James Madison’s Montpelier

Ceramic Work Study–2009

The last full week in January we had our second annual ceramic work-study.  This year we focused on ceramics recovered from the 2008 South Yard excavations.  Our objective was to understand how many ceramic vessels were represented by the myriad of small sherds recovered during the excavations this past summer.  Participants cataloged, labeled, and matched the ceramic sherds from across units into the various decorative categories.  The first part of the workshop started out a bit rocky when Montpelier was closed due to a snow storm–but being hard-core ceramic enthusiasts, the group agreed to label ceramics over at Arlington House and we even had one lecture in the dining room while the snow piled up outside!The more exciting results of the week’s work was the discovery of the wide range of Davenport ceramics we had recovered at the South Yard over the course of the summer, in particular, those decorated with the Bamboo and Peony transfer print.  These ceramics were part of a set owned by James and Dolley Madison and based on the excavation in 2007 at Dolley’s Midden, consisted of quite a massive set of china.  The pieces recovered from the South Yard are exclusively serving pieces ranging from platters to gravy boats and even include a potential vase or dessert cooler.  How these pieces ended up at the homes of the house slaves is likely once they were either chipped or broken at the main house they were deemed unsiutable for the table.  With the request to dispose of them, house slaves could either dispose of them in the trash heap or make a decision to reuse them at their home.  Such opportunistic re-use continued until they were finally broken at the quarters and made their entry into the archaeological record.  With archaeologists recovering the broken pieces in the field, the vessels entered into their final opportunistic life cycle as Montpelier archaeology staff and volunteers cleaned and mended their shattered remains! The workshop also kicked off the addition of a new staff member, Christine Heacock.  Christine has been hired to keep the archaeology lab open on the weekends and to help Kim Trickett complete an object inventory of all items recovered at the mansion through archaeological excavations.  This inventory will be entered into the Curatorial Department’s database to aid in the furnishing of the mansion.

Tags: Household Goods, Landscape, Slaves and Slavery, South Yard