Martha Washington States China covered cup
On April 24, 1796, Dutch merchant Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest (1739-1801) arrived in Philadelphia from Canton with "A Box of China for Lady Washington." Van Braam designed the porcelain's decoration, which symbolizes his belief in the unity of the colonies that formed the United States and his scorn for their former ruler, King George III.
Martha Washington's Will refers to Van Braam's gift as "tea china." However, two-handled covered cups such as this were used in Europe for serving chocolate and caudle, a warm spiced drink of wine or ale. Chocolate was served for breakfast at Mount Vernon, and Mrs. Washington perhaps occasionally used Van Braam's so-called "States china" to serve this exotic drink.
C: High-domed circular lid with a scalloped rim, the remains of a knop, and a high foot ring, decorated in overglaze polychrome enamels and gilt. Around the knop at the top of the dome is a green laurel wreath at the center of a gilded sunburst. A blue snake, biting its tail, with gilded scales and its top outlined in black, encircles the rim. The base of the knop is touched in gilt. Pattern name: States
Published ReferencesHannah Boettcher and Ronald W. Fuchs II, "Martha Washington's 'United States China': A New Link Found in a Family Notebook," Ceramics in America (Milwaukee: Chipstone Foundation, 2020), 60.
Carol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 149.
James C. Rees, Treasures from Mount Vernon: George Washington Revealed (Mount Vernon, VA: Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, 1999), 114.
Susan Gray Detweiler, George Washington's Chinaware (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1982), 151, 154-158.
Mount Vernon China (Mount Vernon: Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, 1949), 22-24.
Susan Gray Detweiler, American Presidential China (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2008), 26-27.
Jaap van Braam Houckgeest, “Hidden meaning,” The Magazine Antiques 166/4 (October 2004), 38, 40.
Jean McClure Mudge, Chinese Export Porcelain in North America (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1986), 215.
Jean Gordon Lee, Philadelphians and the China Trade 1784-1844 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984), 88-89.
Arlene M. Palmer, A Winterthur Guide to Chinese Export Porcelain (New York: Crown Publishers Inc., 1976), 130.
Jean McClure Mudge, Chinese Export Porcelain for the American Trade, 1785-1835 (Wilmington: University of Delaware Press, 1962), 153, 174.
Samuel W. Woodhouse, Jr., “Martha Washington’s China and ‘Mr. Van Braam,’” The Magazine Antiques 27/5 (May 1935): 186-188.
Benson J. Lossing, Mount Vernon and its Associations: Historical, Biographical, and Pictoral (New York, New York: W. A. Townsend, 1859), 240-241.