Washington Winter Show 2010

furniture, silver, ceramics, and other objects crafted in Georgetown, Bal- timore, Philadelphia, England, and Ireland. The flood of new and exotic goods available through the China Trade provided another source of decorative household objects. The busy Georgetown port received a wide variety of goods from abroad as well as from other major cities up and down the coast. William A. Gordon, a clerk for the federal gov- ernment, recalled in 1860, “At the wharves, which extended along the whole front of the town, were gen- erally numbers of vessels loading and unloading. Water Street, which was occupied by the wholesale mer- chants offered many attractions. It was a busy place, the street crowded with carts and drays, and at certain seasons of the year with lines of large covered wagons, drawn by four or six horse teams with bows of bells on shoulders, and loaded with produce from Pennsylva- nia, Maryland, and Virginia; the warehouses filled with flour, tobacco, whiskey, salt, grain, and other merchandise.” 2 Social gatherings in Georgetown and the growing Fed- eral City evolved from the eighteenth to the nineteen centu- ries as the federal government and society expanded. In the eighteenth century, dinners, “conversaziones”, evening parties or “squeezes”, and tea parties filled the social calendar. One example of a social gathering was a tea service, a small intimate occasion for family members and close friends. The mistress of the house would measure out the leaves from a handsome tea caddy, brew her tea at the tea table, and serve it in beauti- ful ceramic tea wares—the equipage bespeaking of her refine- ment, social status, and respect for her guests. In the early nine- teenth century, social hierarchy became more defined, altering etiquette for tea service. Tea parties became larger and more carefully orchestrated occasions, with ladies seated on chairs, while men milled around the center of the room. 3 At such a tea, Martha Peter might have served guests her special sponge cake from a silver cake basket fashioned by Georgetown silversmith Charles Alexander Burnett (Figure 2). According to her Aunt Rosalie Calvert, in 1819 Martha Peter hosted “three balls and several tea parties.” 4 Figure 2: Cake Basket, Charles Alexander Burnett (?–1849), Georgetown, MD, ca. 1825. Silver. The basket engraved “M.L. Jan. 1, 1825” was given to Margaret Laird of Georgetown. It descended to her sister Barbara Laird Dunlop and her descendants until 1991 when it was donated by Elizabeth Dunlop Walker Edgeworth, Mallory Walker, and Ann Walker Gaffney. The Lairds and Dunlops are related to the Peter family. Tudor Place Collection. Figure 3: Invitation to Dine with the President of the United States and Mrs. Washington, ca. 1790, Philadelphia, PA. Paper and printers ink. Tudor Place Archive. Photograph by Red Tack Arts. 31 This page is sponsored by Mrs. William Joseph Curtin, Mrs. Dynes Langhorn Leitch and Mrs. Malcolm Matheson