A very interesting commemorative Chinese export porcelain saucer and beaker cup (or large tea bowl) made for the American market, each piece hand-painted with a scene of the authors of the Declaration of Independence presenting their document to John Hancock over which hovers a rather large American eagle, taken from the Great Seal of the United States, holding a banner in its beak inscribed The Declaration of Independence  as well as a small oval beneath the bird reading 1776. The scene on the saucer encircled with a floral sprig and star border, which does not appear on the cup. These wares were most likely produced to commemorate our nation’s centennial in 1876. The image is from one of four large paintings commissioned by John Trumbell to decorate the Capitol rotunda, the images so popular that Currier & Ives reproduced them in print form.  The print was most likely the source from which Chinese decorators worked to create these designs. Illustrated and discussed in Schiffer’s China for America, pages 144-145.  Both pieces in very good condition, the saucer measuring 5 3/4″ in diameter, the beaker cup 2 1/2″ tall x 3 1/2″.