A Canton rose medallion covered tureen with stand

Chinese Export Porcelain Returns to Chateau-sur-Mer
Open daily, 9am-4pm
474 Bellevue Ave, Newport, RI

Visitors to the Preservation Society of Newport County’s Chateau-sur-Mer can now see something that’s been missing from the house for more than 50 years: a collection of approximately 70 pieces of Chinese export porcelain from the late 18th or early 19th centuries, brought back from Canton by William Shepard Wetmore during his time as a merchant in China.

The collection includes dishes and plates of all sizes, platters, covered tureens and bowls, a tea set, bulb pots, vases and more.

Wetmore kept these beautiful pieces at Chateau-sur-Mer, his Newport home, and there they stayed until 1969, when they were sold at auction along with a majority of the house’s contents. The buyer of the porcelains was tobacco heiress Doris Duke, who kept them at Rough Point, her home down Bellevue Avenue.

This past December, the Newport Restoration Foundation, which owns and operates Rough Point for tours, transferred these precious pieces to the Preservation Society free of charge. They once again display their vibrant colors in their original place, the Chateau-sur-Mer pantry. They are deeply grateful to the friends at NRF for their generosity.

Come visit Chateau-sur-Mer, a National Historic Landmark and a true treasure chest of Victorian antiques, open daily now through September 1!

To plan you visit, click here.