Cruet stand

Status

On view

Label Text

George Washington's first recorded order of London silver for Mount Vernon included "A Neat cruit stand & Casters" along with "2 best cut glass cruets." The stand is the earliest known piece bearing Washington's coat of arms. During the 1760s, Richard Lomax Clay, an oilman on Fishstreet Hill, London, supplied Washington's annual requests for salad oil, pickled walnuts, capers, anchovies, French and Lucca olives, and "Durham mustard" - a refined, ground mustard. The Washingtons served flavorful ketchups and dressings made with these imported ingredients in this elegant stand.

See also cruets, W-2523/A-B, and caster, W-2526.

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Datec. 1757

Maker Jabez Daniell (English, active 1749 - 1774)

Geography Made - England

Medium/TechniqueSilver

DimensionsOverall: 8 3/8 in. x 6 5/8 in. x 6 1/2 in. (21.27 cm x 16.83 cm x 16.51 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mary Lee Bowman and Robert E. Lee IV, 1981

Object numberW-2518

DescriptionFive-bottle cruet stand with flat, cinquefoil platform and central handle on four, cast, broken-scroll legs terminating in hoof feet. Cast, fixed, bail-type handle is formed of two scrolls joined at the top by a shell flanked by ruffled leaves. The handle is affixed to a plain shaft with ring near center and inverted baluster near base that is screwed through the platform's center. Five large and two small cast rings with ogee profiles encircle the central shaft and are attached to one another and the four legs.

Cast, asymmetrical cartouche with shell and ruffled edges is soldered on end of frame and platform. It is engraved with George Washington's coat of arms: argent two bars gules; in chief three mullets gules.

Alternate names for this form include: caster frame, caster stand, cruet frame.

Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 13 (ill.), 14, 38-9, cat. 1.

Fales, Martha Gandy, "The Silver," Antiques 135, no. 2 (February 1989): 520, 522, pl. VII.

Kathryn C. Buhler, Mount Vernon Silver (Mount Vernon, VA: The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, 1957), 12-14, title page and fig. 1.

MarkingsFour stamps on the underside of platform: lion passant in shield (standard mark), above; three marks below, left to right: leopard's head crowned in shield (London mark); script letters "JD" in conforming surround (maker's mark), and calligraphy letter "B" in shield (date letter).

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