Plate (Lafayette at the Tomb of Washington)

Mourning miniatures worn as tokens of private loss echoed the iconography that appeared in images memorializing public figures. George Washington’s 1799 death inspired a proliferation of com-memorative objects in a wide range of media, including transfer-printed ceramics mass-produced in England for the American market. This plate depicts the French Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834), who fought with the colonists in the Revolutionary War and made a celebrated visit to the United States in 1824, mourning at the graveside of his good friend Washington.