Washington Winter Show 2012

32 This page is sponsored by Anne G. Baldwin, Suzanne M. Cross and Terrell M. McDermid Figure 4 Reproduction of side chair (1809) designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe David Weisand, Baltimore, 2000 The Baltimore Museum of Art: Purchased as the gift of Stiles Tuttle Colwill and the Stiles Ewing Tuttle Memorial Trust in memory of Marion Tuttle Colwill, BMA 2001.38 All that was left of the White House following its burning in 1814 was the exterior shell. Most of the grand furniture, silver, porcelain, and textiles were lost in the blaze. However, their memory and mystique live. This chair was fabricated based on Latrobe’s design drawings. Photography by Mitro Hood object in the 2012 Washington Winter Show loan exhibit, illuminating the role of the White House under various presidents. Several are duplicates of objects from the official col- lection owned by the United States Government, while others are authentic personal mementoes from a president or a first family’s time in the White House, all of which are now either in a museum collection or in private hands. However, past presidents and first families have not always lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The capital city’s first loca- tion, New York City, changed to Philadelphia in 1790, and then officially moved south to Washington, DC, in 1800. President George Washington (1789–1797) held office only in the first two locations and never took up residence in the White House, which was not completed until 1800, after his term of office. While in New York, President Washington purchased the first set of unofficial presidential ceramic wares for use in his resi- dence [Figure 1]. 4 This restrained but elegant service of Sèvres porcelain, which he acquired from the departing French min- ister Comte de Moustier, was used for formal Executive events and celebrations in his residences in both New York and Phila- delphia. The service eventually found its way to Washington’s estate at Mount Vernon, Virginia, where it was used for ordinary household needs and special entertaining. 5 Washington enjoyed Figure 5 President James Madison’s soup tureen, 1806 Nast porcelain manufactory, France James Madison’s Montpelier, MF 2009.16 The porcelain service of which this tureen is a part was the Madison’s per- sonal service, bought while he served as Secretary of State in Paris. It was probably used as a state service while the Madisons were in residence at the Octagon House during reconstruction of the White House. the Sèvres service so much, he added to the collection with sim- ilar ceramic wares from the Angoulême and Nast factories in France. Although this service was not officially what we refer to as “presidential china,” it certainly helped set the precedent for the tradition that developed in the nineteenth century. John Adams (1797–1801), the second president of the Unit- ed States, was the first to move into the permanent presidential residence in the new capital city. The next two administrations, those of Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809) and James Madison (1809–1817), continued to develop the interior spaces above the ground floor then functioning as private living quarters, offices, and entertainment spaces. The first floor became a se- ries of grand state rooms, equally as handsome in their decora- tion as many of the finest residences in Europe. Jefferson was a man of refinement and elegance; he entertained hospitably and often, hosting many dinners and other social events in the house. An invitation to dine at the Jefferson White House— whether as a private citizen, a statesman, or a diplomat—was greatly coveted, and a written invitation became a valued token of one’s status in the National City [Figure 2]. 6 Although not intended to outlast the event indefinitely, written invitations to the White House of all kinds have been treasured and pre- served by collectors and museums.