Washington’s New Room Border

George Washington named his last addition to his Mount Vernon mansion the New Room. It was a multi-functional, formal space used to showcase art, receive visitors and sometimes for dining. Fragments of this border were discovered during restorations in 1902 and 1950 and were used to attempt a reproduction. While an important find, neither fragment contained a complete width of the pattern.
With the assistance of colleagues in France, Adelphi located several extremely similar border patterns by the Parisian company, Jacquemart, which became the basis for this new reproduction. It is used in the New Room to trim a green verditer plain paper, a common decorating practice for large, public spaces.