George Washington
c. 1875
Artist unknown English or American, 19th century
England
In the 19th century, small Parian figures that imitated full-size marble sculptures were often created in an effort to bring well-known works of art into the homes of America’s growing middle class. This statuette was modeled after Sir Francis Chantrey’s seven-foot Carrara marble statue of George Washington, which was installed in 1827 at the Massachusetts State House in Boston. Probably executed around the time of the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, this noble, miniaturized figure of our country’s first president reflected the outpouring of patriotic sentiment in the country around the time of the first centennial.
Parian porcelain