Pair of Chinese Export Pseudo Tobacco Leaf Plates, c. 1770

Fine pair of Chinese export porcelain octagonal pseudo tobacco leaf plates, each lavishly painted in famille rose enamels with rosettes, leaves and flowers.
Ex: H. Moog, Atlanta.

A service of this pattern was owned by Colonial patriot and businessman Ebenezer Stevens (1751- 1823).[1] Stevens was born in Boston as the seeds of the American Revolution were taking root. In 1773, at the age of 22, he participated in the Boston Tea Party. Soon after, he enlisted in the Continental Army, where he eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the Artillery. He served under Henry Knox and the Marquis de Lafayette, with whom he became close friends. Stevens participated in numerous important battles of the Revolution for which he is immortalized in two of the four large paintings by John Trumbull that hang in the Rotunda of the US Capitol. In "Surrender of General Burgoyne", which commemorates the American victory over the British at the Battles of Saratoga in 1777, Stevens stands at the far right, leaning on a canon. In "Surrender of Lord Cornwallis" which commemorates the final major battle of the Revolution, Stevens can be seen on horseback near the horizon and framed between General Lincoln and General George Washington, also on horseback.

Following the Revolution, Stevens became a successful businessman and civic leader in New York. He was involved with instituting the New York branch of the Society of the Cincinnati where he served as vice president.
He helped organize the New England Society in 1805 and served as its president from 1817 until his death in 1823. Stevens' numerous business ventures included trade with both England and France.

How and when Stevens came to own this service is not known. Given that scholars date it to 1770, fifteen years before America entered the China trade, it's clear it was not made to order. The tobacco leaf pattern was very popular in England and the service might have been brought to America by an English expatriate living in the colonies, where he later acquired it. Alternatively, given his status and connections with international trade, he could have bought it from an English merchant or even received it as a gift after the Revolution.

The so-called tobacco leaf and pseudo tobacco leaf patterns were popular from about 1740 until the second quarter of the 19th century. The first effort to organize and catalogue the known variants was published in 2013 by Pierre L. Debomy in his French and English language book, Tobacco Leaf and Pseudo- a Tentative Inventory.[2] In it, he identifies and describes 24 tobacco leaf patterns and 37 pseudo tobacco leaf patterns.

Debomy suggests the rosettes, or round motifs splashed across the surface seen here are actually cross sections of stylized pomegranates and the decoration within the segments represent the seeds. This exuberant pattern, among the most beautiful of the pseudo patterns, is described and illustrated on pages 196-201.

[1] Herbert Schiffer et al, China for America- Export Porcelain of the 18th and 19th Centuries (Exton, PA: Schiffer Publishing Limited, 1980), 197.

[2] Debomy, Pierre L., et al. "Tobacco Leaf and Pseudo, A Tentative Inventory" = "Feuille de Tabac et Pseudo, Tentative d'Inventaire". Societe des Amis du Musee National de Ceramique, 2013.