A white and gold painted stool from Tudor Place, an historic house museum in Georgetown, is the most clearly identifiable object in the group ot Green Drawing Room furniture that George Washington purchased for his presidential home. It is a remarkable document of those original furnishings. Since the stool is well described in Presidential papers, it also documents the state of the furniture arts at a very specific point in time. This paper will present an overview of investigative research carried out at the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education. Elements of construction and restoration will be discussed: the woods utilized, the upholstery materials, the paint history. Evidence of the earlier materials discovered is evaluated with descriptive documents from the first President's letters and account books.