Details:

Thomas Jefferson’s extraordinarily rare White House service china cup. Undated but produced circa 1790s. The white Chinese export porcelain bowl measures 3 inches in diameter and 2 inch tall, featuring blue painted borders with gilt fleur-de-lis decoration along the rim. The outer edge displays Jefferson’s neoclassical armorial device with 13 gold stars surrounding the script initial “J,” surmounted by a plumed knight’s helmet. The underside bears handwritten inventory numbers in black, “86-13-28,” and in red, “16.”

This distinctive gilt “J” dinner service has long been associated with Thomas Jefferson. It is illustrated in Official White House China by M.B. Klapthor, which discusses the early Chinese export service. Examples were at various times displayed at Monticello, the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Reception Rooms, and the White House prior to at least 1908. Jefferson’s direct descendants firmly believed the service belonged to him, actively sought to reacquire surviving pieces, and donated four examples to the White House in the early twentieth century, where they have remained in the permanent collection for more than a century.

Surviving pieces from the table services of the nation’s earliest presidents are exceptionally scarce. Much of the presidential china used during the administrations of George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson was lost when British forces looted and burned the Executive Mansion during the War of 1812, making surviving examples of Jefferson’s service especially rare.

A few small chips to the rim and bottom, otherwise in overall near fine condition.

Provenance: From the estate of Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, a direct descendant of President Thomas Jefferson. The original estate auction catalog noted: “Property of a direct descendant of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, the contents of the Brick House at Coolidge Point, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts.” (Original auction house provenance description included in our images.)

According to the original estate catalog:

“In 1871 Thomas Jefferson Coolidge bought ‘…a wild promontory surrounded by the ocean’ known as Goldsmith’s Farm. The 116 acres cost $12,000.00 and became known as Coolidge Point. Continuing a family tradition of civic-minded philanthropy and conservation, much of the land has since been preserved.

In 1824, Boston merchant Joseph Coolidge Jr. (1798-1879) visited Monticello and met Thomas Jefferson’s granddaughter, Ellen Wayles Randolph. The two were married at Monticello on May 27, 1825, and later settled in Boston. Coolidge was engaged in the China trade through August Heard & Co.

Their son, Thomas Jefferson Coolidge (1831-1920), Jefferson’s great-grandson, became a prominent businessman with interests in textiles, banking, railroads, electricity, and the United Fruit Company. Like his great-grandfather, he served as United States Ambassador to France. In 1904 he commissioned his friend Charles F. McKim of McKim, Mead & White to design the celebrated summer residence known as the ‘Marble Palace’ at Coolidge Point.

Among the contents of the Brick House, a former family residence on Coolidge Point, were furnishings and decorative objects removed from the Marble Palace, including the Jeffersonian armorial porcelain offered in the sale. Thomas Jefferson Coolidge acquired much of the Jefferson family porcelain preserved within the collection.”

Authentication:
Includes a full letter of authenticity from JG Autographs, Inc.

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Reference sku: 11285 1419269-1