Washington Winter Show 2010

Martha Peter visited the Washingtons in Philadelphia (Figure 3) and at Mount Vernon where she enjoyed the styl- ish Chinese export porcelains at her grandmother’s homes. She and her husband ultimately purchased many objects at the estate sale following Martha Washington’s death in 1802 and afterwards put them to use at their new home in George- town. Treasured by generations, these important objects form the core of the Tudor Place collection and are now known as The Washington Collection. According to family history, the Chinese export cup and saucer along with two tea bowls in the same pattern may have been purchased at the 1802 estate sale (Figure 4). Tea, coffee, and chocolate were the favored drinks of the early nineteenth century. The wealthy citizens of Maryland and Virginia imported great quantities of coffee, tea, oranges, almonds, wine, and sugar. The Revolutionary War had re- duced the availability of tea from British merchants, resulting in increased demand for coffee, hoarding of scarce supplies, and rising prices. On July 31, 1777 Abigail Adams wrote to her husband in Philadelphia about the scarcity of coffee: “You must know that there is a great Scarcity of Sugar and Coffe [ sic ], articles which the Female part of the State are very loth [ sic ] to give up, expecially [ sic ] whilst they consider the Scarcity occasiond [ sic ] by the merchants having secreted a large Quan- tity. There has been much rout and Noise in the Town for several weeks. Some Stores had been opend [ sic ] by a number of people and the Coffe [ sic ] and Sugar carried into the Market and dealt out by pounds. It was rumourd [ sic ]that an eminent, wealthy, stingy Merchant (who is a Batchelor [ sic ]) had a Hogs- head of Coffe [ sic ] in his Store which he refused to sell to the committee under 6 shillings per pound. A Number of Females some say a hundred, some say more assembled with a cart and trucks, marchd [ sic ] down to the Ware House and demanded the keys, which he refused to deliver, upon which one of them seazd [ sic ] him by his Neck and tossd [ sic ] him into the cart. Upon his finding no Quarter he deliverd [ sic ] the keys, when they tipd [ sic ] up the cart and dischargd [ sic ] him, then opend [ sic ] the Warehouse, Hoisted out the Coffe [ sic ] themselves, put it into the trucks and drove off.” 5 Following the War of 1812, Britain temporarily cut off access to tea imports resulting in a new demand for coffee. As with tea services, elegant English, Irish, and Ameri- can silver coffee pots, sugars, and creamers reflected af- fluence. The Peter family enjoyed coffee from their 1811 English “coffe biggin” and stand by William Burwash and Richard Sibley of London. While from an earlier pe- riod, the sugar bowl by Philadelphia’s John Richardson, Sr. may be similar to one used by Martha and Thomas Peter in their home (Figure 5). The extensive collection of books at Tudor Place reflects the Peter family’s interest in read- ing, beginning with Martha and Thomas Peter. Martha subscribed to Simple Tales, Volumes I and II, published in 1807 by J. March’s Bookstore on High Street (now Wisconsin Avenue) and printed by R. C. Weightman, whose press was located at the northwest corner of Pennsylvania Av- enue and Sixth Street. Simple Tales was the first American edi- tion of the popular English novel by Mrs. Amelia Alderson Opie (1769–1853) published in 1806 (Figure 6). BRITANNIA PETER KENNON The second owner of Tudor Place was Britannia Peter Kennon (1815–1911), the youngest child of Martha and Thomas Pe- ter. After just 14 months of marriage to Commodore Beverley Kennon, Britannia was widowed and, with her young daugh- ter, Martha Custis Kennon, returned to Tudor Place in 1844 to live with her mother. Britannia Peter Kennon took full owner- ship of the property in 1854 which she managed until her death in 1911. Despite being a southern sympathizer, at the outbreak of the Civil War, she opened the house to Union Army of- ficers as boarders to prevent her home from being used as a hospital. Following the war, Britannia Peter Kennon decorated Figure 5: Covered Sugar Bowl, John Richardson Sr. (1711–1784), Philadelphia, PA, ca. 1770. Silver. The bell- shaped finial, on this double- bellied baluster-form sugar bowl’s stepped dome cover, is characteristic of Phila- delphia silver of the period. Tudor Place Collection. 33 This page is sponsored by Mrs. Paul S. Van Nice, Ann Nutter Thompson and Joan Sterrett