Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Flask with image of General Lafayette
1824-1825
Thomas W. Dyottt; Kensington Glass Works
USA: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Glass; paper
overall: 6-1/2"h x 4-1/4"w x 2-3/4"d
Special Acquisitions Fund
75.62.2

General Lafayette Flask; pint; aqua colored; sheared mouth, scared base; obverse: "GENERAL LAFAYETTE" (N reverse) in semi-circle above bust in uniform; reverse: American Eagle on beaded oval panel marked: "T.W.D.", sun rays above eagle; label on neck reads "239V"; remnants of label on bottom of flask.

In the 1810s and 1820s American glassmakers offered consumers flasks in a myriad of patterns and a variety of colors. Sensitive to the national enthusiasm for Lafayette, glassmakers sold flasks bearing the hero’s name and portrait. This flask was in Philadelphia. One side features a portrait of Lafayette; the other side is decorated with an American eagle.