A fine Chinese export porcelain tea bowl and saucer made for the American market, decorated with a sepia and gilt eagle, supporting a monogrammed shield bearing the initials HLH, all within a gilded grapevine border. From a service made for the Heminway family of New York, the maternal forebears of the Low family of New York and Salem, MA, very prosperous merchants in the China trade. The eagle appears to be after a design for the first Great Seal of the United States. The saucer measuring 5 1/2″ in diameter, the tea bowl 3 1/2″. Some wear to the gilded border, a line sealed in the saucer and two small pieces out of the rim of the tea bowl, sealed back in. The eagle a very finely rendered example from this period, circa 1790-1810. Ex-Elinor Gordon Collection.