This incomplete artifact is a small clay figurine measuring only 3 inches (or 76 mm) without his head. This figurine is a man clutching a hat in one hand and gloves in the other. He was made in a two-piece mold, as the mold seams on either side of his body indicate, from white ball clay, the same material used to make tobacco pipes and wig curlers. He wears a coat and a pair of breeches. His jacket and breeches may have once been painted red, as the pigment is visible in some spots. His female counterpart was also discarded in the midden, perhaps after she lost her head, too. Similar clay men have been found in the Netherlands, Jamaica, Virginia, and Maryland.

While regal and religious figurines have been found on other archaeological sites in the Chesapeake region and might have once sat on mantels or in cabinets, this one assumes a pastoral, folk quality. Because of his small size and somewhat crude mold, the figurine may have been a toy for the children who once lived at Mount Vernon. Excavated from Phase 1 of the midden (ca. 1735-1758), the clay couple could have been toys for Sarah Washington, Lawrence and Anne’s daughter.