Tea Bowl and Dish
c. 1784–95
Medium
Hard-paste porcelain, glaze, with enamels in colors, and gilding
Dimensions
Cup: 4.5 × 8.6 cm (1 3/4 × 3 3/8 in.); Saucer: 3 × 14.1 cm (1 3/16 × 5 9/16 in.)
Classification
drinking vessel
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
7782
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This tea bowl and dish, decorated with an American sailing vessel and the initials CWJER (or CW & ER), are among the many examples of souvenir ware that captains and trade merchants special ordered from the porcelain shops in Canton to commemorate their journeys. The decoration on these pieces is of a more personal character than the average stock porcelain. Motifs for commemorative ware were most often copied from illustrations on mercantile and cargo documentation and thus probably bore little...