Jiaqing Era, circa 1800 small dish in blue palette of the Philadelphia Water Works, with blue cross hatch border and gilt spearhead well interior. 6 1/4 in. Diameter. One of the rarest patterns of early 19th century American market Chinese export porcelain is this dish painted in blue and white enamels that is commonly known as the "Philadelphia Waterworks" pattern, almost all of which nowadays resides in museums around the Country. As the first municipal water system in the United States, the Fairmount Waterworks, which pumped drinking water out of the Schuylkill using hydropower, attracted many visitors to Philadelphia in the early nineteenth century. Located on the banks of the Schuylkill River at the foot of Fairmount Park, the water-works were depicted by numerous American and European artists and subsequently appeared on Chinese export porcelain, highlighting the importance of the Schuylkill River in these works. One of the most famous of the paintings is by Thomas Birch, aptly titled "Fairmount Water Works" and dated to 1821, which is now on display at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Birch's painting is the source for the design on the Chinese export porcelain made to commemorate this engineering achievement. The engineering marvel has captivated the imaginations of many generations because of both its ingenuity as well as how it harmoniously comports within the larger natural surrounds. But, as the curator of the aforementioned institution recently declared regarding the public's obsession with the Waterworks, the "the real reason is because in the early republic, it was the Schuylkill River that came to define the idea of the United States to the world."

Age appropriate wear