Hannah Boettcher and Ronald W. Fuchs II
Martha Washington’s “United States China”: A New Link Found in a Family Notebook

Ceramics in America 2020

Full Article
Contents
  • Figure 1
    Figure 1

    Plate, Jingdezhen, decorated in Guangzhou (Canton), China, 1795. Hard-paste porcelain. D. 9-1/2". (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, W-5422; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

  • Figure 2
    Figure 2

    James Peale (1749–1831), Portrait of Martha Washington, 1796. Watercolor on ivory. 1-5/8 x 1-1/4". (Courtesy Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, W-624; photo, Paul Kennedy.)

     

     

  • Figure 3
    Figure 3

    Attributed to Chitqua (ca. 1728–1796), Figure of a Dutch Merchant, possibly Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest, ca. 1770. Unfired clay and oil paint. H. 14 3/8". (Rijksmuseum, BK 1976-49.)

  • Figure 4
    Figure 4

    Detail of Commonplace Book, [n.d.]. 8 x 6 1/4". (Courtesy, Virginia Museum of History & Culture, in Section 8, Papers, 1694–1917, Mss. 1 L5144a 357, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond.) Mary Fitzhugh Custis’s inventory for the States service (left, dated 1806) appears next to an earlier penmanship lesson (right, dated 1801).

     

     

  • Figure 5
    Figure 5

    Junius Brutus Stearns (1810–1885), George Washington Parke Custis of Arlington, 1848. Oil on canvas. 30 x 26". (Museums at Washington and Lee University, U1959.1.3; photo, Brian Muncy.)

  • Figure 6
    Figure 6

    Cephas Thompson (1775–1856), Portrait of Mrs. George Washington Parke Custis (Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis), 1807–1808. Oil on canvas. 32-1/4 x 27" (framed). (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Gift of Mary A. Smith Bowman, 76.21.1.)

  • Figure 7
    Figure 7

    Cover for a teapot, Jingdezhen, decorated in Guangzhou (Canton), China, 1795. Hard-paste porcelain. D. 3-5/8". (Courtesy, The White House, 1917.2751.2; photo, Bruce White.)

  • Figure 8
    Figure 8

    Teapot, Jingdezhen, decorated in Guangzhou (Canton), China, 1785. Hard-paste porcelain. H. 4-1/2". (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, W-1436 E; photo, Edward Owen.)

  • Figure 14
    Figure 14

    Sugar bowl, Jingdezhen, decorated in Guangzhou (Canton), China, 1795. Hard-paste porcelain. H. 31 3/16". (Courtesy, The White House, 1917.2751.1; photo, Bruce White.)

  • Figure 16
    Figure 16

    Covered cup and saucer, Jingdezhen, decorated in Guangzhou (Canton), China, 1795. Hard-paste porcelain. H. of cup 5". (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, W-1497 A, C; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

  • Figure 17
    Figure 17

    Saucer for covered cup, Jingdezhen, decorated in Guangzhou (Canton), China, 1795. Hard-paste porcelain. D. of saucer 6". (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, W-5372; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

  • Figure 18
    Figure 18

    Teacup, saucer, and plate, illustrated in Benson J. Lossing, Mount Vernon and Its Associations: Descriptive, Historical, and Pictorial (New York: W. A. Townsend & Co., 1859), p. 241. (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.)

  • Figure 19
    Figure 19

    Saucer, Jingdezhen, decorated in Guangzhou (Canton), China, 1795. Hard-paste porcelain. D. 6". (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, W-1497 B; photo, Mark Finkenstaedt.)

  • Figure 21
    Figure 21

    Dish, Jingdezhen, decorated in Guangzhou (Canton), China, 1795. Hard-paste porcelain. D. 13". (Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont, 1963.0705.)

  • Figure 22
    Figure 22

    Dish, Jingdezhen, decorated in Guangzhou (Canton), China, 1795. Hard-paste porcelain. L. 8 1/2". (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, W-5308; photo, Mark Finkenstaedt.)

  • Figure 23
    Figure 23

    Benson J. Lossing (1813–1891), Arlington House, 1853. Watercolor on paper. 8 1/4 x 9 1/2". (Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, National Park Service, ARHO 123.)

  • Figure 24
    Figure 24

    William Edward West, Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee, 1838. Oil on canvas. 30 x 25". (Museums at Washington and Lee University, Bequest of Mrs. Robert E. Lee III, U1959.1.2.)

  • Figure 25
    Figure 25

    Harris & Ewing, Mary Custis Lee, 1914. Glass plate negative. H. 7". (Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-hec-05389; https://www.loc.gov/item/ 2016866128/.)

  • Figure 26
    Figure 26

    Photo of framed saucer, c. 1921. Saucer 6". The saucer from the States service was framed about 1840 in a frame made from the wood of the "Charter Oak," located in Hartford, Connecticut. (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, W-509.)

  • Figure 27
    Figure 27

    “General Lee’s Slaves, Arlington, House,” believed to be Selina Gray (far right) and two of her daughters, ca. 1860s. Stereograph. 3 5/32 x 6 11/16". (Courtesy of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, National Park Service, ARHO 15585)