Vase

Status

Not on view

Label Text

After George and Martha Washington's deaths, Mount Vernon became a pilgrimage site and their material possessions were revered as relics. This Chinese export porcelain vase appears on the mantel of the "New Room" in an illustration in Benson Lossing's 1858 publication "Mount Vernon and its Associations." Its Washington provenance remained unquestioned until recent scholarship revealed that the bold painting and awkward proportions were more characteristic of nineteenth-century Chinese porcelain. It may have been purchased by Washington's nephew, Bushrod Washington (1762-1829), in the 1820s.

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Date1820-1830

Geography Made - China

Medium/TechniquePorcelain, enamel, gilt

DimensionsOverall (A: lid): 4 1/2 in. x 7 in. (11.43 cm x 17.78 cm) Overall (B: vase): 13 9/16 in. x 7 in. (34.44 cm x 17.78 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mrs. George Hearst, Vice Regent for California, 1893

Object numberW-19/A-B

DescriptionA:
Porcelain domed lid with a flaring lip surmounted by a "Foo dog" knop; the exterior surface is covered with a thick and even application of powder blue overglaze enamel, over which is a dense arrangement of bamboo leaves, flowers, and insects in overglaze polychrome enamels; the details of the decorative motifs are picked out with overglaze black enamel.

B:
Baluster porcelain vase; the exterior surface is covered with a thick and even application of powder blue overglaze enamel, over which is a dense arrangement of bamboo leaves, flowers, and insects in overglaze polychrome enamels, each rendering is detailed with overglaze black enamel; two blank reserves are set on opposite sides of the shoulder, one is filled with a lotus flower and the other with a chrysanthemum blossom, both are penciled in gilt.

Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washinton Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 18, 272.

William M. S. Rasmussen and Robert S. Tilton, George Washington the Man Behind the Myths (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1999), 231.

Susan Gray Detweiler, George Washington's Chinaware (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1982), 173-174.

Thomas Birch's Sons Auctioneers, The Baker Collection of Washington's Books and American Historical and Literary Rarities, February 11-12, 1891, Catalogue No. 660 (Philadelphia, PA: 1110 Chestnut Street, 1891), Lot 45D.

Thomas P. Rossiter, George Washington and his Family, oil on canvas, c. 1858 - 1860, Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.

Benson J. Lossing, "Mount Vernon as it is," Harper's New Monthly Magazine 18/106 (March 1859): 433-451.

Benson J. Lossing, Mount Vernon and its Associations, Historical, Biographical, and Pictoral (New York, NY: W. A. Townsend & Company, 1859), 172, 174.

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