Description:
Chinese export porcelain, octagonal hot-water dish decorated in blue in the "Canton" pattern, which were used to keep the food warm after being placed on the table. This was the most popular and plentiful pattern in Chinese export porcelain for the American market; first produced in the late 18th century, this pattern is still being manufactured in China today. According to family tradition, the dish was owned by John Cleve Green (1800-1875) who was born in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and was a member of the first class to enter what became the Lawrenceville School. He did not go to college, but entered the employ of New York merchant N. L. & G. Griswold Company in 1816. The brothers Nathaniel L. and George Griswold (1777-1859) moved from East Lime, Connecticut to New York Cityin the 1790s, and soon made a fortune shipping flour to the West Indies and bringing back sugar and rum, and later expanded to the profitable tea trade. By the 1840's, N. L. & G. Griswold had acquired a fleet of forty-three ships, all flying the checkered blue and white house flag. The "Panama" was their best known ship, and her picture along with "Ship Panama" and "N. L. & G. Griswold" was printed on all her tea chest and carton labels which were available in every country store in America. Their firm was so prosperous that in jest people said that the initials stood for "No Loss and Great Gain." Green was active in the China Trade as a supercargo of ships visiting South America and China; he also married Sarah Helen Griswold, the daughter of George Griswold, and their three children died young. In 1833, after spending ten years mostly at sea, he joined Russell & Company in Canton, the most powerful American house in the China trade. Within a year, Green, who moved easily within the hermetic business world of Canton, was head of the company's China operations, which exported tea, silk and opium. In 1839, Green returned to America with a sizable fortune, became president of the Bleeker Street Savings Bank in New York City, and then invested successfully in railroads. Green returned his wealth to the community through charitable endowments to hospitals, the Lawrenceville School and Princeton University where he paid for three buildings, including the college's first library, three teaching chairs, and the John C. Green School of Science (building burned down in 1928). The central decoration of the Canton pattern, which is also known as the "willow," "island," or "island-and-bridge" design, is defined by an aquatic landscape, featuring a river, three-arch bridge, islands, willow and pine trees, rocks, boats, clouds, and a figure in a teahouse; the border usually has slashed scalloping, known to collectors as a "rain and cloud" border. There are many variations using boats, buildings, people, etc.; the borders also vary considerably. The pattern's lack of complexity meant that enamelers could complete the design quickly, making it inexpensive in comparison to the Nanking and Fitzhugh patterns. "Canton ware" was made in Jingdezhen and shipped by water 600 miles south to the port of Canton. It served as ship ballast, loaded in the hold to form a platform on which tea, silks, etc. could be stored safely from bilge water; the average vessel carried from 200-250 boxes of porcelain. From the beginning, Canton has been produced in various qualities from finely rendered to pitted, coarse, and sloppily decorated, and in different shades of blue. For such commonplace and popular ware, dating pieces of Canton without a family history is notoriously difficult.
Subjects:
Pottery; Enamel and enameling; glaze (coating by location); Porcelain Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+89.058 |
