To James Madison from Fulwar Skipwith, 3 September 1806 (Abstract)
From Fulwar Skipwith, 3 September 1806 (Abstract)
§ From Fulwar Skipwith. 3 September 1806, Paris. “Mr. Nast, the China Manufacturer, has at last executed the order which I gave him on my arrival here for your Table and Dessert sets of China, & they have lately been forwarded to my Correspondents at Nantes Messrs. Sherburne & Eakin who will profit of the earliest safe opportunity to convey them to you. This China in whiteness is not much inferior to the china of the celebrated Manufactory of Sêve,1 & is just 40 p/c cheaper. I might have pleased myself better in my choice among much dearer sets of China, say at from five to eight thousand Francs, but in no one of the Manufactories could I select a Table & Desert set so good & so neat at the prices paid by me for yours. You have inclosed the Invoice amounting, with the Commission of 2 pr Ct. to be paid my Correspondents in Philadelphia for receiving & remitting, to £3125.12.5. or $595.37 cts.2 to the order of those Gentlemen (Maclure & Robertson). I have this day valued on you for said amount at 30 d / Sight.3
“Have the goodness to present my respectful compliments to Mrs. Madison.”
RC (ViU: Special Collections, Madison Family Papers, 1768–1866); RC and enclosure (NN: James Madison Papers). First RC 1 p.; docketed by JM and Dolley Madison. For enclosure, see n. 2.
1. Skipwith evidently referred to Sevres, France.
2. Second RC has “$595.75 cts.,” but the total cost on the enclosed invoice was $595.37. Dated 18 Aug. 1806, the invoice (2 pp.) listed a dinner set that included twenty-four soup plates with a pattern of black and white rosettes encircled by white pearls and a black band, surrounded by scrolls and white palm fronds, all on a gold background bordered by two gilt bands; ninety-six dinner plates with the same pattern; fifteen round and oval serving platters of various sizes; two lozenge-shaped and two square hors d’oeuvre plates; four mustard plates; two covered casseroles; two sauce boats with trays; two butter dishes; two small hors d’oeuvre dishes; and eighteen pot de crème cups with baking dishes. Itemized prices for each group of pieces added up to a cost of 2,067 francs for the dinnerware. The dessert set, with a total cost of 857.50 francs, comprised four round, four oval, and four shell-shaped compote dishes; two sugar bowls; one round and two oval baskets; two nine-inch cheese plates; two vase-shaped coolers; thirty-six plates; and one six-cup coffee pot with a wide gold band and cone-shaped reservoir, a press, and a measuring spoon. One copy of a publication on coffee was also included. With the addition of 102 francs for cases, packing, and customs duties, the total came to 3,026.50 francs or 3,064.6.9 livres tournois; 61.5.8 livres tournois were then added as Maclure & Robertson’s commission for a total cost of 3,125.12.5 livres tournois, which was calculated to equal $595.37 at an exchange rate of 5.5 livres tournois per dollar. This result was evidently too high and should have been about $568; it was nevertheless endorsed by Jean Nast and by Skipwith on 30 Aug. and 3 Sept. 1806, respectively.
According to Madison family tradition, this set was used for state dinners while JM and Dolley Madison resided in the Octagon House and Seven Buildings after the British burned the President’s House—presumably destroying all of its china—in August 1814 (Margaret Brown Klapthor, Official White House China, 1789 to the Present, 2nd ed. [New York, 1999], 37, 39). For photographs of several of the pieces, see ibid., 35–36, 38.
3. On 30 Dec. 1806 JM accepted and signed a copy of Skipwith’s draft, dated 7 Sept. 1806 at Paris, for payment of the invoice via Maclure & Robertson. Skipwith rendered the total as $595.35 at the head of the draft and $595.37 in its body (1 p.; DLC).