Unique and important set of eleven 9 inch Limoges hand painted porcelain plates depicting scenes on board the deck of the Yacht Madeliene with Mr. and Mrs. J.S. Dickerson owners of the yacht and their crew American, circa 1876. Below is a list of the plates.
List of Plates
1. Portrait of Medeleine under full sail.
2. Captain J.S. Dickerson at the helm.
3. Captain J.S. Dickerson at companionway
4. Captain J.S. Dickerson holding the main sheet.
5. Mr & Mrs. Dickerson seated on deck.
6. Mrs. Dickerson seated on skylight with view of deck and masts.
7. Crew member carring lamp near cannon.
8. Five crew mwmbers on deck.
9. Young crew member reclining on desk.
10. Seven crew and the Dickerson's in Long boat returning to the yacht.
11. Owners and crew near the stern standing below the boom
Each plate is beautifuly painted obviously by the same hand. The artist had to have been commissioned to produce this one of a kind set of images showing life on board. Hand painted yachting plates do appear occasionally but they are from manufactured numbered sets as opposed to being unique one of a kind original works of art. On the reverse, each plate is signed with a red stamp stateing 'Elite' above a sheild and below the sheild 'Limoges France' in red. It is likely that the artist or the Dickerson's purchased these round 9 inch plates with scalped boardes and gileded edges as the canvas for these commisioned works of art. J.S. Dickerson had also commissioned professional artists to live aboard the yacht so as to illustrate the Madeleine log books. Some of these illustrations are published on pages 137, 144 and 145 in Volume II of the books The Holy Grail of Yachting the Art of the America's Cup.
Note: In a letter addressed to J.S. Dickerson dated June 24, 1876 on NYYC stationery it was stated that there was an unanimous vote of the of the ragatta and and advisory committees that the Yacht Madeleine would rpresent the New York Yacht Club in the 1876 America's Cup race. There were two races held on consecutive days August 11th and 12th inwhich Medeleine one the first by 10' and 59' and the second race by 27' and 14'. The Madeliene was 107 feet lenth over all and she had a beam of 23 feet 9 inches and she had a draft of 18 feet with her board down. At the time of the Race the Madeleine was owned by the Commodore of the Brooklyn Yacht Club John S. Dickerson. She had built nine years earlier by David Kirby in Rye, New York in 1870 and received many modifications by 1876. She had won several races and was considered the fastest boat in the NYYC fleet. When the challenge came from the Royal Canadian Yacht Club with their Schooner the Countess of Dufferin it was no surprise that the Madeliene was selected to be the defender of the third America's Cup.
Condition: The plates are in excellent condition with some minor losses to the gold edging. There is no cracking or crazing or chipping to the porcelain finish. The paintings are all in excellent condition and are as bright and perfect as they were when they were first painted.
Dimension: Diameter 9 inches
