Jelly glass
Jellies, clear or colored confections flavored with spices and fruit, were typically served in individual glasses. Their presentation was further enhanced by the cut decoration lavished on each glass. By the late eighteenth century, elite households presented the dessert amid a dramatic table setting of mirrored plateaux, flowers, and porcelain figurines. This example, with its neoclassical wheel cut decoration of bellflowers and fluting, was probably acquired by the Washingtons in the 1790s.
Published ReferencesThomas Birch Son's Sales Catalogue 683, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 5-6 April 1892, Lot 848.
Dorothy Daniel, Cut and Engraved Glass 1771-1905: The Collectors' Guide to American Wares (New York: 1950), 113, pl. 39.