Dessert spoon
Label Text
Martha Washington's son, John "Jacky" Parke Custis, and his new wife, Eleanor Calvert, assembled an impressive array of imported English silver soon after they married in 1774. It included twenty-four dessert spoons featuring the Custis crest. This is one of sixteen French spoons made at a later date which descended in the family of Jacky's daughter, Eliza Parke Custis Law. She likely ordered them to supplement her inherited portion of her parents' eighteenth-century wedding silver.
See also dessert spoons, H-4802-H4810, W-445/A, C-F, and W-1468.
Read MoreRead Less
Datec. 1809-1819
Maker
E. P. Andrieu
Geography
Made -
France
Medium/TechniqueSilver
DimensionsOverall: 5 3/4 in. x 1 1/8 in. x 15/16 in. (14.61 cm x 2.86 cm x 2.38 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. George R. Goldsborough, Vice Regent for Maryland, 1908
Object numberH-445/B
DescriptionDessert spoon with pointed oval bowl and rounded, downturned handle with faint midrib and plain edges; engraved on obverse of handle with the Custis family crest, the head of an eagle issuing from a wreath.Published References
MarkingsFour hallmarks or stamps on reverse of handle: maker's mark features the letters "E," "P" and "A" surmounted by a pair of crossed spoons with a dot above and below, all in a diamond, and is stamped over a partially obscured, unidentified maker's mark, featuring the letter "G" in the tip of a diamond; official Parisian assay mark for standard silver, 950/1000, featuring the profile of a cock, running right, with the number "1" at lower right, all in a bordered, canted-corner rectangle; Parisian medium excise mark featuring the profile of a helmeted Greek soldier, facing right, in a circle.
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.
There are no works to discover for this record.