Coffee cup

Coffee and tea set
Porcelain (hard-paste), enamel, gilt
1745-1760

Status

Not on view

Label Text

This mid-eighteenth century tea and coffee set combines Eastern and Western innovations to create a sophisticated fashion statement: the fine porcelain bodies are Chinese but the engaging landscape scenes are copied from tablewares made at the Meissen factory in Germany. Its last private owner was a descendant of Martha Washington’s granddaughter, Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis Lewis, and it is possible that it was originally acquired by George and Martha Washington.

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Date1745-1760

Geography Made - China

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

DimensionsOverall (H x W x D): 2 9/16 in. x 3 1/2 in. x 2 5/16 in. (6.51 cm x 8.89 cm x 5.87 cm)

Credit LineAcquired through the generosity of Joseph and Anne Pellegrino, 2004

Object numberW-4357

DescriptionTall, circular coffee or teacup with a plain rim and straight sides rounded at bottom, and a C-shaped or ear-shaped handle on a shallow foot ring. The cup is decorated in overglaze polychrome enamels in the famille rose palette and gilt. The front of the bowl, opposite the handle, features a band of pink and orange feather-like scrollwork surrounding a brown and gilt frame containing a landscape scene with European-style buildings in the background and five workmen in the right foreground at bottom, two of which appear to be rolling a barrel or a bale. The rim exterior exhibits traces of a gilt border of interlocking circles with pendants of three dots.
Published ReferencesChristie, Manson & Woods International Inc., Important American Furniture, Folk Art, Silver, Prints, and 20th Century Self-Taught and Outsider Art, Thursday 15 AND Friday 16 January 2004, Sales Catalogue 1279 (New York: Christie's, 2004), Lot # 516.

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