A plate from the 1861 Lincoln White House State Dinner Service

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Rare Books, Autographs & Maps

By Doyle

Nov 25, 2025

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• Lot Description
  [LINCOLN, ABRAHAM] A porcelain salad plate in the Solferino pattern from the Lincoln White House State Dinner Service. A 7 1/2 inch porcelain salad plate in the Solferino pattern ordered by Mary Lincoln in May 1861, the blanks likely made in Limoges, France by Haviland & Co., the plate decorated by the firm of E.V. Haughwout & Co., New York. The underside is blank, indicating this from the original 1861 order (not a replacement ordered during the Grant and Arthur administrations). The hand-painted plate features in the center a large American eagle surmounting a stars-and-stripes shield and clutching olive branch and arrows, the shield with "E pluribus unum" on waving pink ribbons, all set against a rising sun seen through clouds. The border is in "Solferino" purple (developed in 1859) with the outer edge spotted with gold dots, the scalloped edge with the gilt "Alhambra" border on white ground (a Moorish motif seen at the 1851 Crystal Palace in London). There are two fingertip-sized chips to the border and a few other small nicks to edges, some rubbed areas with loss of paint, some old blue crayon markings to the underside and a few old stickers. Upon arrival to the White House in 1861, Mrs. Lincoln saw that there was little left of the porcelain set ordered for the Pierce administration. Despite the impending Civil War, Congress appropriated funds to supply the required furnishings to the White House, and Mrs. Lincoln set out for Philadelphia and New York to order items. It was noted by The New York Daily Tribune on 16 May 1861 that Mrs. Lincoln "visited the establishments of Lord & Taylor and E.V. Haughwout & Co. At the latter establishment, she ordered a splendid dinner service for the White House in 'Solferino' and gold with the arms of the United States emblazoned on each piece." It was the Haughwout firm that had supplied the previous set to the Pierce administration following a display at the 1853 Crystal Palace. At that time, Haughwout displayed two styles, the one chosen by Pierce and the other with the "Alhambra" border which was to be chosen by Mrs. Lincoln years later, the only difference being the original blue band was updated to the bright purplish-red 'Soliferno' coloring that had become fashionable since its creation in France in 1859, and it is also noted that Mrs. Lincoln frequently chose to wear purple clothing. The original order was for 190 pieces, including a variety of plates, bowls, custard cups, and punch bowls. The expense of the set at the time of the outbreak of war was not lost on the press, which took the opportunity to lambast the Lincolns. A small re-order of pieces was fulfilled in 1866 at the beginning of the Johnson administration, but these are also unmarked and apparently difficult to discern from the 1861 order. The undersides of the plates in both the 1861 and 1866 orders are unmarked, as was the practice of the Haviland factory at Limoges at this time. Items from the re-orders in 1873 and 1884 bear marks of the retailer J.W. Boetler of Washington, D.C. The Solferino pattern set also stands in distinction to the "gold band" porcelain set ordered by Mrs. Lincoln in 1864 when the supply of the original order was running thin. See: M. B. Klapthor, Official White House China, 2nd edn., The Barra Foundation for Abrams, 1999, pp.82-93. Marian Klamkin. White House China. Scribner's, 1972, p. 70

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