Description:
One of two Chinese export porcelain tureen stands with fluted rims, decorated in the tobacco leaf design in pink, blue, purple, orange, yellow, green, and gilding. This stand is decorated in a type of design known to collectors as “tobacco leaf.” While scholars agree that this decoration does not represent a tobacco plant (Nicotiana tabacum), the source for this design remains unclear. Crosby Forbes has postulated that the broad, veined leaves represent the anona plant or “custard apple.” Jean Mudge has suggested East Indian textiles as a possible design source, but the European or Chinese designers who devised these patterns for copying by the Chinese decorators probably relied on a general impression rather than a particular fabric. Regardless of its origins, tobacco-leaf decoration often combined overlapping leaves with other flowers and plants, such as hibiscus or passion flower blossoms, lotus flowers and pods, and pomegranates. Tobacco-leaf designs include symbolic animals such as phoenixes, squirrels, and pine rats. Tobacco-leaf decoration required a high degree of enameling, which made it costly. The materials and labor associated with the work, and the extra costs of firing the enamels in a muffle kiln, all contributed to the final price. While the Western market appreciated these designs for their lavish enameling and brilliant colors, the decoration had deeper significance for the Chinese. This pair of tureen stands is decorated with three pomegranates, Chinese symbols of abundance and a wish for many sons. The symbolism derives from the many seeds of red fruit that lie beneath its skin. These stands would have supported a pomegranate-shaped tureen for sauces served to diners. Tobacco-leaf decorated porcelains are known to have been owned in America, but examples with American histories remain extremely rare. Two pieces have a possible provenance to Martha Washington (1731-1802). Two tureen covers and stands remain from the service which belonged to Martha during her marriage to Daniel Parke Custis. These pieces are now part of the Peter family collection of Virginia. Another tobacco-leaf decorated punch bowl that also descended in the Peter family is part of the collection of Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home. Thomas Peter may have acquired this bowl in 1802 at the auction of Martha Washington’s possessions, when he purchased “4 Cracked Bowls.”
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+54.099 |
