Teapot

Dateca. 1700

Attributed to John Dwight 1633-1703

Attributed to John Dwight's Fulham Pottery 1668-?

MediumStoneware, salt-glazed, white

Credit LineArchaeological Collection, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Object numberOBJ-19BB-01204

DescriptionTeapot excavated at the James Geddy House Site, Williamsburg, Virginia(01204-19BB).Label TextSalt-glazed stoneware was first produced in what is now Germany. Large amounts of this durable product were shipped all over the globe, partly because it was well suited for the safe storage of food. British potters worked to copy German stoneware and developed a unique product known as white salt-glazed stoneware. The refined clay used in British wares offered all the qualities of more utilitarian stoneware, but could also be made into refined tableware. Colonists in the Chesapeake used large quantities of German and British stoneware, both in the kitchen and on the table.

This teapot is the earliest known example of a white stoneware teapot excavated from an American site.