A fascinating bit of early America’s medical history as commemorated with a Chinese export tea bowl and saucer, from a special order service made for Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse (1754-1856) a professor at Harvard University and an early advocate of the cowpox vaccine as a preventative measure against smallpox.  He had his own children vaccinated and to celebrate his success with the vaccine he ordered a tea set from Canton to further promote the procedure, here depicting an image of a cow from which the vaccine was developed. Discussed in Schiffer’s China for America, page 174. The tea bowl, in good condition and measuring 3 1/2″ in diameter, the 5 1/2″ saucer, restored.  Early 1800s.