Teacup without Handle
Artist
Artist Unidentified
Title
Teacup without Handle
Dimensions
2 11/16 in. x 3 1/2 in. (6.83 cm x 8.89 cm)
Object Type
ceramic
Creation Place
Asia, China
Medium and Support
porcelain
Credit Line
Courtesy the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections and Archives, Bowdoin College Library
Copyright
This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s
Copyright Terms and Conditions.
Beginning in the seventeenth century, Dutch and English trading companies imported luxury goods and spices from the Orient, launching a craze for coffee, tea and the porcelains in which to drink them. Aristocratic European families began the trend of having heraldic coats-of-arms copied onto porcelains in Canton, China. Even after establishing a new democracy, Americans enjoyed heraldry, turning to pattern books to create their own designs.
Bearing the arms of the Vaughans and Apthorps of Hallowell, Maine, these are rare American examples. Born in England, Charles Vaughan (1759–1839) moved to the Kennebec River to promote land interests of the Kennebec Proprietors, a company of which the Bowdoins were also members. Vaughan joined Bowdoin’s Overseers in 1811. These porcelains are among the extensive Vaughan holdings in Bowdoin’s Special Collections.
Object Description
Made for Chinese export