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| FALL SYMPOSIUM 2007
The fall symposium, Virginia: The First 200 Years, will go down in Trust history as one of our finest ever. Thanks to the genius planning of Trust Governor and Colonial Williamsburg Curator of Prints, Maps and Wallpaper, Margaret Pritchard, Trust members heard and saw a Williamsburg/Jamestown that few will ever experience. From Bill Kelso who discovered the original Jamestown Fort to Wendell Garrett who is one of the most beloved figures in our field, the fall symposium hit the highest notes at every turn. The sharing of private collections and regional hospitality at the most interesting homes was, as one member said, “over the top!” It was not only a tribute to the 30th anniversary of the Trust but also it was the Williamsburg friends of Margaret acknowledging her friendship, support, encouragement, knowledge and cooperation through the years.
Ralph Harvard, Trust Governor from New York but Virginian to the core, organized the optional tours on Thursday and Sunday. He treated Trust members to numerous visits to early Virginia historic houses and all the hospitality that goes with it. Members gained a clear understanding of architecture and landscape of plantation life along the James River. Never were any of these early houses out of sight of water. The structures, the brick course work, all related and made a union of the houses and people and their early expectations, struggles and successes. At the end of the day it was a delight to know that these 17th century and early 18th century buildings still exist and are well cared for.
Karen Kupperman, the Silver Professor of History at New York University, opened the symposium on Thursday evening with Why Jamestown Matters. She recounted incredible trials and tribulations for the early colonists, from native Americans, to water supply, to starvation. But, in the end, it survived and the model that came out of the experience was the model used for countless colonies to come. William Kelso, Director of Archaeology for APVA and Jamestown Rediscovery, is the man who found the original fort. His lecture on Friday morning described his journey from being disappointed when told the fort had been consumed by the James River, to the day he first put his shovel in the ground at Jamestown Island, to the amazing revelations of the excavations and their findings today.
It is a glorious story and one that can be enjoyed by reading his book, Jamestown: The Buried Truth. It was a great honor to have Kelso with us as we visited the site of the dig and saw the archaeologist still working and sharing their discoveries each day. Trust members got to see a great number of Elizabethan artifacts taken from the dig that are on display in the Archaearium nearby. In keeping with the theme of the first 200 years of Virginia, Rob Hunter, Editor, Ceramics in America, spoke about ceramic forms that came to America in the first 200 years—the northern Italian costrel, the slipware bowl with scraffito underneath, Dutch tin-glazed dishes, Chinese porcelain. He mentioned that English Delft bird and rock pattern was found in many places in the Cheapeake area. And, that Portuguese tin-glazed ware from the 1630s to 1650s has been found in every Chesapeake site but is rarely found in museums. He introduced us to William Rogers, the poor potter of Yorktown, working 1720–1745, who made salt-glazed earthenware that has been found in every dig site within a 50 mile radius of Williamsburg. The birdhouse bottle was originally made by William Rogers. Hunter’s view of early Virginia opened up new avenues of learning and collecting for many Trust members.
His lecture was followed by Michelle Erickson, a potter. Her demonstration surprised us. She took an upright bulbous bottle form she had turned earlier on a wheel and reformed it to a more flattened shape, added four side handles and, voila! There was the northern Italian costrel or wine bottle canteen Rob Hunter had talked about. She also demonstrated the slip glazing technique of early Straffordshire ware. Lastly, Erickson shared with us the making of the medallion given to the Queen of England as a Jamestown 400th celebration gift. Showing us her original cast, Erickson described her composition of de Bry figures, the thistle of King James of Scotland, the Tudor rose and the crown. She then took a freshly worked slab of clay and pulled a copy of the medallion. Not an easy task and it was magical. She was amazing and no one could take their eyes off her.
Margaret Pritchard gave us a short talk on the early mapmakers, their interactions with native Americas and native flora and fauna. She mentioned that Catesby was the first naturalist to suggest that birds migrated. Before, it was thought that they hibernated in tree trunks. Ralph Harvard, whose topic was the 17th century legacy of Virginia’s early architecture, said he was talking about memories—engraved images in the builders’ minds. An interesting treatment of a building mentioned by Harvard was the painting of Bacon’s Castle. Originally it was red washed and the woodwork was lime washed bright white.
Sumpter Priddy said that Baroque furniture of eastern shore Virginia looked to London for influence. Priddy went on to show details of construction—arms, hinges, knees, tea tables with six legs or square boxes underneath round tables—and explain their origins across the sea. Cary Carson, the great social historian, started by saying that artifacts we know today were then like an international language that was understood everywhere by everyone. He said the consumer revolution came before the industrial revolution and this needs to be put right in our textbooks before we can really begin to understand how things happened. He then showed on the big screen an image of an 18th century trade card from Williamsburg. It had never been shown before and was only shown to Margaret Pritchard ten days before. With a rococo border, it was every inch marketing with engravings of candlesticks, scrolls, looking glasses, hosiery, boots, tapestry, hats, etc., etc. Thompson & Co. listed 23 lines across listing all they sold off the shelf. The consumer revolution was in high gear!
Lynne Hastings, Curator of Historic Interiors at Colonial Williamsburg, went on to describe how all these consumer goods fit into the interiors. She said by the time of the Revolution, clean spare bare floors were not considered fashionable. The parlor, dining room and passage were the triad of social behavior and interaction. The best furniture was divided between the parlor and the dining room, with the best of the best in the parlor. The ground floor bedchamber was the final quadrant of the first floor rooms. The lady of the house used it for her household management.
Laura Berry, Associate Curator of Prints, Maps, and Paintings, at Colonial Williamsburg, speaking about early images said that less than 1% had their likenesses taken after the Revolution. Landscape views started to be painted most likely in the first quarter of the 18th century in Virginia. They were painted on board for over-mantle use or on walls. Military draftsmen probably did the first views of Virginia, otherwise few landscapes of early Virginia exist. Other areas like Boston, New York and Philadelphia had artists in residence but perhaps because Virginia planters had their own ports early towns did not develop as such and artists were not as plentiful.
Robert Leath, Vice President, Collections and Research, Old Salem Museums and Gardens, spoke to us about the early furniture in the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, part of Old Salem Museums. The most important survival is the great court cupboard that was passed down in the Hicks family from mother to daughter until it was purchased by Mrs. B. L. Brockwell, a dealer in Petersburg, VA. The cupboard is made of walnut, oak and yellow pine. All the rails and styles (joinery) are of oak. The dark stained decoration is walnut and the panels are yellow pine. The super structure on top is attached by peg holes. Leath calls this cultural ingenuity. That is, not precisely what they left behind in England but what they needed to remind them of their past. Leath mentioned that MESDA is working on getting their records of 20,000 Southern objects onto the internet.
Wendell Garrett, Senior Vice President of American Decorative Arts at Sotheby’s, opened his lecture with a bit of history of The Decorative Arts Trust. Garrett, a past president of the Trust, recalled the early meetings of Trust founder Dewey Lee Curtis at Pennsbury Manor under tents with crackling sound systems and often with rain. He said the members of the Trust are the ones who keep this organization and asked us to give ourselves a round of applause for keeping it so well for thirty years. He went on to talk about 17th century America as the El Dorado with three G’s—gold, God and glory. His talk covered quotes from around the world demonstrating the perception of what Americans were and what others thought they might become. Jonathan Fairbanks, moderator of the symposium, after thunderous applause for Wendell Garrett, brought the symposium to a close.
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