Chimneypiece

Status

On view

Label Text

In 1784, George Washington wrote to family and friends in search of a marble surround suitable for his "New Room." In response, Samuel Vaughan, a recent émigré, presented this mantelpiece depicting pastoral life that originated from his home in Essex, England. Although Washington was humbled by Vaughan's generosity, he was hesitant to accept the gift, concerned that it was "too elegant & costly I fear for my own room, & republican stile of living." Despite his initial doubts, it was installed in 1786, becoming the centerpiece of Washington's most public room and perhaps inspiring the agricultural motifs decorating the room's ceilings and walls.

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Date1770

Maker Sir Henry Cheere (English, 1703 - 1781)

Geography Possibly made - England

Medium/TechniqueSienna marble, jasper

DimensionsOverall: 67 3/4 in. x 82 5/8 in. (172.09 cm x 209.87 cm)

Credit LineTransferred to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association through the generosity of John Augustine Washington III, 1860

Object numberW-940

DescriptionMarble chimney piece with broken front shelf and three recessed friezes, supported by two ionic columns set in front of a fireplace surround and on top of an inlaid hearth; the upper molding is carved with canted leaves in low relief and terminates in a band of offset flower buds; stepped below is a border of egg and dart set above a simple ogee molding; each end of the mantel is thrust forward by a plinth of red colored marble, a high relief carving of a flower decorates each face; between the plinths are three chimney piece reliefs depicting domestic life in the county: the left hand tablet illustrates a young girl and child drawing water from a well in front of a quaint cottage, in the right tablet a young boy stands before two harnessed draft horses ready to draw the plow in the foreground, the frieze in the center depicts a farmer, his wife, and child herding sheep and oxen in a pastoral scene; an additional band of offset flower buds encloses the entablature and is followed by vertical step, a small border of acanthus leaves, and a final vertical step to meet the top edge of the columns; the two reeded ionic columns feature red colored marble and white caps and bases; the inner lip of the fireplace surround is adorned with a repeating pattern of four lobed flowers set within a crisscrossing ribbon; the white hearth is inlaid with a red colored marble; strapwork extends from the columns to the front edge, a line of red marble also extends across the hearth face, an angular figure eight is set in each front corner; a red diamond of marble edged in two dots is centered at the front edge; in the center of the hearth is an open Greek cross, quatrefoils are laid at each end of the cross, an additional quatrefoil and four small circles rests inside the cross.
Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 102, 104.

Allan Greenberg, George Washington, Architect (London: Andreas Papadakis Publisher, 1999), 29, 70-71.

Robert D. Dalzell, Jr. and Lee Baldwin Dalzell, George Washington's Mount Vernon: At House in Revolutionary America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 114-115.

Matthew John Mosca, "The house and its restoration," Magazine Antiques 135/2 (February 1989): 470-473.

Paul Wilstach, Mount Vernon: Washington's Home and the Nations Shrine (New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1916), 174-175.

Benson John Lossing, Mount Vernon and its Associations: Historical, Biographical, and Pictoral (New York, New York: W. A. Townsend, 1859), 171-175.

John Vaughan, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to George Washington Parke Custis, Virginia, 1 February 1838, [location unknown]; quoted in "A Piece of Mount Vernon History.", Daily National Intelligencer, 14 March 1838.

Petty Vaughan, London, to John Vaughan, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 25 November 1837, [location unknown]; quoted in "A Piece of Mount Vernon History.", Daily National Intelligencer, 14 March 1838.

William Vaughan, London, to John Vaughan, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 21 November 1837, [location unknown]; quoted in "A Piece of Mount Vernon History.", Daily National Intelligencer, 14 March 1838.

Harrison Howell Dodge, Mount Vernon: Its Owner and its Story (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1932), 29-31.

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