One: Henry Moog, Atlanta

The other: J. Rochelle Thomas, New York

Elaborately decorated, the Leake Okeover servಌice is considered one of the greatest examples of Chinese export armorial services produced. The opulent service was made for Leake Okeover (1702-65), who married his wife Mary Nichol about 1730, but who died without heirs. His estate was passed on 💮to his cousin, whose descendant, Sir Ian Walker-Okeover, Bt. sold around a hundred pieces of the service at Christie's London in March 1975.

The original painted design for the arms is the only recorded example for a complete armorial service known to survive, and still remains with the family. Illustrated in David S. Howard, A Tale of Three Cities: Canton, Shanghai and Hong Kong, London, 1997, p. 57, cat nos. 53 (original pattern) and 54 (an example from the service), the author discusses the method by which designs for armorial porcelain were conveyed to the painters and potters in China. While it was usual that seal fobs, drawings and bookplates were sen𝔍t as design instructions, in the instance of the Okeover service, the design of the whole plate was included with meticulous attention to detail. This beautifully rendered service stands as the testament to the artistic abilities of both the East and the West, and as Howard, ibid, p. 57, concludes, 'there is no more faultless service of porcelain from Chinaꦏ for the Western market'.