Sparkling Reflections: Stories from Colonial Williamsburg‘s Glass Collection

An Illustrated Presentation by Angelika Keuttner, Curator of Ceramics and Glass, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Virginia

Colonial Williamsburg has a unique collection of British, European, and American glass spanning the 17th to the mid-19th centuries. Many of the objects reflect the documentary and archaeological records of what was owned and used in early America including an early green glass roemer that match shards at Jamestown, a Venetian glass similar to examples found in Massachusetts, Maryland, and Virginia, and a blue glass mug and decanter that relate to fragments recovered in Williamsburg. This beautifully illustrated lecture discusses these pieces, rare American glass pieces, and other highlights from Colonial Williamsburg’s collection.

Pictured: Sweetmeat Stand, England, 1760-65
Colorless lead glass; gilded base metal (ormolu) Gift of Mr. John V. Rowan, Jr. in memory of Winifred Draco Shrubsole, 2001-85