Washington Winter Show 2010

ing at their Maryland and New York farms and in Rock Creek Park. In the early years Britannia Peter Ken- non remembered summers spent at their family’s farm, Oakland, in Seneca, Maryland. “We used to spend the summers at Oakland… In the evening, after the day’s hunt, we would sit around the fire and they would sing hunting songs, tell stories, roast apples, and play ‘Hull-gull, Parson, how-many!’ Those were happy days! No formality, no ostentation, but just happy!” 8 As was typical of men in his social position in the late nineteenth century, Armistead Peter, Jr. was an outdoorsman who sought refuge from society’s closely choreographed rules of behavior. His of- fice was, and is still, filled with his favorite books on hunting and camping (Figure 10). A discerning collector of shot guns, Armistead Peter, Jr. was given a fully engraved Parker Bros. double barrel 12-gauge shot gun from Abercrombie & Fitch Co. by his son, Armistead Peter III, on Christmas Day 1919. In his diary for that day he wrote: “Nannie [Anna Williams Peter] gave me a lovely book for filing valuable letters, and the Boy [his son, Armistead Peter III] gave me a gun—and a fine one it is!” 9 Hunting and tramping always remained wonderful memories for Armistead Peter, Jr., bound tightly into the fabric of his youth along with the companionship of his brothers and the camaraderie of his friends. Continuously occupied by the Peter family for almost two hundred years, Tudor Place was first and foremost a family home but it also illuminates the history of one of the national capital’s oldest communities. Across generations, the Peters pre- served tangible links to their family’s history—the house, the grounds, and The Washington Collection. Through war and peace, periods of political and social upheaval, and times of financial prosperity and hardship, the property was preserved by each of its four owners. As the nation developed, those who lived and worked on the estate witnessed first-hand the growth of Georgetown, the City of Washington, and the United States. The family’s records and their substantial collections serve as a unique doorway to our American history. attempted to democratize the decorative arts by championing an art form that was both beautiful in design and available at a reasonable cost. Simple forms, natural objects, and muted tones were characteristics of art pottery and glass in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Rookwood, Hamp- shire, Teco, Quezal and other major potteries and glassworks are represented in the collection of Tudor Place. ARMISTEAD PETER III AND CAROLINE OGDEN-JONES PETER In 1960 Armistead Peter III (1896–1983) inherited Tudor Place upon the death of his father, Armistead Peter, Jr. At that time, he and his wife Caroline Peter (1894–1965) had resided at Tudor Place for over 30 years, taking up residence shortly after their marriage on February 14, 1921. Over that period, Armistead and Caroline Peter managed the household affairs and gradually began to purchase antiques to complement the core collection of Washington and Peter family objects. They were not collectors in the strictest sense, but rather attached value to those objects that were meaningful to them personally and honored the family’s heritage. Armistead Peter III and Caroline Peter enjoyed an elegant lifestyle: renting apartments in Paris; visiting the country home of Caroline’s mother in Denard, France; and frequenting their family farm in upstate New York. Armistead Peter III was a preservationist, artist, and avid farmer. Caroline Peter was a sophisticated and well-traveled woman whose objects, jewelry, and clothing reflected their cosmopolitan lifestyle and the taste of the era (Figure 9). Over the two centuries of family life at Tudor Place, the Peters enjoyed fox hunting, tramping (hiking), and game hunt- Figure 9: Necklace, George W. Shiebler (1846–1920) for Tiffany and Co., New York, NY, ca. 1880–1890. Silver. These 14 ham- mered silver plates in the Japanese style have two sets of pinions flanked by Japa- nese characters that, when pulled apart, transform the necklace into two bracelets of seven plaques each. Tudor Place Collec- tion. Photograph by Red Tack Arts. 36