Description:
Chinese export procelain soup plate decorated in the famille rose palette with the arms of Poley (or Griffiths) impaling Coffin; the rim is decorated with three floral sprays alternating with three birds. This service was probably made for Poley, a family which had lived at Boxted Hall in Suffolk since the reign of Edward III (1312-1377). There is no marriage recorded at this time for a Poley of Boxted to a Miss Coffin, and the service may be for a grandson of Sir John Poley of Bury (d.1664), brother of Sir William Poley of Boxted. The Coffin family had lived at Portledge in Devonshire since William the Conqueror (c.1027/28-1087), also known as William I of England who was the King of England from the Christmas of 1066 until his death. Sir William Coffin was master of the Horse at the marriage of King Henry VIII (1491-1547) to Anne Boleyn (1501/1507-1536) in 1533. Variations of the Coffin family arms were also used by a collateral American branch which descended from Tristram Coffin (1605/09-1681) who emigrated from Brixton in Devonshire in 1642, first settling in Salisbury, Massachusetts, and later moving to Haverhill, Mass., where he was County Magistrate. About 1660, he moved to Nantucket Island, Mass., where he and others bought Nantucket from the Indians. His descendents included Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin (1759-1839), the son of Nathaniel Coffin (1725-1780) of Boston who was the last Receiver-General and Cashier of this Majesty's Customs at Boston, who was born in Boston but entered the British navy in 1773, served during the Revolutionary War, and returned to England. Many members of the Coffin family were loyalists who moved to Canada or Britain during the Revolutionary War. The coat, "Or a lion rampant sable" is borne by a number of families, among whom Griffiths has the crest. "A lion rampant sable" and Poley, "A lion rampant sable collared and chained or." This service has also been attributed to Matthew, who bore this coat, but is not recorded as having borne this crest. The impaled coat is of Coffin, "Azure semee of crosses crosslet three bezants." HD has a silver teapot (HD 54.102) engraved with a variation of the Coffin coat of arms. Condition: Very short haircrack (quarter of an inch) and rim chip consolidated; enamels and gilding bright.
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