This beaker completes a Chinese export garniture that descended in the family of Martha Washington's granddaughter, Nelly Parke Custis Lewis. All five vases (three baluster-shaped and two trumpet-shaped) feature a popular river landscape design known as Two Birds. Garnitures were made to decorate mantels, cabinets, and pediments or cornices over doorways. Their forms are Chinese but the concept likely originated with late 17th-century Dutch merchants. It is not known when the Washingtons acquired this garniture, nor can it be proven if it is the "5 China Jarrs" in the "Front [West] Parlor" or the "5 blue & White Jars" in the "Sweet Meat Closset" listed in Mrs. Washington's inventory.