Images(6)

Ring

Date1800

Artist Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Memin

Maker Jean-Simon Chaudron

OriginAmerica, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (probably)

MediumCopper/gold/silver alloys (XRF), enamel, paper, glass

DimensionsCircumference 3 in.
Diameter 7/8 in.

Credit LineGift of Mike and Carolyn McNamara

Object number2025-26

DescriptionMourning ring with pink gold band and central print of George Washington. Oval shaped print shows George Washington in military uniform in profile. Print is glazed and is set into a black and white enamel bezel with triangle pattern.Label TextAfter George Washington's death on December 14th, 1799, Americans clamored for ways to memorialize him. On January 6th, 1800, Philadelphia jeweler Simon Chaudron advertised "mourning rings with an elegant portrait of the late illustrious General Washington". This ring is likely an example of Chaudron's work, bearing a profile portrait by French emigre artist Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Memin (1770-1852), who shared a shop with Chaudron as of December 1799. Comparable mourning rings with Saint-Memin's portraits of Washington survive in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Museum of American History.

This ring descended through the family of the Marquis de Lafayette and may have been passed on to him during his 1824-1825 tour of the United States.ProvenancePrior to 1834, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (Seine-et-Marne, France); 1834, passed by descent to Anastasie Louise Pauline du Motier (Turin, Italy); 1863, passed by descent to Jenny de Fay de La Tour Maubourg (Turin, Italy); 2019, passed through family to anonymous descendant; 2019, purchased at Sothebys auction by Mike and Carolyn McNamara (Williamsburg, VA); 2025-present given to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)