A new exhibition at Colonial Williamsburg’s DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum explores the rich history of stoneware in Britain’s American colonies and the new nation from the first English settlements through 1800.
“Pottery With a Past: Stoneware in Early America” presents a wide array of drinking, dining and storage vessels †in ceramic forms ranging from utilitarian jugs to exquisite decorative teapots †made in England, Germany and early America. The exhibition opens May 30 and will remain on view through January 2, 2011.
The exhibition includes more than 300 intact objects and archaeological fragments †recovered from sites in New England, the Middle Atlantic and Southern colonies †along with rare extant objects with histories of ownership. Many of these objects, from Colonial Williamsburg’s holdings and more than 45 private and public collections, are exhibited for the first time.
Stoneware became an integral part of daily life in America beginning with the first European settlements. Initially produced in Germany during the Middle Ages, salt glazed stoneware has distinctive properties. It is impervious to the harmful effects of highly saline or acidic solutions, making it particularly well suited for use in preparing and storing a wide range of liquids and foodstuffs. During the first half of the Seventeenth Century †before the development of Britain’s green glass bottle industry †stoneware was the only appropriate material for such tasks.
When glass bottles became available on a widespread basis, stoneware’s durability continued to make it the first choice for a wide range of domestic and tavern uses.
German stoneware was imported into England and the American colonies in large quantities with archaeological evidence found in the earliest American settlements. By the late Seventeenth Century, German stoneware from the Westerwald region was being decorated specifically to appeal to the British, and by extension, American, market. Pieces bearing the monograms of English monarchs from William and Mary to George III were staples of colonial American households. Popular forms included jugs, mugs, tankards and chamber pots. Even less common vessels, such as storage jars and flower pots, also are documented.
England’s success at mimicking Germanic wares and developing new versions of stoneware soon followed. John Dwight of Fulham is credited with establishing the industry in England in the late Seventeenth Century, producing stoneware in imitation of imported German goods. By 1700, Dwight was making mugs and tankards coated with white slip to simulate the appearance of Chinese blanc de chine porcelain.
Fragments of a teapot made at the Dwight pottery, circa 1700, have been excavated from the James Geddy property in Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area and offer the first definitive evidence of ownership of this early type of English stoneware in the American colonies. Staffordshire potters perfected white salt glazed stoneware, and by the mid-Eighteenth Century, such ceramics supplanted pewter and delft as staple tablewares in middling and gentry homes, and included colorful variations embellished with various decorative techniques.
Drawing upon robust traditions in England and Germany for their inspiration, American potters also produced stoneware during the colonial period, but scarcity of essential clays and competition from imported goods continually challenged domestic manufacturers and limited production. Because most potteries were short-lived and American-made stoneware can be difficult to distinguish from its European counterparts, comparatively little has been published about its production in the Eighteenth Century.
Colonial Williamsburg’s DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum is at 325 Francis Street between Nassau and South Henry Streets. For information, 800-447-8679 or www.history.org .
