Ring

Status

Not on view

Label Text

In her defining role as the first First Lady, Martha Washington was renowned for her stately simplicity of dress. Though she regularly partook of the creations of New York and Philadelphia's finest jewelers, she was careful to avoid the appearance of extravagance in her purchases. This ring was likely worn by her while her husband was president. Its blue enamel ground and encircling pearls enhance the brilliance of the tiny diamond at its center.

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Datec. 1790

Geography Possibly made - United States

Medium/TechniqueGold, diamond, pearls, enamel

DimensionsOverall: 7/8 in. x 7/8 in. x 13/16 in. (2.24 cm x 2.22 cm x 2.06 cm) Other (bezel): 9/16 in. x 9/16 in. (1.42 cm x 1.42 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 the Life Guard Society of Historic Mount Vernon

Object numberW-2005

DescriptionFinger ring with wide, tapering gold band and circular bezel; single faceted diamond set on a blue enamel center with engine-turned ground encircled by a narrow gold band, a narrow band of white enamel, another gold band and an outer border of fifteen pearls set in gold collets.
Published ReferencesMartha Gandy Fales, "The Jewelry," The Magazine Antiques 135/ 2 (February 1989): 515.

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

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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