tiles A sample of surviving original architectural items on loan to Colonial Williamsburg include four English tin-glazed earthenware tiles with biblical motifs that were once used to protect and ornament one of Drayton Hall’s thirteen fireboxes prior to their removal in the 20th century. A total of 48 intact tiles from this set survive in Drayton Hall’s museum collection and dozens of additional tiles with a variety of
c. 1740
decorations have been recovered through archaeology.
Tin-glazed earthenware tiles manufactured in London are imported to Drayton Hall for use in fireboxes.
c. 1745
Carribbean mahogany imported to South Carolina is carved into stair brackets used to ornament Drayton Hall’s stair hall.
colonoware This small-handled colonoware jug represents both the diversity of Drayton Hall’s collections and the lives of the enslaved people who lived and worked at Drayton Hall during the 18th century. Colonoware is a low-fired earthenware ceramic that was formed from local clays by slaves. Seven overflowing
c. 1740
Colonoware cooking pot created by enslaved people and used at Drayton Hall.
boxes of Colonoware sherds have been archaeologically excavated from Drayton Hall since 1981, and the recovered vessels illustrate how the enslaved people combined African, Native American, and European vessel forms and decorative techniques to create a unique form of pottery in the new world.
1740
1745
columns Several objects linked to Drayton Hall’s architecture have been loaned to Colonial Williamsburg for the new exhibit, including an original 1740s column base from the first floor of Drayton Hall’s double portico that was removed, along with associated columns and capitals, during a repair campaign carried out by Charles Drayton in the 1810s. Drayton Hall’s portico, while visually similar to Palladio’s Villa Cornaro
1740–1750 Porcelain plates created in Jingdezhen, China, and received by the Drayton family for use in Drayton Hall. In 2008 and 2009, four porcelain plates were donated to Drayton Hall by Anne Drayton Nelson and Molly Drayton Osteen. This porcelain plate is decorated with opaque enamels using the Famille Rose decorative technique; part of a 12-piece set that descended within the Drayton family from the 18th century.
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and Villa Pisani, differs as it projects and recedes from the main house, making it the first of its kind in the world. Created from Purbeck limestone imported from England, Drayton Hall’s portico and this column base represent how no expense was spared to create a structure that was extremely progressive for its period yet in keeping with the classical architectural vocabulary popularized by Andrea Palladio.
c. 1745
Drayton received imported Purbeck limestone columns for incorporation in the portico of Drayton Hall.