Two collections at Colonial Williamsburg. (Current and Coming).(Brief Article)

Some collectors only stop acquiring when their houses are suitably furnished; others focus more narrowly and can therefore always manage to find room for one more purchase. Two collections on view at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Williamsburg, Virginia, this summer are drawn from the latter category. The first, entitled The Robert and Meredith Green Collection of Silver Nutmeg Graters, may be seen at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum until December 31, 2003. Dr. and Mrs. Green began collecting more than forty years ago when Mrs. Green purchased a nutmeg grater for her late husband as a gift to celebrate both his birthday and the publication of his article about nutmeg poisoning. With that beginning, the collection grew to about one hundred examples, all of which were donated to Colonial Williamsburg in 1999.

Nutmeg was introduced into European cuisine centuries ago when it was imported from the East Indies as a highly prized spice for food and beverages. But it was not until the late 1600s that special containers were made to store nutmeg and a rasp with which to grate it into a fine powder. While nutmeg graters were functional objects, the designs for the nutmeg containers often were imaginatively whimsical. Nutmeg was regarded as a delicious enhancement to drinks such as tea, coffee, and chocolate, as well as the popular alcoholic beverage, punch. Almost all the nutmeg graters in the Green Collection were made in England or America between the late seventeenth and early twentieth centuries.

The exhibition catalogue, written by John D. Davis with an introduction by Mrs. Green, is published by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in association with the University Press of New England. It may be obtained by telephoning 800-288-2129.

The second collection is on view at Williamsburg's Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum until September 1, 2003. It comprises more ...