Plate

This blue and white transfer-printed earthenware plate made by the Staffordshire firm of Mellor, Venables & Co. features a view of Mount Vernon, the family estate of American Revolutionary General and first President of the United States George Washington (1732–1799). Located on the Potomac River in Virginia, Mount Vernon was built in 1743 by Washington's elder half brother, Lawrence (1718–1752), and was named after a family friend, Admiral Edward Vernon (1684–1757) of the English navy. Washington acquired the estate upon Lawrence’s death in 1752. When Washington died in 1799, he was buried on the property, where a tomb was erected in his memory. As the country seat of America's founding father, Mount Vernon was a popular subject for transfer-printed export wares. The view on the plate was based on a drawing by English artist William Henry Bartlett (1809–1854) engraved in 1838 by English landscape engraver James Tibbetts Willmore (1800–1863) and reproduced as "Washington's House, Mount Vernon" in Nathaniel Parker Willis' "American Scenery" (London, 1840). The American Wing's collection contains additional pieces by Mellor, Venables, as well as original works by Bartlett. Refer to the Dictionary for a definition of the term "transfer printing" and for information about Mellor, Venables.