Cruet bottle
Although the silver caps on both cruets from George Washington's stand are unmarked, the similarity of their finials to that on Samuel Wood's marked caster (see caster W-2526) suggests Wood made all three surviving pieces. Cut glass was a luxury good in the 1750s. Grinding and polishing the hollow-diamond facets that completely cover both bottles required intense amounts of labor.
See also cruet stand, W-2518, and caster, W-2526.
Published ReferencesCadou, Carol Borchert, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), pp. 38-9, cat. 1.
Buhler, Kathryn C., Mount Vernon Silver (Mount Vernon, VA: The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union, 1957), pp. 12-14, title page and fig. 1.
Fales, Martha Gandy, "The Silver," Antiques 135, no. 2 (February 1989): 520, 522, pl. VII.