ON DECEMBER 14, 1799, George Washington died at Mount Vernon. The news traveled quickly throughout the United States, casting a fledgling nation into a state of mourning. With his death, Washington transcended his own humanity to become an icon, a symbol around which Americans could coalesce in their quest to form a national identity. Days after his death, local governments and fraternal organizations in nearly every American city and town began planning mock funerals.[1] These funerals offered orators and entrepreneurs an opportunity to memorialize Washington and to summarize the noble aspects of his life. The inventor and artisan Jacob Perkins designed a memorial medal to be “worn by all ages of people” that was first documented at the funeral procession in his hometown of Newburyport, Massachusetts, and later sold across the Northeast (figs. 1, 2).[2] New evidence suggests that Newburyport ship captain and merchant Edmund Swett commissioned Liverpool potters to copy Perkins’s design onto transfer-printed creamware jugs made specifically to commemorate the local funeral procession (figs. 3–5).
The Perkins funeral medal, pierced by the maker to hold a ribbon, first appeared on the necks of Newburyport’s citizens at the funeral procession held on January 2, 1800, merely seven days after news of Washington’s death had reached nearby Boston.[3] In that brief time, Perkins designed a medal of complex iconography, engraved its dies, and began striking it. Having apprenticed to a goldsmith, invented a machine for making nails, and worked on the Massachusetts state coinage, the 39-year old inventor was one of the few Americans capable of such a technical feat.[4] Perkins first advertised the medals for sale on January 6.[5] The speed with which he completed the medal was extraordinary; in contrast, one of the earliest mourning prints, America Lamenting Her Loss at the Tomb of General Washington, was issued in Philadelphia on January 20, more than three weeks after Perkins had begun striking his medal.[6]
The obverse of the medal features a bust of Washington in profile, derived from Joseph Wright’s popular 1790 portrait.[7] A laurel wreath and the inscription “HE IS IN GLORY, THE WORLD IN TEARS” surround his bust. On the reverse, Perkins distilled Washington’s biography into the elements that made him worthy of emulation in the eyes of many Americans. Encircling a funerary urn engraved with the initials “GW” are two inscriptions.[8] The outer reads: “B[ORN]. F[EBRUARY]. 11. 1732. G[ENERAL]. A[MERICAN] ARM[IES]. [17]75. “R[ESIGNED]. [17]83. P[RESIDENT] U.S.A. [17]89.” [9]The inner reads: “R[ESIGNED]. [17]96. G[ENERAL]. ARM[IES]. U.S. [17]98. OB. D[ECEMBER]. 14. 1799.” By featuring the dates Washington had resigned his military commission and left the presidency, Perkins reminded the medal wearers that Washington demonstrated leadership by both taking command and then returning power to civilian authority.[10] The Newburyport Herald described the medal’s purpose: “The effect [of the medal] is obvious—every child will have his history—every citizen will remember him with gratitude” (fig. 6).[11]
The medals were advertised for sale in Boston, Newburyport, Worcester, and Providence.[12] Edmund Swett likely took one of them to England, where it provided the design inspiration for a number of transfer-printed creamware jugs made in Liverpool, probably at the Herculaneum Pottery.[13] Founded in 1786, Herculaneum was one of the largest potteries in Liverpool, and a significant percentage of its production was made for export, especially to the United States.[14]
In nearly the same manner as the Perkins medal, one side of the jug features Washington’s bust encircled by laurel. The maker slightly shortened the phrase on the medal to “HE IN GLORY, AMERICA IN TEARS.” The other side features the reverse of the medal, with the urn. Although Perkins abbreviated his short history of Washington’s life on the medal, the engraver took full advantage of the space available on the ceramic body and spelled out each word, likely at the behest of the patron who understood the abbreviations.
Below the bust portrait is a cartouche with an inscription not seen on the medal, strengthening the ties between these jugs and Newburyport. The cartouche features the phrase “A MAN without example, A PATRIOT without reproach.” That phrase is taken directly from the published version of Thomas Paine’s eulogy delivered for Washington at the Newburyport Presbyterian meetinghouse, where the medals first appeared.[15]
While it is often difficult to determine the initial commissioner of specific designs on creamware, in this case a confluence of evidence points to Edmund Swett. At least eight jugs with this decoration are known, some 8 1/2" tall and others 10 1/4" tall. Two of the jugs were made for Swett, and personalized with his name hand-painted in a cartouche of wheat, hops, and grapevines beneath the spout. Unlike most Liverpool products, they have very little variation in design.[16]
Edmund Swett is almost certainly the man of the same name born on June 19, 1743, in the town of Newbury, four miles south of Newburyport. A mariner, shipowner, and merchant, he likely was present at the town’s funeral procession. After that event, Swett’s son Samuel sailed to Liverpool aboard the Industry, probably carrying with him one of his father’s funeral medals along with the published version of Thomas Paine’s eulogy. We can assume he left Newburyport in mid- to late January, as Billings’s Liverpool Advertiser reported his presence in Liverpool by March 17.[17] Samuel Swett arrived in Boston on June 22 after a 57-day journey, presumably bringing with him the commemorative jugs emblazoned with his father’s name as a gift and a few additional examples for sale, suggesting all the jugs were part of a single order.[18]
The Herculaneum Pottery likely made a single batch of the Newburyport jugs and then sold the examples not purchased by Swett to other Americans. One jug found its way to Alexandria, Virginia, where it was excavated from a site at 416-418 King Street. The site was owned by tanner Robert William Kirk until 1804, and then by stable and blacksmith shop owner Jacob Fortney.[19]
The creamware commemorative jugs and the sentiments expressed on them were universally appealing to an American audience, whose devotion to George Washington gave them value both within and without their New-buryport context. Positioning them in the context of the Perkins medals and Newburyport commerce illuminates both their creation and the dissemination of their imagery to a larger market.
