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I've posted below some photos of an 18th century Chinese export sparrow-beak jug with an unusually well painted famille rose British coat of arms. I acquired the piece from the estate liquidation of a descendant of previous owner Charles Krum Davis, who from 1933-1953 was President of the American Remington Arms Company. The jug is attributed by auction label to prominent early 20th century British collector W. Martin-Hurst (1876-1941). The piece, which is missing its lid, stands about 4.25 inches high. A note inside says it dates to around 1780-1790.

I'm hoping to find a Brit or Commonwealth member out there somewhere who can tell me in general who might have been permitted to order themselves a set of Chinese porcelain bearing the British coat of arms during the late 18th century. Was the emblem reserved for official use only? If you've guessed that I don't collect a lot of armorial porcelain, you've got it right-on!

Best regards,

Bill H.

Hi Bill,
According to Howard's Armorial Porcelain (Vol. 2 Page 355), these are the royal arms of King George 111, circa 1770.
Howard states this is from the only known tea service with the Royal Hanoverian arms (but see the Royal Stuart arms)and of this service the only two pieces recorded are both teapots, one of which is in the British Museum, the other (illustrated by Howard) formerly in the Mottahedeh collection.

Congratulations. You must be sitting on a goldmine.
Cheers
Tony

No, I am not a Brit. I do have over 40 years of collecting Chinese armorial porcelain,however, and have some information to share. The arms are similar to the Royal British arms used 1714-1801. These arms were not made for the Royal family,but for use in important Masonic functions.Below the arms are masonic symbols.This cream jug was made c.1775 and was probably once owned by the Duke of Gloucester. Regards,R.Cole,M.D.

Thanks very much Tony & Plasticman. I'm much better informed, though still scratching my head about this jug, having noticed after posting my query that the motto, which should be "Dieu et Mon Droit" (God and my right), has the adjective 'Mou' (weak) instead of 'Mon'. Of course spelling errors were not uncommon when Chinese artists were copying foreign languages like this.

I also posted this query before scanning through some books I'd bought at the same estate liquidation. One is a small volume titled "A Winterthur Guide to Chinese Export Porcelain" (Crown Publishers, Inc.; Arlene M. Palmer; 1976). On page 103, reproduced below, the book has a black & white photo of the identical coat of arms with the same Masonic symbols and with the mottos spelled correctly. It was on a Chinese export porcelain tea caddy, also with provenance to the W. Martin-Hurst" collection, and which C. K. Davis had donated to the Winterthur Museum in the U.S. State of Delaware in 1956. The description leaves no doubt in my mind that the caddy is a companion piece in a tea set that also contained the jug. The author pointed to the "simple spearhead border" (the only decoration besides the large coat of arms), saying it suggested that the caddy "was made during the reign of George II, but not for the royal family." George II was on the throne from 1727-1760, which may be in the ballpark with plasticman's take on dating. However, the unattributed note inside the jug with a date of 1780-1790 is even closer. My next project will be to check with the Winterthur to see if the note might have been based on subsequent investigation of when and for whom the porcelain was produced.

Meanwhile I'm much obliged for these replies and excited about the prospects they raise. Considering the unbroken chain of possession going back around a century between the Davis family and William Martin-Hurst, I doubt that the motto misspelling will produce any viable challenges to the authenticity of the jug.

Best regards,

Bill H.

The "error" of the letter U for N in the spelling of MON is quite a common type of finding in motto enamel work. The worker was painting in a language that he did not recognize and was probably copying off another piece or a prototype model. Some of the others are not as close as this one. Most of the time it is amazing how accurate the reproducing of arms and mottoes really were. The definitive expert on British armorial wares made in 18th century China for export to Britain is Angela Howard. She is the widow of David S.Howard(he of the tomes Chinese Armorial porcelain Vol.1 and 2)and so very sharp.She can be reached at Heirloom and Howard in the U.K.Regards,R.Cole,M.D.

Thanks much for the referral to Angela Howard. Arlene M. Palmer, author of the Winterthur Guide, praises Mrs. Howard's late husband David as her muse for writing the book, also stating how he supplied "Virtually all the information about the armorial porcelains in the Winterthur...". One of these days I hope to find myself with enough cash or credit on hand to afford a set of his renowned books.

Much obliged,

Bill H.

