Sauce boat and leaf dishes
Kaolin Porcelain, ca. 1800, China
These sauce-boat and leaf-dish pieces are from a dinnerware service which must have been ordered from China soon after the death of George Washington on Dec. 14, 1799. With the American people deeply consumed in grief at the passing of their national hero, such a service would have been fashionable and patriotic. Additional pieces from this service have descended through the family of Joseph Sims of Philadelphia.