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Wine cooler

Professional Photography
Wine cooler
Professional Photography
Professional Photography
Status
On view
Label Text

George Washington preferred a style of dining that allowed his guests to help themselves to food and drink. Anticipating large presidential entertainments, he ordered twelve wine coolers from England in October 1789. Eight two-bottle coolers were for serving Madeira and claret during the meal, while "four quadruple coolers" were for after dinner use. When the articles finally arrived in Philadelphia the following year, Washington complained that the extreme weight of the four-bottle coolers made them "too unwieldy to pass; especially by Ladies." As a result, by the time he left office, he had only used two of them. He brought these, along with four of the two-bottle coolers, to Mount Vernon after his retirement.

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Date1790
Geography Made - England
DimensionsOverall: 10 3/8 in. x 11 5/8 in. x 18 1/2 in. (26.37 cm x 29.54 cm x 46.99 cm) Other (Bottle openings): 4 3/4 in. x 4 3/4 in. (12.07 cm x 12.07 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mary Lee Bowman and Robert E. Lee IV, 2007
Object numberW-4577
DescriptionElliptical wine cooler of fused silverplate on copper composed of a basin and removable lid; raised bombé basin with cornice and applied, cove molded foot; silver lion's mask and ring handles on each short side; four short conical projections with flat tops sitting on flattened knops in interior of well, arranged to correspond to the center of the four openings of the lid; removable lid with four circular openings; each of the openings is surrounded by a pierced, reeded collar above and a plain plated collar below the surface of the lid; four reproduction cylindrical baskets constructed of silver wire with short cylindrical cap projecting from their center base, are mounted on the projections inside the basin and kept in place by the lower collars of the lid.
Published ReferencesCarol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 144-145.

Martha Gandy Fales, "The Silver," Magazine Antiques 135/2 (February 1989): 520.

Kathryn Buhler, Mount Vernon Silver (Mount Vernon, Virginia: The Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union, 1957), 50-51, 73.

Benson J. Lossing, The Home of Washington (Hartford, Connecticut: A. S. Hale & Company, 1870), 264-265.

Benson J. Lossing, Mount Vernon and its Associations: Historical, Biographical, Pictorial (New York: W.A. Townsend & Co., 1859), 248 - 251.
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.
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