Woodcut engraving showing two porcelain plates created as samples for the administration of President Franklin Pierce. These plates, crafted from blank porcelain manufactured in France by Haviland, were created by E. V. Haughwout & Co. in 1853 in the hope that President Pierce would purchase china from the company. Although Pierce did not do so, Mary Todd Lincoln was the "demonstration plates" in 1861 and chose a revised version of the right-hand plate for the Lincoln White House's "Solferino" china service.