American Furniture, Folk and Decorative Arts

Including a drum form teapot, helmet-form creamer, covered sugar bowl and five coffee cups with four saucers.

Provenance

The original owners of this service were likely Luke Wistar Morris (1768-1830) and his second wife, Ann Pancoast Morris (1764-1858), and thence by descent to the present owners. Luke was a brother of Israel Wistar Morris and brother-in-law to Mary Hollingsworth Morris (see note below)

Note and Literature

By tradition, the pattern source for the “Quaker Farmer“ or “Cow China” pattern was a 7 ½ in. x 2 ¾ in. graphite and ink wash sketch by Mary Hollingsworth Morris (1776-1820), wife of Israel Wistar Morris (1778-1870), an investor in the China trade, of Philadelphia. The drawing purportedly accompanied Mary’s brother, Henry Hollingsworth, a supercargo for the shipping firm of Willing & Francis, to China. It is thought that Mary’s inspiration was a Dutch source or the Hollingsworth family Philadelphia-area farm “Greenhill.”

Very few pieces of Quaker Farmer in green enamel have survived; black, sepia and grisaille being the most common color enamels used with the pattern. It has been suggested, by the late dealer Elinor Gordon, and others that the ship carrying the unique green enamel Quaker Farmer service, ordered for the 1803 wedding of Elizabeth Jeffries (1783-1867) and Samuel Shipley (1777-1848), sank in the Delaware River and was salvaged some years later.

For related examples and a history of the 'Quaker Farmer' pattern Chinese Export porcelain, see: Brian J. Lang, From East to West: "Quaker Farmer" Chinese Export Porcelain in America (2005).