Description:
Chinese export porcelain beaker and saucer, beaker is tall and u-shaped with underglaze blue decoration, the edge has a cloud border pattern, and around the exterior of the beaker are images of cloves, nutmeg, and a pineapple, c. 1750-1760. Examples were found in the wreck of the East Indiaman Griffin in 1761. The unusual design of this saucer and beaker is taken from Pierre Pomet, A Compleat History of Drugs, London, 1712, after original drawings from the French version Histoire Generale des Drogues, Paris, 1694, Pomet was the chief pharmacist to Louis XIV. The only published evidence of this service appears to be a drawing of the design which was exhibited, 18th Century Relics of the Griffin Shipwreck, National Museum, Manila, Phillipines, 1988, fig. IV.1.c, no. 33. Nutmeg became increasingly popular in the 18th century both as a spice and for medicinal purposes, and this lucrative commodity was the cause of several disputes between the Dutch and English East India Companies. Indeed, it is said to be the reason why the Dutch acquired Banda Island of Pulo Run in exchange for Manhattan Island. The depiction of the large pineapple and branch of cloves is also extremely rare on Chinese export porcelain. Three plates from a dinner service were excavated from a Philadelphia privy associated with an early house at 13 Gray's (Morris) Alley . The privy's 1750's closure indicates that the plates were deposited earlier than 1750, more than 10 years before the Griffin's shipwreck. At that time, the house was occupied by William and Patience Annis. A sea captain who traveled regularly around the Atlantic World, Annis could have purchased these plates on a trip to England.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2012.33.3 |
