A THREE-TIERED TAZZA FROM A STATE DESSERT SERVICE OF JAMES K. POLK (PRESIDENT, 1845-1849)

After his inauguration, James K. Polk enlisted his good friend William W. Corcoran to act as his agent in furnishing the Presidental Mansion. In 1846 a dinner and dessert service was purchased through Alexander Stewart & Co., featuring for the first time the shield of the United States in red, white and blue along with the motto 'E Pluribus Unum'. The dessert service, with its pale green border, is considered to be one of the most beautiful of all the State China. For further information on this pattern, see Margaret Brown Klapthor, Official White House China 1789 to the Present (New York, 1999), pp. 67-75.