"A Special Oyster Plate" is a design from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Porcelain Service. Porcelain with enamels and gilt decoration. Molded, glazed, painted, gilt. The colors were applied using chromolithographic and decalcomania processes. Afterwards, decorators painted the plate with enamel colors to add shading and to enhance the design. Finally, the edges were gilt. The plate is a circular form with gently rippled and scalloped edges. Designed for realism, the plate features a cluster of oysters and seaweed floating in the ocean, which extend beyond the edges of the plate. Trompe l'oeil Blue-Point oyster half-shells are molded in relief, to hold five fresh oysters, amidst a cluster of Racoon oysters native to the South Atlantic states.