Tablespoon

Status

On view

Label Text

When looking for proper silver spoons for George Washington's camp table, it is not surprising that Colonel Clement Biddle turned to Philadelphia silversmith Richard Humphreys. Humphreys was supportive of the war cause and had fashioned a silver hot-water urn in 1774 for the members of the First Continental Congress to present to Secretary Charles Thomson. This tablespoon was among the two dozen made by Humphreys for Washington in 1780. The feather-edged decoration on each appears on numerous examples of Washington's flatware and was perhaps favored by him for the sparkle it brought to a dining table lit by flickering candles.

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Date1780

Maker Richard Humphreys (American, 1749 - 1832)

Geography Made - United States

Medium/TechniqueSilver

DimensionsOverall: 1 1/8 in. × 1 3/4 in. × 8 7/8 in. (2.86 cm × 4.45 cm × 22.54 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mary Lee Bowman and Robert E. Lee IV, 1981

Object numberW-2535/E

DescriptionSilver tablespoon with round-tipped shaft and elongated oval bowl; down-turned handle ornamented with a border of chased feathered-edge border; obverse of handle engraved with the Washington crest, a griffin seated on a coronet.
Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 96.

Martha Gandy Fales, "The Silver," Magazine Antiques 135/2 (February 1989): 519.

Kathryn Buhler, Mount Vernon Silver (Mount Vernon, Virginia: Mount Vernon Ladies Association, 1957), 35-36.

MarkingsMaker's mark on reverse of handle, in script: "R. Humphrey".

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