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Lot Essay
The present dish is from the celebrated dinner service commissioned in late 1784 or early 1785 by Samuel Shaw, a founding member of the Society of the Cincinnati and the supercargo (or agent) of the Empress of China. After arriving in the US by way of Baltimore in 1785, the service went to the firm of Constable, Rucker, & Co. in New York City, where Colonel 'Light-Horse Harry' Lee arranged for its purchase by George Washington, the Society’s first president general, the following year. It was delivered to Mount Vernon on 31 October 1786.
The design incorporates the insignia of the Cincinnati Society, established in 1783 at the suggestion of Major General Henry Knox and inspired by Cincinnatus, the Roman farmer turned patriot-soldier. Major Pierre L’Enfant created the insignia, featuring a bald eagle recently adopted by Congress as the seal of the new nation. Notably, the dinner service combines two elements from the Society’s membership certificate: the allegorical female figure near the center, gazing back over her shoulder, and the putto on the right holding the trumpet of fame. Sixty-six pieces of the service are now at the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.
The design incorporates the insignia of the Cincinnati Society, established in 1783 at the suggestion of Major General Henry Knox and inspired by Cincinnatus, the Roman farmer turned patriot-soldier. Major Pierre L’Enfant created the insignia, featuring a bald eagle recently adopted by Congress as the seal of the new nation. Notably, the dinner service combines two elements from the Society’s membership certificate: the allegorical female figure near the center, gazing back over her shoulder, and the putto on the right holding the trumpet of fame. Sixty-six pieces of the service are now at the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.