Designer: Theodore Russell Davis, Manufacturer: Haviland & Company
Date:
designed 1879–1880, in production 1880–1886
Medium:
Hard-paste porcelain with overglaze enamel and gilt decoration
These plates are decorated with native birds, animals, and plants representing habitats across the United States. They were designed for the White House during the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893). Guided by watercolor images of American flora and fauna by artist-illustrator Theodore Davis, French ceramicists painted and gilded each piece by hand. Produced just after the American Civil War (1861-1865), Davis’ representation of both northern and southern species symbolically united the recently divided nation on the president’s dining table and through rare copies, such as most of these examples, made for private households.

BMA

Looking with Chef John Shields

Transcipt

[Suzy Wolfe] You will see a beautiful oyster plate that has the indentations for five raw oysters in it. It’s set
on blue porcelain background, so it looks as if it’s underwater with seaweed, and then gold highlights that
reflect the water. And I’m here with John Shields, the chef and owner of Gertrude’s Restaurant. John, how
frequently did people in the Victorian period eat raw oysters?
[John Shields] Well, they ate a lot of ’em, actually. The oyster reefs were so high, they came out of the water
and the industry was crazy. It was in a frenzy.
[Suzy Wolfe] This is also referred to as a turkey plate, and if you take a look at it from this angle, the upper
left brown shell looks like the head of a turkey with its back as the other brown shell, and the one at the
bottom looks like the tail of the turkey.
[John Shields] Let me put my spectacles on. You’re right! There’s a turkey in the plate. I didn’t even see that
before and that’s really not a surprise. During that time, turkey and oysters were always served together at
a meal, and then that kind of evolved into the Chesapeake tradition of having an oyster stuffing for the bird.
So really no surprises here.