Rochard Jefferson's Monticello Hand-Painted Limoges Box

Thomas Jefferson designed his Virginia home himself and kept reworking it for more than forty years. Monticello, with its famous dome, becomes a hand-painted porcelain Limoges box by Rochard, made in Limoges, France.

The Little Mountain

Monticello means little mountain in Italian, a fitting name for the house perched above Charlottesville. Jefferson filled it with inventions, books and ideas gathered during his years in Paris as American minister to France. The house appears on the back of the nickel and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site today. Its gardens, where Jefferson tested hundreds of vegetable varieties, still grow heirloom plants from his own seed lists.

An American Classic

• A Rochard travel piece, hand-painted in Limoges, France
• Fits an American history, presidents or Virginia collection
• Pairs well with Mount Rushmore and Washington landmark boxes

On the History Shelf

Place it on a library shelf beside presidential biographies, a desk in a home office or a curio of American landmarks. It makes a fine present for a history teacher, a University of Virginia graduate, an architect, or a traveler home from a tour of Charlottesville.