-granddaughter); […]; consigned to [Polly Latham Asian Art, Boston]; purchased by MFAH, 2016.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Bottom: Label in green printed ink: Polly Latham [encircled] / in ink: 462
Bottom: Inscribed in graphite, center: Dewitt Clinton Service / in Book

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Hard-paste porcelain with enamel and gilding
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c. 1800–1810
Hard-paste porcelain with enamel and gilding
B.2011.5.70
Side or Dessert Plate (from a dinner service)
c. 1800–1810
Hard-paste porcelain with enamel and gilding
B.2011.5.74
Image of B.2011.5.81 specifically
c. 1800–1810
Hard-paste porcelain with enamel and gilding
B.2011.5.81
Dinner Plate (one of a pair)
c. 1842
Hard-paste porcelain with enamel and gilding
B.98.3.1