Description:
Chinese export porcelain plate from one of two armorial services made for the Morgan family of Hartford, Connecticut. Both services have the family arms (variant of their Welsh ancestor's arms), with "Morgan" painted below the arms of one version (and on this plate), and "Elias Morgan" on the other. John Morgan (1753-1842) and his half-brother Elias (1770-1812) were prominent Hartford hardware merchants. According to the Morgan family genealogy: "in 1785 he [merchant John Morgan] imported from Canton, China, in the first American vessel that ever entered Chinese waters, the ship "Empress of China," a large quantity of China ware, among it a rich and extensive dining set, made to his order, each piece bearing his own name and coat of arms ". His brother, Elias, several years later, also imported another set, with his name and the same device inscribed thereon." Their nephew, John Morgan (1750-1785), was the carpenter on that first voyage of the "Empress of China," who died on the return trip. According to the records for that voyage, carpenter John Morgan asked his friend Thomas Blake, the ship's gunner and steward, to deliver his personal effects and purchases, including two punch bowls, to his father in Groton, Connecticut. Two of his punch bowls and a creampot still survive and are owned by Mystic Seaport, but the ship's records make no mention of a large dinner service with the Morgan arms. Given this plate's Neo-classical styling, it is more likely that it dates to 1790 to 1800, and may have been ordered by the merchant John Morgan at a later date. American orders for armorial decoration on Chinese porcelain are rare; more often gilt ciphers satisfied American consumers.
Subjects:
Pottery; Enamel and enameling; glaze (coating by location); polychrome; Porcelain Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+89.009 |
