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Hi all,
I want to share a complete composition of an extravagant American-market Chinese export porcelain tea and dinner service. I will post later when I have more time how this juxtaposes against the smaller European Chinese export services, but I thought you all might like imaging the breadth of a wealthy American China trader's dinner table. The following is derived from a primary source invoice from 1796. While researching my Derby plate, I purchased photocopies of every inbound invoice to Salem, Massachusetts from Derby's enterprise, but since I can't share it, I will provide its general contents. In the end, I provide the composition of a smaller less extravagant tea service meant for resale in America for the ordinary person.
Derby's 101-piece tea service is comprised of the following (purchased in China at $17 for the entire set):
- 1 tea pot (3 pieces)
- 2 ditto and stands (6 pieces)
- 2 milk ewers (2 pieces)
- 2 sugar pots and stands (6 pieces)
- 1 slop bowl (2 pieces)
- 1 tea canister (2 pieces)
- 1 coffee pot and stand (3 pieces)
- 12 coffee cups and saucers (24 pieces)
- 18 tea ditto (36 pieces)
- 6 breakfast ditto (12 pieces)
- 1 butter boat (3 pieces)
- 2 cake platters (2 pieces)
Derby's 171-piece dinner service is comprised of the following (purchased in China at $50 for the entire set):
- 1 large fish dish (2 pieces)
- 2 dishes (2 pieces)
- 2 ditto (2 pieces)
- 4 ditto (4 pieces)
- 4 ditto (4 pieces)
- 4 ditto (4 pieces)
- 4 ditto (4 pieces)
- 72 flat plates (72 pieces)
- 24 soup ditto (24 pieces)
- 1 tureen and dish (3 pieces)
- 2 salad dishes (2 pieces)
- 4 sauce tureens (12 pieces)
- 6 pudding dishes (6 pieces)
- 18 dessert plates (36 pieces)
- 4 salts (4 pieces)
- 4 sauce boats (8 pieces)
The coffee pot without the stand that fueled my theory is at the Peabody Essex Museum. It is plausible that my plate could be one of the two cake platters (red). For reasons stated in the prior post, I don't believe my plate is part of the dinner service, nor is it one of the 18 dessert plates. Although I wouldn't characterize the reticulated plate as a "platter", there is an acknowledged inconsistency with the way the word "platter" has been used throughout history. For example, in "Documentary Archaeology in the New World", Dr. Beaudry notes this difficulty in classifying these:
"One person's plate is anothers charger and another's dish. If nothing else, this situation is embarrassing."
On the term "platter", Dr. Beaudry notes the following:
"If the terms platter, dish, plate, and saucer denote vessels differing primarily in size, where do the breaks come? . . . There is some evidence that [platter] was on some occassions synonymous with oval dish. . . It would seem then that platters were dishes that were either very large, or oval, or both. As the distinction between platter and dish even then unclear, platter has been excluded from [her categorization scheme]."
As I read through the invoices, I understand Dr. Beaudry's difficulties. In the same service, Derby refers to the fish dish (blue) as a "dish", but applies the same term to the undoubtedly smaller and circular-shaped pudding and salad dishes. He also uses the term "dish" to refer to the stand of the tureens, but previously uses the word "stand" for pieces in the tea service.
Additionally, Derby has a noticeable inconsistency in describing each piece. For example, the teapot is three pieces, which should be only two pieces. Has anyone seen a three-piece teapot (orange)? This indicates the word "stand" is dropped accidentally. He does the same with the slop bowl, (the word "stand" is dropped although he includes it for other slop bowls in other services).
These inconsistencies + Dr. Beaudry's observations make it difficult for me to discount the reticulated plate (as we now would describe it) as one of the "cake platters" based solely on the word "platter". Although, Jorge Welsh might refer to the reticulated border as "Linglong" given his 2004 publication dedicated to this type of pierced work. Unfortunately, it is the only piece in which Derby uses the word platter so there is little to compare it to.
Also noteworthy is the use of stands for the coffeepot. This is unheard of anywhere in the current literature, and after speaking to several Chinese export porcelain dealers, this is unheard of and never would've had a stand. But what could the individual stand for a pistol-handled cylindrical coffeepot look like? There was the pattipan for teapots and possibly sugar pots and milk ewers, although a pattipan would not fit the dimensions of the cylindrical coffeepot. More research is ongoing, although it is unlikely to be resolved. Just like the purpose of the reticulated plate, I think this has been lost to time. I wonder if the coffeepot stand could've been a reticulated plate like mine?
Other services ordered:
1) 3 boxes of 16 tea sets per box, each set comprising 43 pieces (purchased in China at $2 each set):
- 1 tea pot (3 pieces) - likely included a stand
- 1 milk pot (3 pieces) - likely included a stand
- 12 tea cups and saucers (24 pieces)
- 1 sugar pot (3 pieces) - likely included a stand
- 1 slop bowl (2 pieces) - likely included a stand
- 6 coffee cups (6 pieces) - did not mention or count saucers
- 1 tea canister (2 pieces)
Now that I'm working on it again, I don't want to get too repetitive because there are at least 6 variations of tea sets ordered at various price points for this single invoice, so if anyone's interested in an analysis between the sets, let me know. No mention is made of the decoration, so the price points may be due to more elaborate decorations in addition to compositions. Can y'all imagine buying a $2 teaset from China? According to an inflation calculator, "$2 in 1796 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $43.80 today, an increase of $41.80 over 226 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 1.38% per year between 1796 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 2,090.22%."
I hope it was interesting!
Kind regards,
John
Jesus, imagine having to do the dishes after the holiday party.
In the semi gloom with small windows on an overcast day (or in the dark with smoky candles) in the basement as many scullery maids had to work, no less. No nice rubber gloves, either. (I picture this happening in Georgian House in Edinburgh).
Hi John,
I was taught that the pots with the handle at a right angle were chocolate pots but it seems it's a coffee pot as well.
Imagine the thrill when the set finally arrived! The long unpacking and then the admiration and the sense of smug pride at the first dinner party!
Yes, I imagine the wait was agonizing, then you hear it went down going around the Horn or off Cape Hatterus, I imagine they ate the loss and just had to reorder and wait again. Of course, most of it may have come through English or Dutch merchants?
@sharonp People had more patience back then. They had to! And yet life was typically shorter with fewer diversions.
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