Sparkling Reflections: Stories from Colonial Williamsburg’s Glass Collection
Angelika Keuttner, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
This ADAF Lecture will be broadcast on Zoom, click here to register for the online event.
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
Roemer, Germany or Netherlands, 1600-1650, Waldglas, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; Museum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund, 2023-304
Decanter engraved ‘MADEIRA’, England, ca. 1765, Colorless lead glass, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; Museum Purchase, Mr. Michael L. Westfall in Memory of Susan K. Westfall, 2025-20
Compote Wheeling Flint Glass Works Wheeling, West Virginia, 1828–1835 Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; Museum Purchase, James R. and Judith M. Bowers, Nancy N. and Colin G. Campbell, Columbus Class of '66, Larry and Jan Emmons, Ms. Betty Jean Gearhart, Mr. and Mrs. Stephen V. Gearhart, Mr. and Mrs. F. Alec Gould, Dr. and Mrs. William M. Kelso, Mr. and Mrs. Michael A. Lorence, Mr. and Mrs. Paul P. Luchsinger, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Mallers, Mrs. Carolyn S. Olson, Parkview Health, Meredith and Joe Poole, III, Mr. and Mrs. Lucas Ramige, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Strottman, Mr. and Mrs. Ned Stucky, Mr. Michael L. Westfall, Mr. and Mrs. David L. Winebrenner, and Col. and Mrs. Charles W. Yerkes, Jr. in Memory of Susan K. Westfall, 2018-229
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.
Angelika Kuettner was promoted to curator of ceramics and glass in 2024 having served as assistant and associate curator since 2011. She has been with the Foundation since 2008, beginning her tenure there as a graduate student intern in the ceramics and glass department. During her internship she compiled a glossary of white salt-glazed stoneware plate borders, a work that appears as an appendix in the publication Salt-Glazed Stoneware in Early America by Skerry and Hood. Prior to graduate school at William and Mary, she worked for approximately three years as the curatorial assistant at the Reeves Center (now Reeves Collection) at Washington and Lee University. She is a proud fellow of the 2010 Attingham Trust Summer School and of the 2016 MESDA Summer Institute. Angelika has published and lectured on a variety of topics including the ceramic-manufacturing partnership of Benjamin Leigh and John Allman in 18th-century Boston, mended ceramics in 18th and 19th century England and America, silver lusterware in Federal America, and Alexandria, Virginia free black potter David Jarbour. She served as co-editor of the 2017 issue of Ceramics in America and was a contributing author to the 2021 publication The Material World of Eyre Hall: Four Centuries of Chesapeake History. Angelika co-authored the article “English Delft for Colonial Tavern Tables in King William County and Williamsburg, Virginia,” which appeared in the 2023 issue of Ceramics in America. She currently serves on the Board of the American Ceramic Circle.
