Theodore Russell Davis and Haviland & Co.
Coffee Cup and Saucer
1878-1885
Scroll
Physical Qualities
Porcelain, enamel, gilt, Cup: 2 1/2 × 2 × 2 3/4 in. (6.4 × 5.1 × 7 cm.)
Saucer: 4 3/4 × 4 3/4 × 1/2 in. (12.1 × 12.1 × 1.3 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Frederica Kolker Saxon, Baltimore, in Memory of Irving and Rosa Kolker
Object Number
2022.188
This coffee cup and saucer 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 cup and saucer have white bodies with an ivory glaze. The cup is cylindrical with a slight flare at the bottom and has an applied bamboo stalk painted brown, that wraps around the cup. A bamboo leaf, painted green, forms the handle. The saucer also has an applied bamboo stalk aroud the well to hold the cup stable. Numerous leaves and shoots, painted in green, decorate the surface of the saucer. Delicate lines of gold detail the stalks, shoots, and leaves on both pieces. The porcelain service as a whole depicts naturalistic scenes of American animals, flora and fauna, but the coffee cups and dessert plates all have this Japanese-inspired bamboo design.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2022; Frederica K. Saxon (1933-2025), 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)
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: None
Markings: None
