CIRCA 1789

Sold at auction by a direct descendant of John Brown in 1974, this set of twelve pudding dishes bears the monogram of the famous Providence merchant and were undoubtedly part the set of 228 items Brown ordered in 1789. The journal of Brown's son, James, includes a listing of 228 "Pieces of China with the Cypher J.B. that came in Ship Washington July 1789." This large set of china would have complemented the elegant furnishings of Brown's newly completed mansion on Power Street in Providence. Begun in 1786, the house was near completion in May of 1788, when a vistor noted that it was "the most elegant building in America ...The house is very large and furnished in the most extravagant manner" (Wendy Cooper, "The purchase of furniture and furnishings by John Brown, Providence merchant, Part II: 1788-1803," Antiques (April 1973), pp. 734-743, quotes cited on pp. 738, 734; see also, The John Brown House Loan Exhibition of Rhode Island Furniture (Providence, 1965), cat. 96, p. 146).