Cream jug 1767 - 1768

This cream jug was made by William Caldecott, sometime after his birth in 1756. The jug’s shiny surface and elegant form reflect 18th-century social values, where silver objects signified wealth and status. Think about it: who could afford such luxury, and who was excluded? In its time, this object would have been an everyday item in an upper-class household, likely served by enslaved people and servants. It embodies a complex web of economic and social relations, revealing how wealth was accumulated and maintained through exploitation and unequal power structures. As you look at it, consider the hands that crafted it, the hands that served from it, and the lives touched, or rather, untouched, by its presence. It is a reminder of the stories and the inequalities embedded in even the simplest of objects.