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Seed pearl cross

Seed pearl cross
Seed pearl cross
Seed pearl cross
Status
Not on view
Label Text

Following Martha Washington's death, her descendants frequently refashioned jewelry so that successive generations might wear a few of the stones, beads, or pearls that graced her ears or encircled her neck. In the mid-nineteenth century, Katherine Williams Upshur, a great-great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, remade her inherited seed pearl necklace into a set of four cross pendants that could be shared equally among her four children. As a deeply religious woman, Mrs. Washington would undoubtedly have approved of the selected form, and it may have been chosen with her sentiments in mind.

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Datec. 1854-1862
Geography Made - United States
Medium/TechniquePearl, mother of pearl
DimensionsOverall: 1 5/8 in. x 1 in. (4.14 cm x 2.54 cm)
Credit LineBequest of John Parke Custis Upshur, 1952
Object numberW-1873
DescriptionSeed pearl cross- shaped pendant composed of three sizes of pearls; the vertical arm of the cross is composed of six seed pearl circles, each with a larger pearl in the center; the horizontal arm is composed of four seed pearl circles, each with a larger pearl in the center; atop the crossing of the arms, affixed to a mother-of-pearl backing, is a rosette composed of tiny seed pearls encircling a larger pearl, from which four smaller, pear-shaped pearls emanate diagonally; seed pearls are strung on a thread form the loop of the pendant attached to the head of the cross.

B: White leather jewelry box with white cloth interior. Printed in gold lettering, "TIFFANY & CO/ NEW YORK/ PARIS-LONDON". Box is for W-1873
Published ReferencesJeanmarie Andrews, "Stringing Patterns of Pearls," Early American Life (February 2009): 11.

Carol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 268.

Martha Gandy Fales, "The Jewelry," The Magazine Antiques 135/2 (February 1989): 517.

Martha Gandy Fales, Jewelry in America: 1600-1900 (Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: Antique Collectors' Club, 1995), 108.

M. J. Gibbs, "Precious Artifacts: Women's Jewelry in the Chesapeake, 1750-1799," Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts 13/1 (May 1987): 83.
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Seed pearl cross
c. 1854-1862
Seed pearl cross
c. 1854-1862
Earrings and pendants
Pearl, mother-of-pearl, silver
c. 1789-1797; refashioned c. 1852-1864
c. 1789-1797; refashioned c. 1852-1864
Earrings
Pearl, mother-of-pearl, silver
c. 1789
c. 1789
Necklace
Pearls, mother-of-pearl, silver, leather
c. 1830
c. 1830
Pin
Pearl, mother-of-pearl, silver
c. 1789
c. 1789
Necklace
Pearl, gold, silk
c. 1789-1797
c. 1789-1797
Ring
Gold, pearls, crystal, human hair, paper
1750-1800
c. 1770-1802
Necklace
Pearls, silk
1780-1800
c. 1789-1797
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