SIX PEACH PEWTER MOLDS, PROBABLY 20TH CENTURY, FOR VISIT OF DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES, TO PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN, PART ONE

SIX PEACH PEWTER MOLDS, PROBABLY 20TH CENTURY, FOR VISIT OF DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES, TO PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN, PART ONE This group set of five vintage hollow food molds in the shape of a peach features the Princess of Wales's favorite fruit. The two-part hinged pewter casts were used to mold sorbet into pink peaches with green stems. At the State Dinner, the sorbet-molded peaches featured a chocolate center resembling peach pits in a highly decorative edible white chocolate desert basket that honored Princess Diana and Prince Charles while visiting President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan in the White House in 1985. The dramatic feminine presentation of the peaches was served on Reagan china for Princess Diana and White House guests, including guest of honor actor John Travolta, in the State Dining Room and was one of the more famous signature desserts Mesnier created throughout his tenured career as culinary chef in the White House. The molds are marked with the manufacturing companyâ s name, E & CO, S & CO NY, and with their associated serial numbers 2E4; see final dessert image; largest peach is 2.75 x 3.75 in.; smallest is 1.75 x 2.5 in. (6)

Provenance: Private collection of Former White House Pastry Chef Roland Mesnier. First Lady Rosalynn Carter hired Mesnier, who served 26 years under five presidents: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. According to Creating the Sweet World of White House Desserts: A Pastry Chef's Secrets, Mesnier created stunning desserts for more than 40 queens, kings, princes, princesses and heads of state.
Molds were used for Princess Diana's visit to the White House

Literature: Roland Mesnier and Mark Ramsdell, Creating the Sweet World of White House Desserts: A Pastry Chef's Secrets (Washington, D.C.: The White House Historical Association, 2019), pp. 67-68.