Decanter
This decanter is decorated with wheel-engraved stars and banding prevalent among the neoclassically inspired glasswares produced at the end of the eighteenth century. It may have been among the goods purchased by George Washington during the presidency and taken to Mount Vernon when he retired. Before being brought to the table, the wines Washington favored - such as madeira, claret, and port - were poured into decanters in order to remove sediment and to allow them to breathe. Decanters were also used to serve a variety of other alcoholic beverages, from punch and cordials to beer and distilled liquors.
Broad-based taper or "Prussian" form decanter of colorless glass cut with eighteen broad-flutes along sloping shoulders punctuated with three applied neck rings; body is decorated with a central wheel engraved border around the top of the bowl consisting of a horizontal band of alternating stars and polished, cut ovals, enclosed within parallel lines and zigzag lines with two rows of engraved stars above and below the central border; finger bottom; polished pontil.
B:
Colorless glass, lozenge form stopper with beveled edges.
Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 158.