Pewter at Colonial Williamsburg

The collection of British pewter at Colonial Williamsburg is remarkable for its breadth and detail, illustrating the development of basic forms and types of decoration from the first decades of the seventeenth century through those of the nineteenth. The collection also includes a complementary mixture of American examples, which often exhibit readily identifiable regional and individual preferences. This catalogue 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. This volume makes more accessible 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. It 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.