American Furniture, Folk and Decorative Arts

Provenance

Descending for seven generations, in the family of Betty Washington Lewis, the sister of George Washington, this Philadelphia-made, engraved, silver washstand basin, has a long and interesting story to tell.

Elizabeth or Betty Washington, born in 1733, married Col. Fielding Lewis (1725-1781) a lifelong friend of her brother George, officer in the Revolutionary War and prominent Virginian, in 1750. Together, they built the stately Georgian mansion, Kenmore Plantation in Fredericksburg, Virginia, which stands today as a National Historic Landmark. The couple had eleven children. Their youngest son, Howell Lewis (1771-1822), married Ellen Hackley Pollard in 1795. Ellen Pollard Lewis (1776-1855) is the first engraved name on the basin. Howell Lewis served at times as his uncle's secretary, overseer of Mount Vernon while his uncle George Washington, was President.

In 1818, the daughter of Ellen Pollard and Howell Lewis, Betty Washington Lewis (1796-1866) married Col. Joseph Lovell (1796-1835) and lived in Charlestown, West Virginia. As a very small child Betty Washington Lewis visited George and Martha Washington at Mt. Vernon and had the special honor of sitting at the "adult table," an invitation not typically extended to children at the time. Little Betty also is said to have sat on Washington's knee a few months before his death. Betty Washington Lewis Lovell passed away in Marietta, Ohio.

Betty Washington Lewis and Col. Joseph Lovell had one child, Joseph Lovell, Jr. (1827-1865). His marriage to Sara Nye (1829-1934) produced Betty Washington Lovell (1853-1934) the third engraved name on the bowl. Betty Lovell married Frances Fox Oldham (1849-1912) in 1876.

The fourth engraved name, the child of Betty Washington Lovell and Francis Fox Oldham, Frances Fielding Oldham was born in 1889 in Ohio. By the age of eleven she was living in Washington D.C. She is known to have worked as a Licensed Nurse at Presbyterian Hospital on the upper west side of New York City circa 1915.

The fifth engraved name, Frances Lovell Oldham, was born in Seattle, Washington. Best known as an editor of Harper's Bazaar and later fashion editor at Vogue in the UK, Frances Lovell Oldham (1903-1991) was originally married to the Hon. James Rodney. Frances Rodney later divorced and married Captain Charles Gordon, with whom she had a daughter, Marybelle Gordon. Frances later married Captain Alwyne Farquharson of Invercauld. As Frances Farquharson of Invercauld, she was best known for her fashionable and unique taste in both clothing and castle décor at Braemar Castle, so much so that the castle was opened for a period of time as a visitor attraction.

On June 24, 1961, Marybelle Gordon, daughter of Captain Charles Gordon and Frances Lovell Oldham, married the Hon. James Reginald Drummond, son of John David Drummond, 17th Earl of Perth.

This silver washstand basin has traveled across the United States and the Atlantic Ocean for almost 200 years.

Sold in these rooms, Freeman's, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 3, 2011, lot 152

Property from an American private collection

Thence by descent.