Pair of Chinese Export porcelain plates from the Abigail Adams service, each painted with central flower within a bamboo cavetto and spearhead-type border.

Note the fine and delicate gilt outline around the central flower, visible in the detail photo.

China c. 1780
9" diameter

PRICE: $1,800 pr. 

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Condition: Fine condition- no chips cracks or repairs

Porcelain was as prized in America as it was in Europe, an integral component of a civilized life. In a fascinating letter John Adams wrote to Abagail in 1780 from Paris, he imagines an American civilization that comes to fruition in three generations, where the politics and war fought by his generation lay the foundation for the following two, culminating in the study of the arts, which includes porcelain: "I must study politicks and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematicks and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematicks and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, musick, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelaine."