Drayton Hall Collections Debut at Colonial Williamsburg this Week

On display for the first time to the public are 27 objects from the Drayton Hall Collections. They have been loaned to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation for their new exhibit entitled: A Rich and Varied Culture: The Material World of the Early South opening February 14th. The exhibit focuses on objects that were created in, or imported to the Chesapeake, the Carolina Lowcountry, and the Backcountry, and highlights the breadth of the material culture of the 18th century—furniture, ceramics, metals, archaeological artifacts, works of art, and more.

The Drayton family Clothespress was conserved by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation this past summer. Fabricated between 1785 and 1790, this example of case furniture is one of three known pieces of 18th-century Charleston-made furniture from the Drayton family to survive to the present, and the only example in our collection. It will be on display in the exhibit A Rich and Varied Culture: the Material World of the Early South.

“The opportunity to place objects from Drayton Hall’s Collections on display at Colonial Williamsburg speaks volumes about the nature of Drayton Hall and its prominent position within Colonial and contemporary South Carolina,” said Dr. Carter C. Hudgins, Deputy Director of Drayton Hall. “Not only do the objects to be showcased exhibit the Drayton family’s close connections to fashionable English society and the solidification of Charleston in the context of early America, but also the importance behind modern efforts to preserve the tangible history of South Carolina.” Dr. Hudgins recently published an article in Antiques & Fine Art magazine highlighting the Drayton Hall objects on display at Colonial Williamsburg.

66th Colonial Williamsburg Antiques Forum

Deputy Director of Drayton Hall Carter C. Hudgins will be presenting at the 2014 Colonial Williamsburg Antiques Forum.

Dr. Hudgins, newly appointed Deputy Director of Drayton Hall, will be presenting Drayton Hall Reimagined: New Perspectives on the Elite Status and Material Culture of an 18^th-Century Lowcountry Estate at the 66^th Colonial Williamsburg Antiques Forum,  February 14–18. Dr. Hudgins’ lecture will cover the multidisciplinary research carried out at Drayton Hall over the last seven years—research that has significantly expanded our understanding of the architecture, furnishings, landscape, and residents of one of colonial America’s greatest plantations. Using a variety of investigative techniques and drawing from archaeological fragments excavated on site, surviving furniture, decorative arts objects, and extant architecture, his presentation will offer a fascinating examination of the material culture of this elite Lowcountry home seat and the status of its wealthy planter John Drayton and other 18^th-century residents—all within the context of the expanding British Empire.

Link to Dr. Hudgins’ article: Conserving the Treasures of Drayton Hall in Antiques and Fine Art