CIRCA 1812

Made for the 1812 wedding of Doctor Samuel Cabot and Elizabeth Perkins of Boston and probably ordered by China Trader Thomas Perkins, the bride's father, this service is unique in displaying the pagoda motif, probably inspired by Whampoa Pagoda, the Ming era structure on the Pearl River that was an iconic landmark for China traders. One of the first objects presented to the East India Marine Society in Salem was a soapstone pagoda; a large ivory pagoda was brought back on the Empress of China by Samuel Shaw.