Important Chinese Export Porcelain Teabowl and Saucer from the Mehitable Adams Tea Service, Circa 1785. Each painted in rouge de fer with blue and green enamels and gold with a pair of opposing hearts, flanked by the initials "M" and "A" in gilt foliate script, the rims surrounded by gilt-starred bands. Bowl: H: 2 in., Diam: 3.5 in. Saucer: H: 1.25 in., Diam: 5.5 in. Mehitable Adams (1760-1824) was from a prominent Braintree, Massachusetts family, and was first cousin, once removed, to President John Adams. She married Joseph Neale Arnold (1764-1816) in 1785. Literature: For a photograph of a pair of cups from this service, see Thomas V. Litzenburg, Jr., "Chinese Export Porcelain in the Reeves Center Collection at Washington and Lee University," p. 148, n. 139.

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1.25 x 5.5 x 5.5 in