Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Flask with image of General Lafayette and DeWitt Clinton
1824-1825
Thomas Stebbins
USA: Connecticut, Coventry
Glass; paper
overall: 7-1/2"h x 4"w x 2" d
Special Acquisitions Fund
75.62.6

LaFayette Flask; (1) pint, olive amber color; sheared mouth; scarred base; obverse: profile bust "LA FAYETTE" in semi-circle above, "T.S." below; reverse: profile bust "DE WITT CLINTON" (D backwards) in semi-circle above, "COVENTRY/ CT" below; paper label on neck "227"; paper label on bottom of bottle "#57G/ BANN/ Neuil".

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 manufactured in Connecticut brought two celebrities of the day together. One side featured Lafayette; the other Dewitt Clinton, the New York governor made famous for his support of the construction of the Erie Canal. The project was completed in 1825.