Object Number 2014.0016.234

Object Name

Plate (Dinner plate)

Category

Ceramics

Credit Line/Donor

Gift of Daniel and Serga Nadler

Place of Origin

Probably Guangzhou (Canton), China, Asia

Date

1879-1879

Subjects

American market (Chinese manufacture); Ulysses S. Grant; American ownership history (foreign manuf)

Materials

Porcelain (hard-paste); Lime (alkaline) glaze

Techniques

Molded, Painted, Enameled

Dimensions (inches)

0.9375 (D) , 9.4375 (Diam)

Dimensions (centimeters)

2.381 (D) , 23.971 (Diam)

Object Description

Web - 05/27/2015

This dinner plate once formed part of a service acquired by ex-US President Ulysses S. Grant when he and his wife visited Canton (now Guangzhou), China during an around-the-world trip. The fish motif (perhaps a stylized representation of a bream?) is said to have been inspired by designs on porcelain from Limoges in France. The Grants’ daughter, Ellen Wrenshall Grant Sartoris, eventually inherited the service.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Nadler, Daniel. 2001 China to Order: Focusing on the XIXth Century and Surveying Polychrome Export Porcelain, Produced During the Qing Dynasty, 1644-1908.
• Published: p. 166, no. 206, purchased by ex president Ulysses S. Grant and wife while in Canton. After Limoges design. Inherited by daughter Ellen Wrenshall Grant Sartoris.
[Catalogue] Chan, Libby Lai-Pak & Wan, Nina. 2018 The Dragon and the Eagle: American Traders in China, A Century of Trade from 1784–1900 (exhib. cat.).
• Plate from same service: vol. 1, p. 103, no. 1.35, noting acquired by Grant and wife in Hong Kong (arrived April 30, 1879) during their two-year world tour. Philadelphia Museum of Art collection
[Book] Howard, David Sanctuary. 1984 New York and the China Trade. 142 p.
• Plate in similar pattern, overall, with differences in details, perhaps from same Grant service: p. 134, no. C125
[Book] Beurdeley, Michel & Raindre, Guy. 1986 Qing Porcelain: Famille Verte, Famille Rose 1644-1912.
• Oval dish portraying similar fish, with matching pierced tray: no. 310, c. 1880 (in Peabody Essex Museum collection). Discussed Limoges wares sent to America, some being copied in China.
[Electronic] Reddit. 10//2021 Ulysses S. Grant with Governor-General Li Hongzhang during his world tour in 1879 (Photo). 02/03/2023 https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryPorn/comments/pyv4iv/ulysses_s_grant_with_governorgeneral_li_hongzhang/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
• Black and white digital reproduction of "Ulysses S. Grant with Governor-General Li Hongzhang during his world tour in 1879"