Dressing box

Dressing case
Cypress, lacquer, gilt
1790-1795

Dressing cases
Cypress, lacquer, gilt, metal
1790-1795

Status

Not on view

Label Text

American demand for exotic Chinese imports increased with the onset of direct trading between China and the United States in 1784. While President, George Washington took advantage of the wide variety of Chinese luxury goods arriving in New York and Philadelphia and purchased several lacquerware pieces, likely for use by Martha Washington or one of her granddaughters: Martha, Eleanor, or Eliza Parke Custis. This box was originally part of a larger set within the drawer of a dressing glass which descended in the family of Eliza Parke Custis Law. Such elegant containers were likely used to store cosmetic powders or accessories such as jewelry and hair pins.

See also the dressing glass W-315 and boxes W-543/B-D and W-221/B-H.

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Date1790-1800

Possible retailer John McElwee (American)

Possible retailer Samuel Dunlap (American)

Possible retailer Kid & Co. (American, 1793 - 1796)

Geography Made - ChinaPossibly retailed - United StatesPossibly retailed - United States

Medium/TechniqueCypress, lacquer, gilt

DimensionsOverall (H x W x D): 1 3/4 in. x 3 7/8 in. x 3 1/2 in. (4.45 cm x 9.84 cm x 8.89 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mrs. George R. Goldsborough, Vice Regent for Maryland, 1882 Conservation courtesy of the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation

Object numberW-543/A

DescriptionShaped box with independent lid decorated with gilt over dark brown or black lacquer. The top, short side of the box is straight, the bottom, short side is scalloped, one long side follows an S-curve, and the other is coved or hollowed. Cover features a pink or red peony on gilt ground at center, bordered by a geometric-patterned ground of overlapping circles with stars at their centers. Floral and leafy sprigs on sides. Interiors and outside bottom lacquered.

Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 241, 247. (general reference).

Helen Maggs Fede, Washington Furniture at Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon, Virginia: Mount Vernon Ladies Association, 1966), 46.

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