Knee buckle

Status

On view

Label Text

This silver and paste buckle is one of a pair originally owned by George Washington. A pronged tongue, now missing, and the anchor piece on the back of the buckle would have enabled it to secure the knee bands on a pair of breeches. The rectilinear frame adorned with sparkling pastes - rhinestones made of glass - is indicative of the neoclassical taste for bold geometric forms. Washington would likely have worn this buckle on formal occasions along with similar paste buckles on his shoes.

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Date1770-1790

Geography Probably made - England

Medium/TechniqueSilver, iron, paste

DimensionsOverall: 1 1/4 in. x 1 1/4 in. x 3/8 in. (3.18 cm x 3.18 cm x 0.97 cm)

Credit LinePurchased by the A. Alfred Taubman Acquisition Endowment Fund and partial gift of an anonymous donor, 2004 Conservation courtesy of the Life Guard Society of Historic Mount Vernon

Object numberW-2785

DescriptionSmall, rectangular buckle set with square, faceted glass pastes along the open, cast silver frame; frame exhibits a slight arc across its width; inside edges of frame along its long sides bow outward slightly; iron chape with an anchor-shaped roll hinged on central pin.
Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 212.

Martha Gandy Fales, "The Jewelry," The Magazine Antiques 135/2 (February 1989): 513.

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