Tongzhi Era, 1861-75 lively scene decorated in vivid enamels with large central fish with smaller fish and sea life in center and border. 10 in. Diameter. "One of the most iconic of the 19th Chinese export porcelain styles now known as "Canton Famille Rose" is the famous "President Ulysses S. Grant-Fish" pattern, which the historical record shows was given as a dinner service to the then former President and his wife when the couple became the first Presidential couple to visit China during a 'round the world' cruise they took in 1879. The dinner service is known to have consisted of twenty four plates and two serving mazarines, decorated with what has long been considered a "unique" rendering of a fish, inspired by a Limoges pattern but which retains its bond to the Rose Medallion pattern then ubiquitous on Chinese export painted porcelains." D. Nadler, China To Order: Focusing on the XIXth Century and Surveying Polychrome Porcelain Produced During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1908), p. 166, fig. 206. Unbeknownst in the literature is the fact that the Chinese manufacturers of the famous "President Ulysses S. Grant-Fish" pattern "recycled" the central image of the fish and produced and sold at least one additional service of dinner plates with that iconic fish but surrounded by an even more interesting border composed of various other forms of aquatic life. The present lot consists of one dinner plate from this rare, unusual, beautiful, and important example of late 19th century Chinese export.

Fine condition, no damage