Arts

Delicate Porcelain Treasures

Once the heiress and Palm Beach socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post acquired her first piece of French porcelain in the 1920s, she could not get enough of the exquisitely designed functional art. Post filled her sprawling Hillwood estate in D.C., which is now a museum, with her finds, including a golden, porcelain-topped table and figurines from around the world. This spring, her personal stash, along with items from the Smithsonian, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Frick Collection, will juxtapose the old with the new during Hillwood’s exhibition The Luxury of Clay: Porcelain Past and Present, opening February 19. Featuring more than 140 platters, teacups, and vases, the show traces porcelain’s evolution over three hundred years. “Antique porcelain, from glazes to shapes to materials, still influences ceramists today,” says Rebecca Tilles, the museum’s associate curator. Antique and contemporary designs will be displayed together, including an early-1700s Meissen stoneware teapot beside Robert Lugo’s 2018 ceramic form.

February 9, 2022

1 of 9

Vessel (Container)

Unknown (Manufacturer)

Jingdezhen, China

1750–1770

Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973

Photo: Courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens

2 of 9

Drinking Vessel

Imperial Porcelain Factory (Manufacturer)

Saint Petersburg, Russia

ca. 1750–Early 1760

Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973

Photo: Courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, photographed by Edward Owen

3 of 9

Vessel for Serving Drinks

Eva Zeisel (Designer)

Imperial Porcelain Factory (Artist)

Saint Petersburg, Russia

1933–1935

Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973

Photo: Courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens

4 of 9

Drinking Vessel

Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory (Manufacturer)

Sèvres, France

c. 1779

Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973

Photo: Courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, photographed by Edward Owen

5 of 9

Culinary Container

Ancienne Manufacture Royale Limoges (Manufacturer)

Cindy Sherman (Photographer)

Limoges, France

1990

Museum Purchase, 2006

Photo: Courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, photographed by Edward Owen

6 of 9

Plate

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory (Manufacturer)

Meissen, Germany

1744–1745

Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973

Photo: Courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens

7 of 9

Drinking Vessel

Royal Porcelain Manufactory Berlin (Manufacturer)

About 1780

Museum Purchase, 2019

Photo: Courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, photographed by Edward Owen

8 of 9

Vessel for Serving Drinks

Imperial Porcelain Factory (Manufacturer)

Saint Petersburg, Russia

19th c.

Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973

Photo: Courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, photographed by Edward Owen

9 of 9

Vessel (Container)

Imperial Porcelain Factory (Manufacturer)

Shchetinin (Painter)

Saint Petersburg, Russia

1837

Gift of Eleanor Close Barzin, 1974

Photo: Courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, photographed by Edward Owen

A magazine cover with a cocktail

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