See one of the nation’s finest collections of Chinese porcelain at W&L’s Watson Pavilion.

     Washington and Lee is home to perhaps the finest collection of 18th- and 19th-century Chinese and European porcelain in America, the gift of Euchlin Reeves, a 1927 graduate of the law school, and his wife, Louise Herreshoff. In 1967, Mr. Reeves contacted Washington and Lee about making a gift, which was in fact his collection of over 4,000 pieces of porcelain. Among the more interesting pieces is a creamer manufactured in China depicting the signers of the Declaration of Independence with Asian features.

     Along with the porcelain, a number of paintings were included with the gift. When the paintings were cleaned, they revealed Impressionistic works painted by Louise Herreshoff as a young woman in the early days of the 20^th century. Her talent was recognized in 1976 when the Corcoran Gallery in Washington mounted a posthumous one-woman exhibition of her works. 

     The Reeves Museum of Ceramics and  the Watson Pavilion show some of the University’s collection of porcelain and Herreshoff paintings in rotating exhibits. For hours and more, go to https://www.wlu.edu/arts/museums or call 540-458-8476.