Skip to main content
Collections Menu

Figure with scrolls

Figure with scrolls,
Niderviller (Maker), 
c. 1793-1795,
Biscuit porcelain (hard paste)
Figure with scrolls
Figure with scrolls,
Niderviller (Maker), 
c. 1793-1795,
Biscuit porcelain (hard paste)
Figure with scrolls, Niderviller (Maker), c. 1793-1795, Biscuit porcelain (hard paste)
Status
Not on view
Label Text

The smooth surfaces of unglazed biscuit porcelain mimic the purity of classical sculpture and made it a fashionable choice for table ornaments in the last half of the eighteenth century. When set atop glittering, mirrored plateaux amid flowers and candelabra, such figures created a fantastic, mythical tableau. George Washington may have purchased this figure during the last weeks of his presidency for use in the "New Room" at Mount Vernon. Like the biscuit groups of country musicians, this singing girl celebrates the noble simplicity of the pastoral life, a life Washington aspired to as a gentleman farmer.

Read MoreRead Less
Date1793-1797
Maker (French, 1754 - present)
Geography Manufactured - France
DimensionsOverall (H): 5 3/4 in. (14.61 cm)
Credit LinePurchase, 1985
Object numberW-2319
DescriptionBiscuit porcelain figure of a country girl holding a scroll or book of music with both hands; she wears a straw hat, a jacket with unadorned, elbow-length sleeves, a stomacher crossed with ribbons, and a petticoat; she has bows on her shoes.
Published ReferencesSusan Gray Detweiler, George Washington's Chinaware (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1982), 114, 118.

William Armstrong, "Some New Washington Relics. I. From the Collection of Mrs. B.W. Kennon," The Century Magazine 40/1 (May 1890): 21.
Mount Vernon's object research is ongoing and information about this object is subject to change. For information on image use and reproductions, click here.
Estate Hours

Open today from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

iconDirections & Parking
buy tickets online & save