Plate

Image Not Available

Status

Not on view

Label Text

According to family tradition, Bushrod Washington, George Washington’s nephew, owned this platter and used it at Mount Vernon. How and why he would have obtained a set monogrammed with an “E”, rather than a “W,” for Washington, or a “B,” for Blackburn, his wife’s maiden name, remains unexplained. A piece of a plate or dish rim with the same border design as this platter was excavated at Mount Vernon by archaeologists in the early twentieth century.

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Date1785-1815

Geography Made - ChinaDecorated - China

Medium/TechniquePorcelain (hard-paste), enamel, gilt

DimensionsOverall (H x W x D): 7/8 in. x 9 7/16 in. x 9 7/16 in. (2.22 cm x 23.97 cm x 23.97 cm)

Credit LineGift in loving memory of Andrea and Nat Willis by their daughter, Deborah Callahan, 2003

Object numberH-4322

DescriptionOctagonal plate with notched or indented corners and an integral foot, decorated in overglaze cobalt blue, iron red, and gilt. Centered in the well is an oval medallion suspended from a blue bowknot and framed by crossed oak branches tied at bottom center; it features the script letter “E” at its center and a sawtooth border of blue triangles with hatchmarks outside and dots inside. The sides of the well feature a sawtooth border of blue triangles with hatchmarks outside and dots inside. The rim has a wide, blue, scale-diaper band with blue spearheads. The edge of the rim, the space between the scale-diaper band and the spearheads, and the triangle band on the sides of well are outlined in gilt, and elements of the central design are also picked out in gilt.

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