Dimensions: Overall 14″ Bowl 4″ x 3″
Maker: John Adam (1781 – 1843) marked twice
Location: Alexandria, Va.
Date: circa 1810
Commentary: This ladle bears the crest of the Custis Family and was most likely owned by either George Washington Parke Custis or his sister Eliza Parke Custis (Law). Both lived in Alexandria and G.W.P. Custis was known to have patronized John Adam the ladle’s maker and city’s most prominent silversmith of the period. George Washington’s Mount Vernon account books record his transactions with James Adam, John’s father, who was also an Alexandria silversmith. Washington’s adopted grandchildren doubtlessly felt comfortable continuing their family’s patronage of the artisans of another well established Alexandria family. The will of G.W.P.Custis specified that his daughter, Mary A.R.Lee (1808 – 1873), “has the privilege, by this will, of dividing my family plate among my grandchildren” but specified that all Mount Vernon silver should pass to his grandson, George Washington Custis Lee. There is no known inventory of Custis’plate or record of its division among his heirs.
Eliza Parke Custis lived in or near Alexandria for much of her life and doubtless knew John Adam. She was devoted to her daughter Eliza Law who married Lloyd Nicholas Rogers of Baltimore. In light of this ladle’s history in Baltimore, it is possible that it passed from Eliza Parke Custis to her daughter and into the Rogers family following her early death in 1821.
Given the oval design of the ladle, which was not common until the early 1800s, it is unlikely that the piece was owned by Martha or George Washington. A pair of silver tongs made in London that did belong to Washington and subsequently Eliza Custis, now in the collection of Mount Vernon, bear a Custis crest that is slightly different from the crests on the other London silver. This crest may have been engraved in London or added in Alexandria by Adam after Eliza inherited the tongs. The crests on this Adam ladle and the silver tongs are nearly identical. Similar, though not identical, crests (presumably engraved in London) appear on a number of pieces of English made Custis Family silver sold recently at Sotheby’s that descended through Mary Custis Lee,the daughter of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anne Randolph Custis to her namesake, Mary Custis Lee, daughter of R. E. Lee Jr.
The engraved initials on this ladle, “RHF”( ?) (Probably later than the crest) have yet to be identified although they may represent a link to the Fitzhugh family through Mary Lee Fitzhugh whose father was William Fitzhugh (1741-1809) of Alexandria and Chatham.
Three generations of the Adam family worked as silversmiths in Alexandria, Virginia during the eighteen and nineteenth centuries. John Adam followed in the footsteps of his father, (d.1798) and was succeeded by his son William Wallace Adam (1817-1877). A fourth generation took over the business upon the death of W. W. Adam but seem to have been retailers rather than artisans. John Adam was probably trained by his father and is believed to have marked his own work as early as 1799. While he may have worked briefly in Georgetown, by 1803 he was established on King Street in Alexandria and remained there throughout his career, pursuing his business with a variety of partners and shop locations. Adam was active in civic affairs and an officer in the local Masonic Lodge founded by Washington and others. Adam was said to have been a musician and painter of merit, and numbered among his friends Thomas Sully.
Condition: The ladle is in excellent condition with only a few minor imperfections in the bowl.
Price: SOLD
References:
George Barton Cutten, Silversmiths of Virginia, Richmond, Dietz Press, 1952.
Catherine B. Hollan, Three Centuries of Alexandria Silver, Alexandria, Va., The Lyceum, 1994.
W. Bailey, Silversmiths of Alexandria, Magazine Antiques, February, 1945.
Carol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection, New York, Hudson Hills Press, 2006.
Kathryn Buhler, Mount Vernon Silver, Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, 1957.
Washington-Custis Silver, Sotheby’s, New York, 2005.
Will and Estate Inventory of George Washington Parke Custis, Alexandria City Will Book, 7, 267-269, 278-279, 369-371. Microfilm.
