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Comb

Comb
Silver
1780-1795
Comb
Comb
Silver
1780-1795
Comb Silver 1780-1795
Status
Not on view
Label Text

Over her lifetime, Martha Washington dressed her hair with a variety of ornaments ranging from highly decorative paste and garnet hair pins to fine but practical wares, such as this silver comb. Its gently curved shape enabled the comb to comfortably lie against her head, under her cap. According to family history, Mrs. Washington gave it to Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis, who kept and preserved many of her grandmother's personal articles at her nearby home, Woodlawn Plantation.

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Date1780-1795
Geography Probably made - United States
Medium/TechniqueSilver
DimensionsOverall: 3 1/16 in. x 4 3/16 in. x 5/8 in. (7.78 cm x 10.64 cm x 1.59 cm)
Credit LineGiven in memory of Lucy Ware Lewis McCormick, 1946
Object numberW-1442
DescriptionSilver comb with a shallow bridge supporting eleven pointed teeth; has a slight horizontal curvature.
Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 17, 259, 294.

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.
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