Lot 266
266
A RARE ORDER OF THE CINCINNATI PLATE
A RARE ORDER OF THE CINCINNATI PLATE

CIRCA 1785

Details
A RARE ORDER OF THE CINCINNATI PLATE
Circa 1785
The Order of the Cincinnati suspended on a blue bow held by a hovering angel blowing her trumpet, all within a molded, scalloped rim decorated in underglaze blue with a Fitzhugh type border
9.5/8in. (24.4cm.) diam.

Lot Essay

From the famed service purchased by Colonel 'Light-Horse Harry' Lee for George Washington in New York in 1786, 66 pieces of which are in the Henry duPont Winterthur Museum. The insignia of the Cincinnati Society (founded in 1783 at the suggestion of Major General Henry Knox, inpsired by the Roman farmer turned patriot/soldier Cincinnatus) was popular with the leaders of the new Republic. Orders of Chinese export porcelain so-decorated were organized by Major Samuel Shaw, supercargo of the Empress of China and former aide-de-camp to General Knox. See D.S. Howard and J.S. Ayers, op. cit, pp.489-91 and A. Palmer, A Winterthur Guide to Chinese Export Porcelain, p. 133.