Dish
Label Text
Even as a bachelor, George Washington acquired choice furnishings which bespoke his gentility and position in Virginia society. He was at the height of elegance in serving Chinese Hyson tea, frequently mentioned in his orders to and invoices from London, in the "Compleat sett Fine Image China" he received from London in 1757. This dish was a versatile component of the tea service and could have been placed under the teapot or used to hold spoons or serve food.
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Datec. 1755
Geography
Made -
China
Medium/TechniquePorcelain (hard-paste), enamel, gilt
DimensionsOverall: 1 1/8 in. x 8 1/16 in. (2.87 cm x 20.47 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Margaret B. Smith, to the memory of Henrietta Elizabeth Smith, Grandniece of Martha Washington, Daughter of Commodore John Dandridge Henley, and Wife of J. Bayard H. Smith, Esq., 1910
Object numberW-131/H
DescriptionShallow, circular dish with rounded sides on a high, circular foot; center of well is decorated with overglaze polychrome enamel (famille rose) vignette of a Chinese man and woman standing and looking on as one child lays on the ground and another stands by a woman who is seated on a bench holding a pink fan, all in a garden near a building with a lake in the background, framed by underglaze blue flowers and scrollwork; the rim is decorated with alternating panels of underglaze blue flowers and overglaze red enamel lakeside scenes and overglaze polychrome enamel birds amid brush and rocks, each framed by underglaze blue scrollwork; rim and ground between scrollwork picked out in gilt; exterior undecorated.Published ReferencesCadou, Carol Borchert. The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), p. 29.
Detweiler, Susan Gray, "The Ceramics," Antiques 135, no. 2 (February 1989): 498, pl. II.
Detweiler, Susan Gray. George Washington's Chinaware (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1982), 24, 30-34, figs. 7-8.
Mount Vernon Ladies Association. The Mount Vernon China (Mount Vernon, VA: Mount Vernon Ladies Association, 1949), p. 39.
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