A very elegant pair of Chinese export porcelain 8″ plates from a special order service made for the very prominent Chew family of Philadelphia, each centered with a roundel bearing a gilded C within a gilded eight-pointed star. The Chews were deeply involved with the China Trade and one family member, Benjamin Chew Wilcocks (1776-1845) played a very important role in the development between the United States and China, at one point living in Canton as a resident commission agent. The family was the leaders of Philadelphia society and fashionable taste with both residences in town and at their country house Cliveden. These plates undoubtedly part of that lavish and elegant lifestyle. Extensively discussed and illustrated in the Philadelphia Museum’s publication Philadelphia and the China Trade, pages 48-49. ` Both in very good condition, Late 18th century. $1,250.00 each.