Images(9)

Tankard

Date1685-1695

Maker John Dwight (1633-1703)

Maker John Dwight's Fulham Pottery (1668-?)

OriginEngland, Fulham

MediumBrown salt-glazed stoneware; silver mount on rim

DimensionsOverall: 7 1/2 x 5 1/8 x 6 11/16in. (19.1 x 13 x 17cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, Wesley and Elise H. Wright in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clay Hofheimer II and in honor of John C. Austin

Object number2007-47

DescriptionHalf gallon brown salt-glazed stoneware tankard with silver mounted rim. The mount is stamped twice with a maker's mark just above the handle (possibly an H). The tankard tapers slightly from the base to the rim and has cordoning around both base and rim. The handle terminates in a "squab" terminal (an extra roll of clay added to the base of the handle and pressed in the middle leaving a dimple).
Label TextThis half-gallon tankard with silver-mounted rim, dating between 1685 and 1695, was made in Fulham, England at John Dwight's pottery. Dwight was one of the first English potters to commercially produce a range of useful stoneware. Wares of this type were exported to the American colonies and archaeological examples of Dwight's work have been found in Williamsburg as well as several other sites in Virginia. The addition of this piece to Colonial Williamsburg's collection helps us to more fully illustrate the role that stoneware played in the lives of the colonists.

Brown stoneware straight-sided tankards were produced concurrently with gorges at John Dwight’s Fulham pottery. These cylindrical drinking vessels far outlived the popularity of their round-bellied companions. Fragments of at least two Dwight tankards made circa 1685–1695 are among the wares excavated from the Drummond site in James City County, Virginia. Their rich brown coloration, thin bodies, and bands of fine combing at foot and neck closely match extant Dwight tankards of the same period. None of the known Dwight tankards of this early type bear ale-measure marks, suggesting this variant ceased to be made by 1700. While such finely turned specimens were produced only briefly, incalculable quantities of robustly potted plain brown tankards were made from the late seventeenth century onward.
MarkingsSilver mount: "H" possibly
ProvenanceSampson & Horne Antiques, London, England

Exhibition(s)