Nearly all of the household effects acquired by the first three occupants of the White House—John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison—were destroyed when the British burned the residence in 1814. Rebuilt by 1817, the White House was refurnished by President James Monroe, who dramatized his presidency and an American sense of triumph after the War of 1812 through elegant imported furnishings. Among the 24
Monroe acquisitions is a pair of French Empire soup tureens, superb examples of the period’s neoclassicism, which contributed to the elegance of White House dinners, especially when customized with American eagle finials. SOUP TUREEN, one of a pair, silver, c. 1809–17,
made by Jacques-Henri Fauconnier (1779–1839), Paris. U.S. Government purchase, 1817