CHINESE EXPORT OVAL PLATTER

From the Dewitt and Maria Franklin Clinton Service
Circa 1796-1810

The service is well represented in American Museums including the U. S. Department of State, Winterthur, The Metropolitan Museum of Art among many others. See J. McMudge, Chinese Export Porcelain for the American Trade, 1962, p. 155, ill. 118.

This platter is from a service made for DeWitt Clinton (1769-1828) and his wife Maria Franklin Clinton, whom he married in 1796. DeWitt Clinton is notable for his long political career, perhaps beginning with his service as a brigadier-general in the American Army during the Revolutionary War, and then proceeding through his terms in the New York State Senate (1798-1802) and the United States Senate (1802-03); his mayorship of New York City (1803-15); his candidacy for President of the United States, running unsuccessfully against James Madison in 1808; and his three terms as Governor of New York from 1817-1823 and then again from 1825 until his death. It was during his final term as Governor in 1825 that the Erie Canal was completed and opened, an event for which Clinton was significantly responsible and remembered in American history.