Catonware Set

Top view of the dish and lid. Photo Courtesy of Historic Huguenot Street.

What is your first thought upon laying eyes on a “Cantonware” china dish dating to the 19th century? Before lifting the pristinely decorated porcelain lid to unveil the awaiting scrumptious contents of the vegetable serving dish, would you attempt to piece together an understanding of the depicted environment in the painting? The cobalt blue illustrations spanning across the Cantonware are cool to the touch and mesmerizing to admire. 

Description:

This diamond-shaped Cantonware set includes a plate and a lid that come together as a vegetable serving dish. Both underglaze pieces were first adorned with painted scenes of a Chinese coastal village in a monochromatic cobalt blue before being covered in transparent ceramic glaze. The 3” deep dish is painted with the “blue willow” pattern. A serene atmosphere features trees growing in harmony alongside the riverbank. In the foreground, a junk ship with raised sails is floating between a small pedestrian bridge and a Siheyuan-style courtyard with pavilion roofs. Towering mountains uniformly line the background behind French country-style houses. An oval knob-like handle protrudes half an inch from the center of the lid, which obscures part of the painting. The 8” long by 6” wide cover is outlined with large decorative “X” markings on top of a thick blue band. Meanwhile, the lip of the deep dish is traced with a royal blue ribbon that fades into thin lines and scalloped edges. The dish is larger than the cover, measuring 9.5” by 7.5".

Marriage record between Jonathan Deyo and Mary (Maria) LeFevre. (Image: Family Search)

The Deyos are one of the original French Huguenot families that settled in the town of New Paltz. The first collector of Cantonware in the family was Jonathan Deyo, a 5th-generation Deyo. On February 16th, 1780, Jonathan married Mary (Maria) LeFevre at the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. They had seven children, including four daughters and three sons. Throughout fatherhood, Jonathan instilled religious and educational values in his family. All three sons had private schooling. The Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection of the Elting Memorial Library published a digitalized tuition receipt billed to Jonathan on April 29th, 1804. The total expense for the schooling of Abraham, Daniel Lefever, and Peter was $23.30 ($596.01 today). Peter was the youngest Deyo. He was given the opportunity to learn at seven years old, unlike his sisters: Catherine, Elizabeth, Catrina, and Cornelia.

Receipt billed to Jonathan Deyo for the education of Abraham, Daniel, and Peter Deyo. (Image: Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection, Elting Memorial Library)

One could imagine Mary and Jonathan taking out their precious collection of Cantonware for the first time. The children are setting the table for a hearty homecooked lunch after the Sunday church service. Sunlight is streaming through the drawn curtains, casting its warmth throughout the dining room. The family of eight is seated around the dining room table. Soon, appetizing aromas and curls of steam waft upward from freshly baked potatoes that are inlaid on the uncovered vegetable serving dish. After the first serving, the second helping is kept warm under the covered dish lid. 

The hand-painted porcelain distinguishes itself from other wooden or pewter plates, common dinnerware found in American households during the early 1800s. Jonathan begins his first educational lecture on the Deyos’ success. The Cantonware displays their family’s great material wealth and social status. After all, they can afford exquisite dinnerware to entertain guests. Jonathan made his porcelain purchase from a local vendor who was actively bolstering the surrounding economy of New Paltz by participating in direct trade with Chinese merchants (University of Illinois).

With a mouth full of potatoes, Peter asks, “Why are these plates, dishes, and teacups so special?”  

“Peter, the first President, George Washington, was fond of porcelain sets like these!” Jonathan proudly exclaims. He contrasts the affluence of the Deyo family with that of an American revolutionary leader. Meanwhile, many other American families still used pewterware, an affordable and versatile metal alloy composed of tin, antimony, and lead (Pewter Society). Jonathan takes note of Peter’s genuine intrigue.

The lunch conversation soon takes a nosedive into Orientalist concepts, with Jonathan leading the enlightening narrative used to define Chinese folk within the confines of the Cantonware. To only receive education about a place, people, and culture through a singular story is dangerous. When only one understanding of China was academically praised and circulated through early American newspapers, U.S. citizens were only exposed to an echo chamber of prejudices held against Chinese folk. The iconic “blue willow” pattern, a common motif of Cantonware, perpetuates China as a “non-Western societ[y]” left “untainted by industry and capitalism” (MET). As Jonathan’s fingers trace the blue willow pattern on the dish’s scalloped lips, he invites his family to view, feel, and experience the Western world’s construction of Chinese culture.  

A brief glance alongside a thin narrative of the dish perpetuates the romanticized stereotype that China is an exotic and backward empire. They use old technology like junks (sailboats) instead of steam-powered vessels. Or worse, Chinese folk need “saving.” After all, there is a lack of visual representation of China’s citizens or technological innovations under the translucent glaze of the Cantonware. Edward Said wrote about how “Orientalist ideologies actively shape the world they describe [because they] perpetuate people as inferior and subservient. [Orientalism] create[s] a worldview that justifies Western colonialism and imperialism” (Hibri). Later in 1839, when Cantonware fell out of popularity, Britain invaded China to control merchant trade during the Opium War. 

Throughout Peter’s childhood, Jonathan sent him and his brothers to receive the best schooling. Yet was teaching an Orientalist perception of China sufficient to be called an education of substantial quality?