Earrings

Status

Not on view

Label Text

Martha Washington had the means and connections to procure the finest clothing and jewelry available, yet she often chose goods that maintained an elegant, understated appearance. These gold hoop earrings, simple yet fashionable alternatives to showier drop earrings of stone or other precious metals, exemplify her personal style. They were inherited by her granddaughter, Martha Parke Custis Peter, whose great-great-great grandchildren donated them to Mount Vernon in 1980.

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Date1770-1795

Geography Possibly made - EnglandPossibly made - United States

Medium/TechniqueGold

DimensionsOverall (A): 11/16 in. x 11/16 in. x 1/16 in. (1.75 cm x 1.75 cm x 0.16 cm) Other (B): 3/4 in. x 5/8 in. x 1/16 in. (1.91 cm x 1.59 cm x 0.16 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mrs. John S. Wise & George W. Thompson, Jr., in memory of their mother, Elizabeth Ridgely Hunt Tayloe, 1980 Conservation courtesy of Dr. Thomas F. Cleary

Object numberW-2004/A-B

DescriptionA:
Gold circular hoop earring; body made from a hollow metal tube, a thin wire hinges at the front of the earring and extends to rest in the hollow tube at the rear.

B:
Gold circular hoop earring; body made from a hollow metal tube, a thin wire hinges at the front of the earring and extends to rest in the hollow tube at the rear.

Published ReferencesMartha Gandy Fales, "The Jewelry," Magazine Antiques 135/ 2 (February 1989): 516.

Martha Gandy Fales, Jewelry in America: 1600-1900 (Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: Antique Collectors' Club, 1995), 143.

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