Jacques Necker
In 1790, Charles Hector, Comte d'Estaing, commander of the first French fleet to assist the Americans during the Revolution, honored George Washington with this bust of Jacques Necker. Necker's accomplishments as France's finance minister from 1777-1781 earned him a reputation as a financial wizard, and the French populace entertained high hopes that he could work another miracle when he resumed the post in 1789. An engraved silver plaque below the bust celebrates Necker as "Qui Nobis Restituitrem [He who put our affairs in order]." D'Estaing's gift was a tribute to Washington's leadership in America as much as a testament of French faith in Necker.
SignedIncised on the base of the bust, near the proper right front corner, "[L]R 2T".
Published ReferencesAnne Poulet et al., Jean Antoine Houdon: Sculptor of the Enlightenment (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2003), 198.
Susan Gray Detweiler, George Washington's Chinaware (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1982), 137-138.
George Savage, Porecelain Through the Ages (New York: Penguin Books, 1963), 198.
Stanley V. Henkels, Auction Commission Merchant, "D'Estaing's Gift to Gen'l Washington," The Final Sale of the Relics of General Washington, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 21-23 April 1891, Catalogue 663, no. 267, 37.
Benson J. Lossing, MOUNT VERNON AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS (New York: W. A. Townsend & Co., 1859), 227- 229.