Pierced silver baskets for the table originated in England in the late sixteenth century. They remained fashionable among the English and American elite for the next century. Contemporary sources refer to them as "bread baskets," but they could hold cakes or fruits. This exuberant, rococo-styled basket is engraved with the arms of Admiral Edward Vernon, under whom George Washington's elder half-brother Lawrence served in the British navy and for whom he named Mount Vernon.