Images(2)

Dish

Dateca. 1815

OriginEngland, Staffordshire (probably)

MediumLead-glazed earthenware (china glaze / pearlware)

DimensionsOH: 1 7/8"; OL: 20 3/4"; OW: 16 3/8”.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2025-21

DescriptionDish: very large oblong oval lead-glazed earthenware (pearlware) dish with broad rim and deep cavetto; no footring. Transfer printed in blue on the rim with a leaf and pebble border that extends into the cavetto; the center transfer printed in dark and pale blue with large and small sunflowers and pinwheels with trailing vines on a vermicelli ground, interrupted by a central oval reserve containing a leafy flower cluster. (TCC pattern number 6318, Sunflower)Label TextThis monumental dish directly parallels archaeological fragments recovered at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello (Charlottesville, Virginia) and specifically associated with the enslaved population inhabiting the surrounding landscape in the early 19th century.Inscription(s)NoneMark(s)NoneProvenance2024, purchased from Shaun King Antiques (Norfolk, England) by Anthony W. Butera, Jr. (New York, NY); 2025-present, purchased by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)