Enfilade

From Colonial Williamsburg:

76th Annual Antiques Forum: Domestic Affairs
Online and in-person, Colonial Williamsburg, 23–27 February 2024

Registration due by 1 February 2024 (virtual registration by 10 February)

From London to Nova Scotia, New England to Virginia and the Carolinas, the Mid Atlantic to the Gulf South: all make an appearance at Colonial Williamsburg’s 76th Annual Antiques Forum: Domestic Affairs. Join us as we explore fashions, furnishings, and the familial while traveling through time and space and delving into houses and histories. We will journey through public and private collections, revealing new research, revitalized spaces, and the fascinating stories that are told by objects, architecture, and interiors.

On opening day of this year’s Antiques Forum, we are joined by Tim Whittaker, former Director of The Spitalfields Trust, who introduces the visionaries and eccentrics who saved the Georgian architectural legacy of East London. Robert Leath, Executive Director of Edenton Historical Commission, then dives into four centuries of North Carolina History as he examines the story of Hayes Plantation. Chief Curator Adam Erby reveals recent discoveries from Mount Vernon, and architectural paint conservator Maeve Woolley Delph peels back the layers on the interior paint restoration of Wilton House Museum. Trevor Brandt from Americana Insights and Colonial Williamsburg’s Associate Curator of Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture, Kate Teiken Rogers round out our visit to houses and objects as they take a deeper look at spiritual labyrinths in Pennsylvania German fraktur and portraiture of early Williamsburg residents, respectively.

On Sunday, Cynthia Cooper from the McCord Stewart Museum reveals the unlikely travels of an 18th-century dress from Virginia to Quebec City. We then travel to Mississippi as Jefferson Mansell, Historian with the Natchez National Historical Park, looks at the rise of the of the Natchez suburban estate. In the afternoon, attendees are invited to venture to the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg for an update on recent acquisitions in the foundation’s collection, with mini-lectures by Colonial Williamsburg’s Curator of Furniture Tara Chicirda; Senior Curator of Mechanical Arts, Metals, and Numismatics Erik Goldstein; and Curator of Costumes and Textiles Neal Hurst. Following afternoon refreshments, lectures resume in the Virginia Room of the Lodge with the Carolyn and Michael McNamara Young Scholars Series, sponsored by The Decorative Arts Trust and featuring emerging scholars Ahmauri Williams-Alford (Telfair Museum), Henry Beard (Old Salem), and Cecelia Eure (Winterthur). The Annual Forum Shields Tavern Barbecue, sponsored by Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, concludes the day.

We explore indoors and out, above ground and below on Monday with independent scholar Errol Manners addressing “Ceramics and the Garden: Display, Delight, and Consumption,” and Drayton Hall’s Director of Archaeology Luke Pecoraro investigating Drayton Hall’s designed landscape. Colonial Williamsburg’s Director of Archaeology Jack Gary and Associate Curator of Ceramics and Glass, Angelika Kuettner then join our guest speakers on stage to discuss garden ceramics, archaeology, and historic preservation. In the afternoon attendees are invited to an open house at Custis Square to see the ongoing garden archaeology project and join Colonial Williamsburg’s Nation Builder Kurt Smith for a fascinating look at “Thomas Jefferson and English Gardens,” inspired by the visits of both men spanning different centuries. The Margaret Beck Pritchard Associate Curator of Maps and Prints, Katie McKinney, will end the day with a look at Robert Furber, his prints, and their influence on garden and floral arrangement design in the 18th century and today.

Our final day of lectures ventures to New England and the Mid-Atlantic with Historic Deerfield’s Amanda Lange looking at ceramics for the American home. Montgomery County Pennsylvania’s Daniel Hiester House is the subject of this year’s Collectors Talk, given by scholar and owner Lisa Minardi, while Matthew Skic, Curator of Exhibitions, Museum of the American Revolution, takes a look at the material world of the Forten Family of Philadelphia. Brenton Grom, Director of Connecticut’s Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum discusses how the spectacle of house museums can bring us together, and architectural historian Willie Graham gives our closing keynote highlighting remarkable discoveries during the restoration of Cloverfields, one of Tidewater Maryland’s grandest houses. A night to remember follows with live entertainment for the closing dinner.

Images from the Forum Flyer: Top Left: Detailed shot of a three-piece Court Suit, Warsaw, Poland, 1787–95, silk, linen, wool, iron, silver, gold, garnets, wood, paper (Transfer from The Valentine Museum, Richmond, VA, 2023-21,1-3). Bottom Left: Portrait of Helen M. Eddy, Joseph Whiting Stock, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1845, oil on canvas (Bequest of Abby M. O’Neill, 2018.100.3). Top Middle: Three-piece Court Suit, Warsaw, 1787–95, silk, linen, wool, iron, silver, gold, garnets, wood, paper (Transfer from The Valentine Museum, Richmond, VA, 2023-21,1-3). Bottom Middle: Hong Bowl, Jingdezhen, China, ca. 1787–88, hard-paste porcelain (Museum Purchase, The Joseph H. and June S. Hennage Fund, 2023-4). Top Right: Portrait of Major General Alexander Finley Whitaker possibly by John Bradley, New York, ca. 1835, oil on mattress ticking (Museum Purchase, Hank and Dixie Wolf in honor of Margaret Beck Pritchard and Laura Pass Barry, 2023.100.1). Bottom Right: Armchair, London, 1763–67, mahogany (Museum Purchase, 1959-351,3).