, 1879-08-28
Dinner China for the White
House. "

In bath pom at Asbmy Park, n.
J., the windo-v of which looks out upon
the Atlantic, and where the music of
the surf can be heard all day long, says
the New York Times, Theodore h.
Davis, of the staff of Harpers Weekly,
has made his studio for the last two
months. During that time he has COM
pleted and sent to Haviland & Co., in
Limoges, France, over fifty designs for
what will be the first truly American
china dinner set. The set is ordered for
the White House, and the contract calls
for it's completion earl ly next year. Mr..
Davis gives the following account of the
new State dinner set:
"The set will embrace special design
for the oyster plate. The soup plate is
modelled from the Kalmia flower, the
mountain laurel, the form being that of
a bowl rather than Of the narrow-based
plate at present in use. 1t is the flower
with its natural base instead Of the cir
cular base, and the decoration of this
series will be simple, through strong in
color, embracing this list of subjects A
clam-bake, crab, green turtle, okra, pal
metto, cabbage, maize, potato, laurel, frog.
The fish series of twelve is headed
by platter, the decoration of which is
a magnificent shad, gilled in a golden
net The form of this dish is novel, be-
ing rectangular, with the edges rolled
and tipped with dead gold. The decora-
tions include blue-ish chasing n porgy,
Holsters fighting, speckeld trout, terra
pin of Maryland, and the red snapper of
the Gulf of Mexico chasing butterfly
fish. The game series embraces designs
representing different species of Ameri-
can game feasting Or flying, bathing, etc.
The dinner series will consist of twelve
plates illustrating the following sub.
iects: Antelope in the cactus bad lands;
a bear in a tree, in which Mr. Bruin has
got into trouble, while a comrade, seated
comfortably below, laughs at him, and a
thunder storm in the distance gives tone
to the picture; a black tailed deer as
cending the slope of the Rocky Noun
tains at sunrise; big horn or Rocky
Mountain sheep; an old buffalo in a
snow-storm, surrouned by coyotes and
gray wolves; chickens in a garden;
coon in persimmon tree; the cranes
"walk around; on the plains at night
with Custer; the May flower, peccaries
or the. wild pigs of America, and the
Virginia DEER which is a night effect.
The jack-hght is in gold, with its rehec-
ton sparkling in the water beneath, and
its CLEANS tinging the lily.pod with gold.
A noble buck stands knee deep among
these. The desert set will be quite sim
pie in design, the subject being entirely
American, and embracing among others
the following; The pecan nut of Texas,
the chincapin, the pawpaw and the per-
simmon. The last plate of the service
will be an Indian design, fac-simile of
an Indian plate, artistically handled.
This plate is called crackers, cheese and
cigars. / have introduced an independ-
ent American butter plate, the object of
which is to give point of color and a
reflective light in the glasses. 1t is
pond lily leaf slightly curled, and upon
the surface of the leaf is drop of Hav-
Hands faience glaze, Stimulating water.
The after-dinner cofe cup is OF a very
novel design, and quite unlike any cup at
present in use The tea cup is Man
darin's hat inverted. The stem Of a
spray Of the tea plant forms the handle.
The chocolate cup is also novel. Mr..
Haviland writes that there will be but
% sets designed by Haviland and myself,
and the presidents set will be numbered.