Distinctive Jefferson Goblet on Display at Cheekwood
NASHVILLE, TN.- Cheekwood has The Jefferson Goblet on loan for our 50th anniversary, and to display this important historical object in our newly re-installed Silver Library. Distinctive in its unembellished surfaces and architectural form, this handsome goblet is the larger of a pair designed by Thomas Jefferson and commissioned from the shop of French silversmith Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot in 1789.
Thomas Jefferson, Designer, Goblet, c. 1789. Silver, gilt, on loan from Dr. and Mrs. Benjamin H. Caldwell. Photo: Monticello/Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc
“Cheekwood is proud to welcome this important object back to Tennessee in celebration of our 50th anniversary,” said Allison Reid, Cheekwood’s Vice President for Collections & Programs. “We are grateful to have it on loan from Dr. and Mrs. Benjamin H. Caldwell, Jr.; it is a remarkable addition to our Silver Library installation.”
In 1789, at the end of a five-year sojourn in Paris, Jefferson paid Odiot to create the two silver goblets. Odiot likely relegated the actual fabrication of the objects to another silversmith in his employ, Claude-Nicholas Delanoy, as both are stamped with Delanoy’s maker’s mark.
Upon Jefferson’s return to the United States in September of 1789, the goblet was in frequent use at his home, Monticello. After Jefferson’s death in 1826, the goblet travelled a circuitous route to Middle Tennessee through members of the Martha Randolph Jefferson family. The goblets remained in this area until they were sold in Nashville at the Donelson-Jackson auction of relics in 1940. The goblet on display was eventually loaned to Monticello.
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