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Tureen platter or stand. Oval shape with ribbed sides, painted floral decoration with gilt spearhead border.
platters
porcelain
Porcelain
Platter
"Cherished Possessions": This tureen, as stylish as any ceramic produced in China for the western market, belonged to Samuel Allyne Otis (1740-1814), and his wife Elizabeth Gray (1746-1779). While Otis's family were outspoken patriots, his wife's were staunch loyalists. When Otis evacuated his wife and children from British-controlled Boston, Massachusetts, her father and brothers remained behind. Elizabeth's letters are powerful reminders of how the Revolution tore families apart. "It's not in the power of words to express how much I have suffered for you...Hard is my fate to be thus separated from the tenderest, the best of Parents." She was never reunited with her family, dying in 1779 soon after the birth of a child.
Unknown
China
Gift of Mrs. Howard Van Sinderen
1927.2204
Title Tureen Accession Number 1927.2203AB
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