Pewter at Colonial Williamsburg

The important Colonial Williamsburg collection that has been formed over the past seventy-five years. It highlights the many purposes pewter served in early American history, assisting in the transfer of culture from Europe and in the shaping of distinctive American attitudes and artifacts, and is also illustrative of the broad distribution of British wares, especially apparent in Virginia and the lower Chesapeake region, where there were relatively few practicing pewterers and where there was a decided dependence on imported pewter.

The collection of British pewter at Colonial Williamsburg is remarkable for its breadth and detail. It illustrates the development of basic forms and types of decoration from the first decades of the seventeenth century through those of the nineteenth, and includes a complementary admixture of American examples, which often exhibit readily identifiable regional and individual preferences. This catalog is divided into sections based on use, including dining wares, drinking vessels, and religious objects. This organization allows for the juxtaposition of related forms and for the appreciation of their chronologies and development.

The important Colonial Williamsburg collection that has been formed over the past seventy-five years. It highlights the many purposes pewter served in early American history, assisting in the transfer of culture from Europe and in the shaping of distinctive American attitudes and artifacts, and is also illustrative of the broad distribution of British wares, especially apparent in Virginia and the lower Chesapeake region, where there were relatively few practicing pewterers and where there was a decided dependence on imported pewter.

JOHN DAVIS is senior metals curator at Colonial Williamsburg. He is the author of The Robert and Meredith Green Collection of Silver Nutmeg Graters (UPNE, 2002).