One from Seven Chinese Export Porcelain Platters from Dewitt and Maria Franklin Clinton’s Service

Object Details

Related Objects

Portrait of DeWitt Clinton

Trumbull, John
1807

oil on canvas

Object Essay

This large Chinese export porcelain table service bears the initials “DWMC,” for DeWitt Clinton (1769–1828) and his wife, Maria Franklin (1775–1818), who were married in 1796. Beautifully decorated in polychrome enamels, the service has a Chinese landscape scene of a lake and two peninsulas with trees and buildings, the whole enclosed by a gold and iron-red spearhead border. Figures of eight Chinese Immortals are painted on the rim.       

Although the service seems to have been made for the Clintons’ wedding or shortly thereafter, the style of the decoration is unusual for its period. The center landscape and spearhead border would have been considered old-fashioned, while the figures on the rim anticipate the colorful and popular decorations of 19th-century Chinese export porcelain. Only the initials “DWMC” are rendered in a manner stylistically associated with the time of the service’s production.       

The Clinton family, for whom this service was made, traces its history to the colony of New York in 1729, where they became politically and socially influential. The second generation included James, a Major General in the Revolutionary War, and his brother, George, the first Governor of New York. James’s son, DeWitt, began his own political career as George Clinton’s Private Secretary. Before being elected Governor in 1817, DeWitt was successively a New York Assemblyman, United States Senator, Mayor of New York, and candidate for President. He is perhaps best remembered for his role in building the Erie Canal, which was finished in 1825.       

Several American services with similar landscape decoration are associated with the period 1740–1760, including one of ca. 1760 belonging to the Van Rensselaer family of Albany, New York.^{1_{Mudge 1986, 162.}} Stephen Van Rensselaer and DeWitt Clinton were colleagues, so perhaps the Clintons’ idea of an “old-fashioned” service came from having seen the earlier Van Rensselaer service.^{2_{See Howard 1984, 68, for a discussion of the Van Rensselaer service; and ibid., 113 for the Clinton service.}}

Ellen Paul Denker and Bert R. Denker

Excerpted from Clement E. Conger, et al. Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1991.