WILLIAMSBURG — Work is currently underway at the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg on a new exhibition featuring more than 120 objects from the museum’s extensive collection of 17th-19th-century silver.
“Silver from Modest to Majestic” will be on view in the museum’s newly relocated Mary Jewett Gaiser Silver Gallery, on the main floor of the museum, from May 24 until May 24, 2028.
The exhibition’s scope is wide-ranging, from a 49-pound chandelier made for a monarch to a simple spoon made by a Williamsburg silversmith, all displayed in brilliantly lit cases against dark blue backgrounds, according to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
While silver has long been associated with wealth and aristocracy, it added, the items featured in this exhibition were crafted for use in nearly every setting imaginable ranging from churches, classrooms, and kitchens to businesses, battlefields, and bedrooms.
in the Lodgings at St. James’s Palace in London. (photo: CWF)
One thing that every piece on display has in common is a powerful story, according to CWF. Knowing who made a piece and who used it lets Colonial Williamsburg curators pinpoint that object in a time and a place, and then bring it forward through history, allowing it to tell its tale.
“Collecting objects where we know the ‘who, when, and where’ of their manufacture, plus their provenance, allows us to exhibit silver items which transcend the differences between artistic, historical, and functional,” said Erik Goldstein, Colonial Williamsburg’s senior curator of mechanical arts, metals and numismatics. “These particular objects are the pinnacle of early silver, no matter how humble they may be.”
This new exhibition replaces the museum’s previous silver exhibition, “Silver from Mine to Masterpiece,” which was on view from 2015 to 2023.
While the former exhibition had a larger percentage of British silver, CWF said nearly half of the objects on display in the new exhibition are examples of early American-made silver, many of which were created for everyday use by ordinary people.
Early colonists originally relied on imported British silver wares, but over time, the innovation, skill and entrepreneurship of those early American tradespeople resulted in the establishment of a robust and exciting cohort of American silversmiths producing items that were touched by everyone from elite to enslaved individuals, the foundation explains.
“Our collection of British silver is justly famous, but our decision to build a collection of American silver terrifically advances the museums’ goal of telling the varied stories of so many different craftspeople and consumers, each of whom influenced the tastes and styles of colonial America,” said Grahame Long, executive director of collections and deputy chief curator.
Visitors to Colonial Williamsburg will experience firsthand how the pieces featured in “Silver from Modest to Majestic” connect to the lives of Williamsburg’s 18th-century residents, the foundation said.
The objects on display in “Silver from Modest to Majestic” represent the work of a few dozen known silversmiths including Paul Revere (1735-1818), a hero of the American Revolution who learned the trade of silversmithing from his father; Myer Myers (1723-1795), the son of a Jewish refugee who became known as the leading silversmith of New York; and Hester Bateman (1708-1794), a female silversmith in London who ran a thriving business after the death of her husband, specializing in affordable items aimed at the rising middle class, CWF said.
Many items in the exhibition are unmarked, made by unknown makers including enslaved silversmiths, it said, adding even the items that are credited to known makers could have been made by smiths employed, apprenticed or enslaved to the master of the shop.
Admission to the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg is free.
Additional information about the art museums, Colonial Williamsburg, and admission to the historic sites within the Historic Area is available online at colonialwilliamsburg.org, by calling 855-296-6627 and by following Colonial Williamsburg on Facebook and @colonialwmsburg on Twitter and Instagram.
