Artifact: Dish
Materials: Pewter
Dimensions: OH: 1 13/16"; OW (rim): 1 1/2"; Diam: 12"
Date: 1768-1778
Origin: London, England
Collection: Image Courtesy of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
License: All rights reserved
Ledger Entry: Dish
Department: Foodways
Customer: Thomas Hilliard
Ledger Page: 224
Imported From: Earthenware dishes were typically imported from Staffordshire.
Product Description
Cook book writer Hannah Glasse (1796) sometimes ended her recipe instructions with "Dish it up and send it to the table." Its use as a verb illustrates how broadly construed the term was. Quite often there were no specific descriptors, despite its multiple sizes, uses, and materials including pewter and porcelain. Pewter was more expensive but was not likely to break in handling like a ceramic one and retained some value through melting down.
Citation: Philippa Glanville and Hilary Young, ed., Elegant Eating: Four Hundred Years of Dining in Style, (London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2002).;
Historical Price: 5 shillings, 1 pence; Modern USD: $57
Product Variations
The databases record the purchase of fifty dishes. These could be sold as single or multiples units. The prices for these ranged from eleven pence for a four pound dish to eight and a quarter shillings. The only material listed for dishes was pewter and they could be priced by unit or by weight.
