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A pair of Chinese porcelain water bottles, circa 1805
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A mahogany bureau table, Rhode Island, circa 1760-80
“The [Joseph and June] Hennage silver bequest is game-changing, effectively doubling the number of American-made holloware pieces owned by Colonial Williamsburg,” says Janine E. Skerry, Colonial Williamsburg’s senior curator of metals, of the most monumental American decorative arts gift received by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in its 90-year history. The Hennage Collection features more than 400 objects, including 18th-century examples of American furniture and miniature furniture, American silver, and Chinese porcelain from critical Colonial centers such as Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Charleston and the Connecticut River Valley. In celebration of the bequest, approximately 50 objects from the collection are on view at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum in a new exhibition, “A Gift to the Nation: The Joseph and June Hennage Collection,” now through 2023.
The Hennages, who began began collecting in the 1950s and bought only the pieces they loved and agreed on, became passionate supporters of Colonial Williamsburg in the 1960s, giving generously during their lifetimes. Collected over 60 years, the items featured in “A Gift to the Nation” include a 1770 mahogany high chest from the Philadelphia home of Benjamin Franklin; a 1775 rococo silver-and-wood coffeepot (a favorite of Joseph’s) from the Taggart family of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, with links to the Revolutionary period; and a 1785 Chinese porcelain garniture set that was among the first pieces of porcelain in their collection.
