Washington Winter Show 2020

50 central ornament on Boston and Newport card tables. A card table from New York is decorated with a central glass panel featuring a stylized Great Seal and celebrating the success of Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr during the 1800–1801 presidential and vice-presidential elections (fig. 9). The elections marked the first time that the Democratic- Republican Party wrested control of two governmental branches from the Federalists. Objects such as the card table were ordered by supporters both during the campaign and after the victory. Images of the Great Seal also appeared on the silver seal boxes, or skippets, that were ordered by the Department of State. Skippets protected the official wax seal that was attached to important documents, including treaties (fig. 10). Cords attached to the pendant wax seal were fed through holes in the side of the box. If the hardened wax were broken, the document was no longer secure. Also for government use were Great Seal-patterned objects given to Native Americans as part of peace negotiations (fig. 11). The 1796 account book of silversmith Joseph Richardson, Jr., of Philadelphia, records the completion for the government of “30 pair Indian Arm bands . . . 60 pair ditto Wrist bands . . . 36 ditto Gorgets” as well as numerous brooches and “Ear Bobs.” Richardson also records “Chasing 96 Eagles [and] ditto 120” on the silver items. [Ian M. G. Quimby with Dianne Johnson, American Silver at Winterthur (Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1995), 432–33, no. 449.] Many American-market wares from overseas also displayed versions of the Great Seal, as illustrated by the engraved ornament on a set of Bohemian drinking glasses (fig. 12). Based on the inclusion of fifteen stars with the stylized seal, the glass Fig. 8: Desk-and-bookcase with Great Seal of the United States. Attributed to Nathan Lumbard, Sturbridge, Massachusetts, 1798–1802. Cherry, mahogany banding, light- and dark-wood inlay, basswood, white pine. Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont 1957.0885. Detail of figure 8.