Images(6)

Vegetable Dish

Dateca. 1823

OriginAsia, China, Jingdezhen

MediumPorcelain, hard-paste

DimensionsOH (with cover): 4 3/4 in.; OH (without cover): 2 1/8 in.; OW (mouth): 8 1/2 in.; OL (mouth): 9 1/2 in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, C. Thomas Hamlin III Fund and The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2017-304,A&B

DescriptionVegetable dish and cover of rectangular shape with canted corners, the low-domed lid with gilded pinecone knop. The lid is bordered with a brown and gold leafy vine with tendrils and purple grape clusters all painted between two gilt lines. The border is interrupted on opposite sides of the cover by two pseudo-armorial heart-shaped shields topped by the crest of an eagle's head sable holding in the beak a branch vert. Each shield is flanked by C- and S-scrolls with an intertwining green branch and contains the initials C M / J in script for Thomas ap Catesby Jones and Mary Walker Carter Jones. The well of the interior of the dish bears the same armorial and crest and the sides of the interior are bordered with the same leafy grape vine. The exterior of the base of the dish is undecorated. The edges of the dish and cover bear remnants of gilding.
Label TextOwned by US Naval commander Thomas ap Catesby Jones and his wife Mary Walker Carter Jones of Fairfax County, Virginia, this vegetable dish is an important addition to our collection of Chinese export porcelain decorated for and owned by Americans in the early post-Revolutionary period. It was probably ordered at the time of the couple's marriage in 1823.