Skip to main content
Collections Menu

Cup cover

Cup cover
Porcelain (possibly hard paste), gilt
1780-1788
Cup cover
Cup cover
Porcelain (possibly hard paste), gilt
1780-1788
Cup cover Porcelain (possibly hard paste), gilt 1780-1788
Status
Not on view
Label Text

As president, George Washington desired tablewares that would strike a stylistic balance between appearing too regal and not being sufficiently dignified enough to impress foreign dignitaries. In March 1790, he purchased a 309-piece service from the departing French minister, the Comte de Moustier. Moustier had acquired most of these porcelains from the royal manufactory at Sèvres in 1778, then added pieces from the Angoulême and Nast factories over the next decade. All are minimally decorated with gilded rims. Such understated elegance matched Washington's preference for neat and plain, while offering his guests fashionable French porcelain with a possible subtle reference to ancient white marble statuary and republican ideals.

Read MoreRead Less
Date1780-1788
Possible maker (French, 1780-1829)
Probable maker (French, 1783 - 1835)
Geography Made - France
DimensionsOverall: 1 1/4 in. x 2 5/8 in. x 2 5/8 in. (3.18 cm x 6.67 cm x 6.67 cm)
Credit LinePurchase, 1956
Object numberW-2136/A
DescriptionHigh-domed cover with globular finial decorated with a gilded dot and burst of rays on top and gilded bands around its base and the outside edge. Vertical flange.
Published ReferencesCadou, Carol Borchert, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hill Press, 2006), 148, cat. 42.

Detweiler, Susan Gray, "The Ceramics," Antiques 135, no. 2 (February 1989): 498, 500.

Detweiler, Susan Gray, George Washington's Chinaware (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1982), 119-34.

Mount Vernon China (Mount Vernon, VA: MVLA, 1962), 29-34.

William Armstrong, "Some New Washington Relics. I. From the Collection of Mrs. B.W. Kennon," The Century Magazine 40/1 (May 1890): 20.
MarkingsUnmarked.
Mount Vernon's object research is ongoing and information about this object is subject to change. For information on image use and reproductions, click here.
Estate Hours

Open today from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

iconDirections & Parking
buy tickets online & save