Cruet bottle

Status

On view

Label Text

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.

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Datec. 1757

Possible maker Samuel Wood (English, active 1733 - 1773)

Geography Made - England

Medium/TechniqueGlass, silver

DimensionsOverall (Bottle): 5 1/4 in. x 2 in. x 2 in. (13.34 cm x 5.08 cm x 5.08 cm) Overall (Cap): 1 7/8 in. x 7/8 in. x 7/8 in. (4.76 cm x 2.22 cm x 2.22 cm)

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

Object numberW-2523/B

DescriptionColorless, blown glass bottle of mallet shape with slender neck, angular shoulders, and flat bottom with polished pontil mark. Cut decoration consists of hollow diamonds overall. Silver, cylindrical cap with domed top and cast finial is engraved with George Washington's crest: a griffin rising (facing the viewer's left) from a coronet with three strawberry leaves.

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.

Markingsunmarked

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