Jelly glass
In May 1759, just a few months after the Washingtons' wedding, George Washington wrote to the London firm of Robert Cary & Company requesting a host of tablewares, including "1 Fashionable Sett of Dessert Glasses, and Stands for Sweet Meats Jellys &ca." This cut-glass example may have been one of the "2 doz. Jelly glasses" he received in August. The hollow-cut diamonds ornamenting the body represented the latest advance in English glass cutting. Filled with clear or colored jelly and set around a pyramid of glass salvers, this jelly glass was one element in a stunning table display.
Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 50-51.