The china service of the Lincoln administration generally refers to a set of purple-banded china (porcelain) dishes used for serving and eating food at the White House, home of the president of the United States for state dinners. Also known as the Lincoln solferino china service (in reference to the purple border), it was purchased in April 1861 by First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. The porcelain was manufactured by Haviland & Co. in France, and some of the decoration of the china was made overseas. Additional decoration was made by the American firm of E. V. Haughwout & Co., which sold the china to Mrs. Lincoln.
Much of the china was broken or too chipped to be used by the end of the first Lincoln administration in 1865. A second set of much plainer buff-banded china was ordered in the Lincoln administration, and was used for family non-state entertaining. Mrs. Lincoln ordered or was given a third set of china with a pink border shortly before leaving the White House, and it was delivered to her private home.
The administration of Andrew Johnson ordered a second set of "Lincoln solferino china" in 1865, but some of this set did not survive Johnson's term in office. The administrations of Ulysses S. Grant, Chester Arthur, and Grover Cleveland also purchased replacement pieces.
Little of the original Lincoln china remains to this day. The largest collections are owned by the White House and the Smithsonian Institution, with several other smaller collections held by both public institutions and private collectors.
Decision to purchase new china
When the Lincolns moved into the White House in March 1861 (inaugurations did not move to January until the 1940s), they found it in a terrible state. Furniture throughout the executive mansion was broken, wallpaper was peeling off in many rooms, and the décor was cheap, shoddy, and tasteless. President James Buchanan, Lincoln's predecessor, was a lifelong bachelor. His niece, Harriet Lane, acted as hostess and de facto First Lady. Lane focused primarily on her hosting duties, rather than maintaining the White House. Although Congress allotted President Buchanan $20,000 ($ in dollars) to refurbish the White House when he moved in, Buchanan spent nearly all these funds on building a glass conservatory adjacent to the mansion to replace an orangery on the east side of the White House built during the Jackson administration but torn down to make way for an expansion of the Treasury Building. Only two rooms were in acceptable condition: The Blue Room and the East Room. The Blue Room had been wallpapered and carpeted in 1837 during the administration of Martin Van Buren, and the Rococo Revival gilded wood furniture (a purchase of Harriet Lane's, financed by the auction of older White House furniture) had only arrived in December 1859. The centerpiece of this suite was a large circular settee with a central table for flowers. The East Room, which was largely unfurnished because it was used as a ballroom, retained its 1818 Federal style furniture (which had been reupholstered in 1829), 1839 silver wallpaper with gold border, and 1853 draperies, lace curtains, and carpet. The East Room, was nonetheless, somewhat shabby.
Mary Todd Lincoln discovered that the White House china – which had been purchased in the administration of Franklin Pierce in the early 1850s – was in a sorry state. There were only enough plates, cups, saucers, and serving dishes to serve about 10 guests, and what china remained was mismatched and damaged. Harriet Lane had purchased no new china during the Buchanan administration, limiting her purchases to crystal and gold spoons for use during tea parties and coffee receptions.
The President had access to certain public funds to maintain and furnish the White House. These included $5,000 a year ($ in dollars) for redecorating the White House, and $6,000 a year ($ in dollars) to make repairs to the structure.
The first (solferino) Lincoln china set
The 1861 buying trip Prior to the presidential inauguration, Mrs. Lincoln had spent January 11 to 22, 1861, in New York City shopping for clothes. During this time, she became acquainted with many of the city's finer merchants, and established accounts at several of them.
On May 10, 1861, Mrs. Lincoln traveled to New York City on a purchasing trip to redecorate the White House. She was accompanied by William S. Wood, interim Commissioner of Public Buildings; Colonel Robert Anderson, who defied the Confederacy by attempting to hold Fort Sumter in April 1861; Mrs. Elizabeth Todd Grimsley, her sister; and a niece. After a brief stop-over in Philadelphia, the entourage arrived in New York City late on May 11. With stores closed on Sunday, May 12, she spent May 13 and May 14 shopping for a carriage, clothes, furniture, and household goods at A. T. Stewart & Co., Lord & Taylor, and other stores.
Solferino design
On May 15, Mrs. Lincoln visited the china showroom of E. V. Haughwout & Co. Haughwout's showed her a "specimen plate" they had exhibited at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in New York in 1853. The company had produced the plate in the hopes that President Pierce would like it and buy a set of china based on its look. The "Pierce Plate" was a creamy white porcelain emblazoned with the arms of the United States. These depicted an America eagle in the Napoleonic style (slender wings outspread, slender neck and head, facing right, leaning left), gripping a shield emblazoned with the U.S. colors (white band at top rimmed in blue, with blue stars on the field, and narrow red and white stripes below). The shield tilted to the right, and the lower southeast corner was lost in rosy clouds which surrounded and were in back of the eagle. Drifting through the clouds left and right of the shield was a ribbon with the national motto ("E pluribus unum"). An olive branch extended to the left, and a sheaf of arrows to the right. A wide dark blue border, its outer rim dotted with tiny white stars, encircled the plate. The beyond that was a twisted gold rope ("in the Alhambra style"). The edges of the demonstration plate were lightly scalloped.