Mr. Howard was my mentor ever since I wandered into his small basement shop in 1973 London. I am fortunate to have all of his printed works and do treasure them.I recently visited Angela in England and she was so hospitable that I am quite sure she would answer any of your queries about the creamer. I would love to have it my collection.

I spoke today with the curator in charge of Chinese export at the Winterthur Museum, who graciously provided photos of their companion tea caddy to my small jug (1st 2 pics at link), along with a copy of their Object Report. The report clarified some information in the Palmer book, noting "The arms are of King George I, II or III..." and not just of George II. Also, a note in their file indicated that David Howard had dated the tea caddy to circa 1780, whereas the Winterthur assessment, based on implications of the spearhead border, was a date of 1750-75. The report further said that other examples of this service included a punch bowl in an English private collection and a cup in the Museum of the Masonic Grand Lodge of England in London; this data according to David Howard as well.

Taking a cue from this, I went to the Grand Lodge website and was happy to find it well organized with a very good search feature. I found images of the cup (last 3 pics at link), along with some interesting information about its presumed provenance.

The Grand Lodge notes named William Augustus (1721-1765), the Duke of Cumberland, as dedicatee of the cup, which they dated as Qianlong Period. William, the sixth son of George II, had undertaken a military career, serving in both the navy and army. Depending on political perspective, he had earned either fame or notoriety in his army uniform for crushing the Jacobite rebellion in 1746. Two years earlier, in 1743, William had been initiated into freemasonry, which event the Grand Lodge now presumes probably prompted the commissioning of this cup to honor. He died young at only 44.

Before getting this information, I'd considered Thomas Howard (1683-1732), the 8th Duke of Norfolk, to be a strong candidate as commissioner and owner of this porcelain service. He'd been Grand Master of the Grand Lodge from 1729-1739, and died in 1732. However, his wife was Catholic and he was suspected of being of that faith as well, thus wound up imprisoned in the Tower of London for a short time during the midst of the Jacobite uprising. He and his wife separated, so he died childless and was succeeded as Duke by his brother Edward on his death. Except for getting out of prison alive, Thomas seems to have had little in his lifetime to commemorate by ordering Chinese porcelain.

Against this backdrop, it would seem that William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, probably was one of the few guys around town with the kin, clout and Masonic credentials to have commissioned or had others commission such a set of porcelain to celebrate his initiation into freemasonry.

Further comments would be most desirable.

Thanks to all,

Bill H.

URL Title :Royal Arms Masonic Chinese Export

Stylistically the creamer dates from 1770-1775.This was after the death of Prince William. Howard states the porcelain was probably in the estate of his brother, the Duke of Gloucester. Since he lived until 1805,this fits the time line much better.

Thanks again plasticman. I spoke to Angela Howard on the morning of 5 November, and she was positive the porcelain wasn't to honor the 8th Duke of Norfolk, because he would have have been bound to use the Howard arms, besides which he died in 1732. We didn't get too far along with discussing William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, because she had a pressing appointment on her schedule. She did suggest I email Mrs. Diane Clements, responsible curator of the Grand Lodge of London Museum to see if Museum files contained information on their bowl more recent than her late husband David's analysis of this service. Mrs. Clements was in a meeting when I called, so I left word that I would email a query to the address given me by Mrs. Howard. My own business kept me away from my PC for the rest of the day, so I'll try again to make contact with the Museum tomorrow.

I did have a chance to swap views with Mrs. Howard on the Winterthur Museum's Qianlong dating for the matching tea caddy, based on its spearhead border, regarding which opinion I gather David Howard weighed-in with the author. She wasn't convinced of the validity of using this method alone, due to the more widespread use of spearhead motifs before and after the Qianlong reign.

Best regards,

Bill H.

ERRATUM: My latest post has a typo in the fourth paragraph, which needs correcting to read "He'd been Grand Master of the Grand Lodge from 1729-1730, and died in 1732."

Best regards,

Bill H.

Would you be interested in trading the pitcher for something more in line with your other Chinese art?

Sorry it took so long to notice your query before getting caught up in holiday chores. Having spent a long time in the stacks studying History and matters Oriental, I'm rather fond of having something connected to my interests in both America's roots and Chinese History. And it actually fits well with other 18th century wares I have.

Thanks,

Bill H.

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