Lot Essay
Another plate from this 1906 service was in the exhibition and catalogue American Porcelain 1770-1920 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (see A.C. Frelinghuysen, New York, 1989, pp. 254-55).
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AMERICAN PORCELAIN FROM A NEW YORK COLLECTION (LOTS 542-547)
THE ROEBLING ORCHID PLATES
The following three lots of plates are part of a commission produced by Lenox for the Roebling family between 1906 and 1914. Each specimen painted by William H. Morley (British, 1869-1934) is identified in Latin on the underside. By tradition Morley painted these specimen directly based on the orchids grown in Charles G. Roebling's extensive greenhouses at his estate outside Trenton, New Jersey. To further support this theory, please note that lot 545 contains a Roebling hybrid titled Cattleya Mossiae Roeblingiana and is most certainly from this source.
Eleven of the present examples (lot 544) are inscribed on the underside with a date December 25th 1906. This selection was likely part of the famous first orchid set Lenox made. The original twenty-four plates are thought to have been a Christmas gift in 1906. This gift was then supplemented over the following years bringing the total to thirty-two monogramed examples, twenty-six of which are offered here.
TWELVE LENOX PORCELAIN GOLD-GROUND MONOGRAMED BOTANICAL PLACE PLATES
ELEVEN DATED 1906 AND ONE DATED 1910, GREEN PRINTED MARKS, SIGNED W.H. MORLEY
Details
TWELVE LENOX PORCELAIN GOLD-GROUND MONOGRAMED BOTANICAL PLACE PLATES
ELEVEN DATED 1906 AND ONE DATED 1910, GREEN PRINTED MARKS, SIGNED W.H. MORLEY
Each painted with an orchid specimen, named in Latin on the underside, eleven inscribed Trenton N.J. Dec. 25th 1906, the twelfth inscribed for 1910, the wide border acid-etched with gingko leaves and stylized vines and with the monogram CGR, the footrim gilt
10 3/8 in. (26.4 cm.) diameter (12)
ELEVEN DATED 1906 AND ONE DATED 1910, GREEN PRINTED MARKS, SIGNED W.H. MORLEY
Each painted with an orchid specimen, named in Latin on the underside, eleven inscribed Trenton N.J. Dec. 25th 1906, the twelfth inscribed for 1910, the wide border acid-etched with gingko leaves and stylized vines and with the monogram CGR, the footrim gilt
10 3/8 in. (26.4 cm.) diameter (12)
Provenance
Charles G. Roebling, Trenton, NJ (from a special commission of 32 plates).
The Lenox Corporate Collection; Christie's, New York, 29 October 2002, lot 317 (nine).
The Lenox Corporate Collection; Christie's, New York, 29 October 2002, lot 317 (nine).
Literature
E.P. Denker, Faces and Flowers, Painting on Lenox China, Richmond, VA, 2009, frontispiece and pp. 60-62 and 69-70.
Exhibited
Virginia, University of Richmond Museums, Faces and Flowers, Painting on Lenox China, 28 August 2009 - 31 January 2010.
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