Cassandra A. Good and Adam T. Erby
La Peinture: The Rediscovery of George and Martha Washington’s Presidential Biscuit Porcelain Figures and their Incredible Provenance

Ceramics in America 2024

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Contents
  • Figure 1
    Figure 1

    George and Martha Washington’s surtout arranged on a table with the mirrored silver plateau and biscuit porcelain figures Venus et deux amours and La Peinture. The table is arranged with the Sèvres dinner service the couple used during the presidency. (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

  • Figure 2
    Figure 2

    Plateau, France, ca. 1789. Silvered brass, mirrored glass, unidentified wood. H. 2 7/8", W. 17 3/8", L. 24". (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

  • Figure 3
    Figure 3

    Apollon instruisant les bergers, Charles Gabriel Sauvage, called Lemire (1741–1827), Dihl et Guérhard, Paris, France, 1803. Hard-paste biscuit porcelain. H. 24", W. 18 3/4", D. 14 1/8". (Courtesy, Royal Collection Trust/ © His Majesty King Charles III 2024.) François Benois purchased this example on behalf of George IV on August 4, 1803, along with a large quantity of other figures. George Washington’s figural group was likely identical to this example, though the president’s probably did not have a base.

  • Figure 4
    Figure 4

    Venus et deux amours, Charles Gabriel Sauvage, called Lemire (1741–1827), Manufacture du duc d’Angoulême, Paris, France, 1790. Hardpaste biscuit porcelain. H. 15 1/4", W. 12 7/8”, D. 7". (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

  • Figure 5
    Figure 5

    G. Hayward, The First Presidential Mansion, No. 1 Cherry Street; New York, 1853. Lithograph published in Valentine’s Manual [Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York, edited by D. T. Valentine]. (Courtesy, New-York Historical Society.)

  • Figure 6
    Figure 6

    James Sharples (ca. 1751–1811), Gouverneur Morris (1752–1816), 1810. Pastel on paper. 9" x 7 5/16“. (Courtesy, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.)

  • Figure 7
    Figure 7

    Flora and Minerva, unknown maker, possibly Niderviller porcelain manufactory, France, ca. 1790. Hard-paste biscuit porcelain. Flora (left): H. 6”, D. 1Q 13/16". Minerva (right): H. 7", D. 1Q 13/16". (Courtesy, Philadelphia Museum of Art.)

  • Figure 8
    Figure 8

    La Peinture, Charles Gabriel Sauvage, called Lemire (1741–1827), Manufacture du duc d’Angoulême, Paris, France, 1790. Hard-paste biscuit porcelain. H. 11 1/4", W. 5", D. 3 1/2". (Courtesy, Stephen L. Zabriskie, of Aurora, N.Y.; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

  • Figure 9
    Figure 9

    Mark on the base of the figure illustrated in figure 8.

  • Figure 10
    Figure 10

    The Muses. Engraved for Bell’s New Pantheon by Grignion after the Copy of Vincenzo Dolcibinc from the original of Dominico Pronti. Engraving in Bell’s New Pantheon, or, Historical Dictionary of the Gods, Demi Gods, Heroes and Fabulous Personages of Antiquity (Courtesy, London: John Bell, 1790) (Hathi Trust.)

  • Figure 11
    Figure 11

    New Room, Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon, Virginia. (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

  • Figure 12
    Figure 12

    New Room, Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon, Virginia. (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association; photo, Gavin Ashworth.) George Washington’s figural groups are listed on the sideboards in this room in George Washington’s probate inventory, where they were likely covered by the glass domes purchased with the surtout to protect the larger figural groups. Several of the twelve figures of the “Arts and Sciences” likely rested on the sideboard as well.

  • Figure 13
    Figure 13

    Mantelpiece, attributed to Sir Henry Cheere (1703–1781), London, England, ca. 1770. Marble. H. 67 3/4”, W. 82 5/8“. (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association; photo, Gavin Ashworth.) Many of the individual figures of the “Arts and Sciences” likely occupied this mantelpiece between the Worcester Vases.

  • Figure 14
    Figure 14

    Sarah Miriam Peale (1800–1885), after Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828), Elizabeth Parke Custis (1776–1831), 1836. Oil on canvas. 28 1/2" x 24 1/8". (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.)

  • Figure 15
    Figure 15

    Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828), Thomas Law (1756–1834), ca. 1796. Oil on canvas. 29" x 24". (Courtesy, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

  • Figure 16
    Figure 16

    Charles Fenderich (1805–1889), after Samuel M. Charles, William Costin. A tribute to worth by his friends. Lithograph, 16 3/8" x 13 1/4" published by P. S. Duval’s Lithographic Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1842. (Courtesy, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.)

  • Figure 17
    Figure 17

    Adam Snyder, Windsor arm chair, Philadelphia, ca. 1800. Unidentified painted wood. H. 33 1/2", W. 19", D. 15". (Courtesy, Stephen L. Zabriskie, Aurora, N.Y.; photo, Gavin Ashworth.) The brass plaque beneath the crest rail is inscribed “From Washington’s Library Mount Vernon.”

  • Figure 18
    Figure 18

    Congressman Edwin Barber Morgan, 1859. Photograph by Julian Vannerson published in McLees’ Gallery of Photographic Portraits of the Senators, Delegates, & Representatives of the ThirtyFifth Congress (Washington, D.C.: McLees and Beck, 1859) (Courtesy, Library of Congress.)