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“Chickens in a Garden” Dinner Plate - Image 1
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Theodore Russell Davis and Haviland & Co.

“Chickens in a Garden” Dinner Plate

1878-1879

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“Chickens in a Garden” Dinner Plate

1878-1879

Physical Qualities Porcelain, enamel, gilt, 9 1/8 × 9 1/8 × 1 in. (23.2 × 23.2 × 2.5 cm.)
Credit Line Gift of Jonathan W. Kolker, Baltimore, in Memory of Irving and Rosa Kolker
Object Number 2022.164
"Chickens in a Garden" dinner plate is a design from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Porcelain Service. Porcelain with enamels and gilt decoration. The colors were applied using chromolithographic and decalcomania processes. Afterwards, decorators painted the plate with enamel colors to add shading and to enhance the design. Finally, the edges were gilt. The plate is a classic round shape. The richly-colored design features a young Shangai chicken feasting upon tomatoes at the peak of the summer season. Two game chickens behind him seem unable to reach the juicy, sun-ripened fruit.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2022; Jonathan W. Kolker, Baltimore, MD by descent, 1980s; Irving Mason (1895-1957) and Rosa Jacobson Kolker (1907-1998), Baltimore, MD by purchase
Haviland and Co., The White House Porcelain Service, Designs by an American Arts, illustrating exclusively American Fauna and Flora, 1879.

Meredith Galleries. "The estates of Evalyn Walch McLean and J. R. McLean by order of judge Thurman Arnols and American Security Trust," Meredith Gallieries 1948.
https://search.worldcat.org/title/1474798634

Russell, Francis. "The Shadow of Blooming Grove, Warren G. Harding in His Times," New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1968, p. 448 (this is considered a rare book, may be hard to find)

Klapthor, Margaret Brown. "Official White House China: 1789 to the Present," Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1975.

"Evalyn Walsh McLean papers, 1874-1948," Library of Congress, MSS32318 (information about Evalyn Walsh McLean in summary)

Inscribed: Recto: artist initial "D" in enamel

Markings: On underside: - [American eagle with spread wings and Seal of United States in polychrome enamels]; - "Theo: R. Davis." (Facsimile signature in black); - "FABRIQUÉ PAR / HAVILAND & Co./ d’aprés les dessins / DE" (stamped in orange-red); - "DESIGN PATENTED / AUGUST 10th 1880 / No: 1193 (stamped in blue); - "H & Co." (stamped factory mark in green)

Designer

Theodore Russell Davis

1839–1893

Boston, MA 1840-1894 Asbury Park, NJ
Meet Theodore →

Manufacturer

Haviland & Co.

1841–2000

Limoges, France 1842-present
Meet Haviland →

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