NEW YORK, 1795-1810

One of the most popular symbols of the Federal Period, the bald eagle became associated with the new Republic upon its incorporation into the Great Seal of the United States in 1782. This candlestand depicts a bald eagle sitting on an olive branch bearing a shield with thirteen stripes and holding a scroll with sixteen stars. The eagle is also surrounded by sixteen stars. This inlay possibly commemorates the statehood of Tennessee, the sixteenth state, in 1796 (Tom Armstrong, Amy Coes, Ella Foshay, and Wendell Garrett, An American Odyssey: The Warner Collection of Fine and Decorative Arts (New York, 2001), pp. 160-161).