A beautiful service and a great form, this attractive Chinese export porcelain footed compote is very finely hand-painted with a central landscape roundel with an outer border of fruits and flowers rimmed with a gilded feather edge. From a attractive service made for prominent merchant Mordecai Lewis (1749-1799) of Philadelphia who was active in America’s China Trade from the very beginning. Before the founding of the Republic his sympathies were staunchly for the colonies, and despite being a Quaker, he joined one of Philadelphia’s militia companies. Measuring 8 1/2″ high x 12 x 8″  and in good condition with only minor wear to the gilding. Circa 1795. Examples in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum, and discussed in Philadelphians and the China Trade, pages 100, 103.