A very elegant pair of Chinese export porcelain strap-handled sauceboats made for the American market, each bearing a family crest of a small hare and with the gilded letter W just under the lip of each sauceboat.  From a service made for the Winthrop family of Boston – one of New England’s oldest families with ancestor John Winthrop having arrived on the Mayflower and setting up the Massachusetts Bay Colony and becoming its first governor in 1620. In addition to their pedigree, these sauceboats wonderfully represent the connections of the China Trade – the delicate floral sprig pattern most likely originating in late 18th century France when it was ‘adopted’ by various English porcelain factories such as Minton, the pattern then being reproduced on Chinese porcelain for a special order service for a Boston family whose ancestors emigrated from England…quite a circle!  One in very good condition $1,050.00, the second with a line sealed $775.00.  A piece from this service illustrated in Schiffer’s China for America, and an example in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.