c. 1790 Late 18th Century, Hand-Colored Engraved Profile Portrait Titled, "General Washington" with a Coat of Arms Below, Mounted within an ornate crimped Gilt Foil Border on Red Moire Silk, housed in a gilt Wood Frame, Extremely Fine.
Hand-colored engraving, framed fully to 8 x 6.25 inches and the image measuring 4.5 x 3 inches. It presents a right-facing profile bust portrait within an oval frame, captioned in an arched banner above, “GENERAL WASHINGTON” with a small coat of arms, a shield beneath a coronet, printed within a rectangular panel below. The print itself is set within a crimped, ornate scalloped border of gilt metal foil, which is mounted on red moire silk, and displayed housed in a small wood frame fitted with a top brass ring for hanging.

Prints of this type, identifying Washington by his military rank rather than as President, circulated widely during and immediately after the Revolutionary War, when his likeness became one of the most reproduced images in the young United States. The coat of arms is plausibly intended to represent the Washington family arms (it is not correct), traditionally blazoned with two horizontal bars and three mullets, a design often cited as an influence on the stars and stripes of the American flag. The interesting crimped foil surround relates to tinsel work, a decorative tradition of applying cut and crimped metallic foil to prints and keepsakes. The specific engraver, publisher, and date of this print, along with whether its foil mount is original to the piece or a later embellishment, has not been established.