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Hexagonal form with shallow well and broad flat rim; gilt and polychrome enamel overglaze decoration in well in tobacco leaf palette; brown buffalo on shore with another moving forward in water; large plant with green, yellow and pink leaves and stalk on bank; butterfly, beetle and grasshopper sit in branches; chrysanthemum and peonies on rock formation with bush at right; blue and red flower or butterfly in upper right.
dinner plates
porcelain
enameling
overglazing
Dish, Eating
Plate, Food
Plate, Dinner
Plate, Dinner
Cherished Possessions: This charger is part of a set of Chinese dinnerware purchased by Jonathan Sayward's son-in-law, Nathaniel Barrell, during his three-year trip to England in the early 1760s. New Englanders' only access to Chinese ceramics during this period was through European markets, as English trade regulations prevented direct trade between the colonies and China. By purchasing this set directly from an English merchant instead of through one in Boston, Massachusetts, Barrell had greater choice. Sayward's granddaughter believed this set was the first set of Chinese porcelain imported to Maine.
Original to Sayward-Wheeler House (York Harbor, Me.),
Unknown
China
9 (diameter) (inches)
Gift of the heirs of Elizabeth Cheever Wheeler
1977.403.4
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