Glass Compote or Center Dish

This glass compote or center dish was possibly part of a service that President Andrew Jackson ordered for the White House in 1829 from the Bakewell, Page & Bakewell Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The compote is etched with grapes and grapevines, as well as a design inspired by the Great Seal, with an eagle standing atop a shield holding arrows and an olive branch, although the shield in this design contains stars in the chief which are not present in either the Great Seal or the presidential arms. The patterned service purportedly remained in use until President Franklin Pierce bought a new service in 1853, though scholarship contends the service may have been made as recently as the early 1850s.