Chamber pot

Date1720-1760

MediumColonoware

Credit LineArchaeological Collection, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Object numberOBJ-09NA-07308

DescriptionChamber pot excavated at the Wetherburn’s Tavern site, Williamsburg, Virginia, 5348-ER 1166W.Label TextColonoware is a low-fired, unglazed earthenware made of local clays. It is encountered at 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century urban and rural archaeological sites throughout the coastal South. The forms are often utilitarian, but more decorative vessels are occasionally seen. Scholars attribute colonoware to both Native American and African American potters. The vessels they produced were used within both communities, but were also sold to consumers of European ancestry.