Dressing box

Dressing case
Cypress, lacquer, gilt, metal
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. A pincushion once filled the center of its lid.

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

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Date1790-1800

Possible retailer John McElwee (American)

Possible retailer Samuel Dunlap (American)

Geography Possibly retailed - United StatesPossibly retailed - United StatesMade - China

Medium/TechniqueCypress, lacquer, gilt

DimensionsOverall (H x W x D): 1 3/4 in. x 3 3/4 in. x 3 5/8 in. (4.45 cm x 9.53 cm x 9.21 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/D

DescriptionShaped, spool-form box with independent lid decorated with gilt over dark brown or black lacquer. Cover features a circular well at center to which a pincushion was originally attached. Guilloche border around lip of well with floral sprigs in four corners. 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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