CIRCA 1879

These plates were likely acquired in Canton, China in 1879 by former President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) and his wife Julia during their world tour that began in 1877. They may have been commissioned to augment Grant's existing service of a similar palette, which bears the monogram 'USG' and was ordered in 1868 and delivered to the White House shortly after Grant took office in 1869. Several plates similar to those in lots 78-80 have a history of descending in the family of the Grants' daughter, Ellen Wrenshall Grant Sartoris (1855-1922), and the service may have been given as a gift to her upon her parents' return.