Mary Lincoln was thrilled with the design. She asked for only minimal changes. The most important was that the blue band be replaced with "solferino". Solferino was a moderate purplish-red color similar to magenta—a highly popular color at the time. A dye that could create the solferino color had only been discovered in 1859, so asking for solferino color was asking for the trendiest color then available. It was also close to purple, which was Mrs. Lincoln's favorite color. Mrs. Lincoln also asked that the edges of the plates be more heavily scalloped.
Solferino orders Lincoln ordered 666 pieces of china for the White House. The dining service – which consisted of two large salad bowls, four pickle bowls, 18 meat platters of various sizes (ranging from in diameter), four fish platters of various sizes, two butter dishes, six vegetable platters, 96 dinner plates, 48 soup bowls, four water pitchers, and two ice bowls – consisted of 190 pieces. The 208-piece dessert service consisted of custard cups, fruit bowls of various heights and sizes, strawberry bowls, sugar bowls, fruit baskets (some oval, some round), dessert plates, coffee cups, and two large shell-shaped bowls. The breakfast/tea service consisted of tea plates, preserve plates, coffee cups, egg cups, tea cups, and cake plates for a total of 260 pieces. She also ordered four "servers" (large plates for serving chocolates), two punch bowls, and four large centerpieces (white pelicans formed a pillar on top of which was a large platform on which dishes could be presented).
Mary Lincoln was so happy with the china service that she also ordered a small set for the family's personal use, and a "toilet set" for use in the family bedrooms. The toilet set was ordered on July 18, 1861, and consisted of two services. The one for Abraham and Mary Lincoln consisted of a ewer and basin, covered chamber pot, soap box, brush tray, jug, foot bath, and slop jar. It cost $45, and was decorated with the solferino border, although the Alhambra edging was replaced with a quatrefoil and tassel motif. The Great Seal of the United States was replaced with a Gothic "ML" in the center. A plain white toilet set, with the same items, formed the second set. This less fancy set cost just $24.50. Mrs. Lincoln ordered a third fancy toilet set, this one decorated with the U.S. coat of arms, on July 30. It appears intended for Mrs. Lincoln's bedroom, as it also included a ewer, sponge box, powder box, and pair of candlesticks. The cost of the third toilet set was $115.
Manufacture of the Solferino set
The china was produced by Haviland & Co. in Limoges, France. American porcelain manufacturers simply were not up to the task of producing fine china, and could not have produced as many pieces as Mrs. Lincoln wished. Haviland undoubtedly gilded the edges with the gold rope and painted the solferino band on the plate, then shipped it to New York City. The Haughwout company finished the decorating. A stencil was used to create an outline of the image, which was then painted in by hand.
The final design was slightly different from the Pierce plate. The Lincoln eagle faced left, not right; the clouds only formed the lower arc of a circle, and obscured the southwest corner of the shield; the olive branch was more prominent, and the arrows less numerous; and a glowing yellow sun (not glowing clouds) backed the eagle. The stars around the outer edge of the solferino band were now just gilt dots.
Silverware and glassware orders Mrs. Lincoln also ordered three dozen gilded silver forks, 10 dozen silver-plated and iron-handled dinner knives ($240), and six dozen dessert knives ($120). She also had an older gold-plated flatware set regilded at a cost of either $1,783 or $2,343. E.V. Haughwout & Co. provided both the new dining utensils and the regilding.
She completed her purchases by ordering glassware. She purchased the glassware on July 3, 1861, from A. P. Zimaudy of Washington, D.C. This $1,500 set of glassware was richly cut and one side inscribed with the U.S. coat of arms. The glassware was manufactured by Christian Dorflinger, a company based in Brooklyn, New York, and was much thinner and lighter than the typical White House heavy crystal which had been used since the Andrew Jackson administration. Small flowers were depicted on the sides and backs of the glassware. A decorative border of umbrella-like shapes was etched into the lip, and the base featured a star and fan of spreading rays. The exact content of the glassware order is not clear, but probably included four dozen complete settings (water glass, red wine glass, white wine glass, champagne flute, dessert wine glass, and all-purpose glass) as well as some serving dishes. White House glassware historian Jane Shadel Spillman believes the glassware collection was probably similar to a "presentation" set given to Japanese diplomats by E.V. Haughwout the year before. This presentation set included goblets, champagne glasses, wine glasses, claret glasses, green-tinted hock glasses, cordial glasses, quart- and pint-size decanters, claret decanters, bowls, side dishes, finger bowls, and saltcellars. The setting also probably included punch bowls, double-handled punch cups, ice cream plates, carafes, sugar bowls, and celery vases. Among the known serving dishes were a relish dish and a compote dish.
Solferino cost The White House china set cost $3,195. (The family's personal china, which Mrs. Lincoln bought at a discount since it was ordered at the same time as the government-owned set, cost $1,106.37.) She turned the invoice for the publicly owned china over to the federal government for payment.