By the late 18th century the Manigaults were a well-established Charleston family -- Peter Manigault (1731-1773) was Speaker of the South Carolina House of Assembly on three occasions and is known to have owned six Chinese porcelain dinner services. The crest and initials on this plate are for Major Gabriel Henry Manigault (1789-1834), who likely acquired this service as a gift from his younger brother Charles Izard Manigault (1795-1874). Charles, a collector of portraits and world traveller who resided in the Far East from 1817 to 1823, owned a nearly identical service with the family coat-of-arms at the center.