Theodore Russell Davis, designer

A chance meeting in the White House between First Lady Lucy Hayes and illustrator and journalist Theodore Davis produced a most extraordinary dinner service. Mrs. Hayes was selecting fern samples to be used as decoration on the presidential service, which had already been contracted with Haviland, and Davis suggested that she use depictions of flora and fauna native to North America, celebrating the country’s natural bounty. Davis became the designer of the service, producing 130 distinct decorations for 562 pieces made for nine courses. Each decoration was drawn by hand, etchings were made to transfer the outlines, basic colors were applied via chromolithographic and decalcomania processes, and enamel details and gilding were added by hand.

The designs ornamenting each piece of this service not only echo the era’s interest in nature and America’s spirit of nationalism—they also often indicate the type of food they were to serve. The turkey striding from a background radiating beams of light leaves little doubt as to what the diner would soon enjoy.