Among dark blue American Historical Transfer patterns, there are those which commemorate dates, places, events and even state seals.  There is also a handful of examples which are largely symbolic. "Washington Standing at Tomb, Scroll in Hand" falls into this latter group. As the descriptive title indicates, George Washington stands near a pedestal marked "Washington" with an unfurled scroll in hand.  Behind him, the sun sends forth rays over a landscape complete with fields of cattle, a distant seaport and further out, ships along the horizon. The whole scene is framed in a wild tangle of foliage featuring roses and thistles. 

It is particularly striking to consider that the original owner of  such a tea set could easily have remembered Washington's death in 1799 -- or at least have heard the recollections of parents or grandparents.  Likewise he would have experienced the transformation of Washington--the general, first President and finally private citizen--into the mythic figure portrayed here.  

In an astonishing feat of scholarship, Ellouise Baker Larsen recognized the source of the "Washington Standing" in the details of an engraving which, as a whole, presents quite a different image. In her groundbreaking work, American Historical Views On Staffordshire China, she cites the source as  a 1798 print, engraved by Cornelius Tiebout after a 1783 drawing by Charles Buxton and published by Charles Smith, New York (p. 29, No. 50). 

The military uniform of the original engraving has been traded for the garb of a private gentleman. The urn inscribed "Sacred to Patriotism" has shifted into the landscape and, inscribed simply "Washington" now symbolizes his tomb. The far off ships, originally carrying defeated soldiers back to England, now sail the horizon asserting America's new presence on the world stage.

The engraving is included as our final image. Print Source:  Buxton, Charles and Tiebout, Cornelius, “The Bowling Green Washington,” Columbia University Libraries Online Exhibitions,  https://exhibitions.cul.columbia.edu/exhibits/show/nyccc/item/854.