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Saucer

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Label Text

At Martha Washington's invitation, French officers of General Rochambeau's army dined at Mount Vernon on July 20, 1782. The Comte de Custine de Sarreck, commander of the Saintonge regiment, sent ahead of his arrival a splendid tea and coffee service specifically made for the Washingtons at his Niderviller porcelain factory. The service's stunning array of gilded and enameled borders, each with its own pattern number painted on the pieces' undersides, suggests Custine intended it to advertise his wares to a new American market. Gifts of porcelain were common between the French aristocracy and Americans who traveled to Paris. The service Custine presented to the Washingtons is, however, the only known instance of 18th-century French porcelain crafted for an American recipient.

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Datec. 1782
Artist (French, 1754 - present)
Geography Made - France
DimensionsOverall (H x W x D): 1 1/4 in. x 5 1/4 in. x 5 1/4 in. (3.18 cm x 13.34 cm x 13.34 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Marion Wetherill Abbot, 1922
Object numberW-508/B
DescriptionThrown, circular saucer with rounded sides on a raised circular foot. Decorated in overglaze polychrome enamels and gilt with "GW" monogram nestled in a golden-brown cloud surmounted by a chaplet or wreath of three pink roses at center of well. Border features a gilded band with spiraling blue ribbon which is interrupted by six bouquets or sprays of pink, purple, red and blue flowers (three of two types alternating). Gilded rim.
Published ReferencesCadou, Carol Borchert, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), p. 89, cat. 22.

Detweiler, Susan Gray, "The Ceramics," Antiques 135, no. 2 (February 1989): 499, 500.

Detweiler, Susan Gray, George Washington's Chinaware (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1982), pp. 67-76.

Lossing, Benson J. Mount Vernon and Its Associations, Historical, Biographical, and Pictorial (New York: W. A. Townsend and Company, 1859), pp. 240-41. Lossing incorrectly identified "The set of china presented…by the French officers to Mrs. Washington as "MW" monogrammed service presented by Van Braam to Martha Washington in 1796.

Meadows, Christine. "The Custine China." MVLA Annual Report, 1978, pp. 26-8.

Mount Vernon China (Mount Vernon, VA: MVLA, 1962), pp. 25-28.
MarkingsOverglaze mark painted on underside (in black): factory mark or cipher of intertwined Cs over "No. 14". Underglaze incised mark to right of factory mark near foot: script "V".
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Saucer
c. 1782
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Maker:  Nideviller pottery and porcelain factory, France
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Maker:  Niderviller pottery and porcelain factory
Porcelain (hard-paste), enamel, gi ...
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Tea bowl
Maker:  Niderviller pottery and porcelain factory, France
Porcelain (hard-paste), en ...
c. 1782
Saucer
Maker:  Niderviller pottery and porcelain factory, France
Porcelain (hard-paste), enam ...
c. 1782
Coffee cup
Maker:  Nideviller pottery and porcelain factory, France
Porcelain (hard-paste), e ...
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Coffee cup
Maker:  Niderviller pottery and porcelain factory, France
Porcelain (hard-paste),  ...
c. 1782
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