Madeira Decanter
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Madeira decanter excavated at Monticello
Artist/Maker: Unknown
Created: 1760-1770
Origin/Purchase: England
Materials: glass
Dimensions: H: 24.8 (9 3/4 in.); D (base): 8.9 (3 1/2 in.)
Provenance: The Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Accession Number: 1981-92
Historical Notes: This labeled Madeira decanter was excavated from the Dry Well site of the Monticello Kitchen Yard in 1981. The dry well, intended to be a cool, dry storage place, was dug in 1770 to a depth of almost nineteen feet. Jefferson's plans for the dependency structures soon changed, however, and the large storage feature was used briefly before being completely abandoned and refilled by 1780. A number of discarded domestic artifacts dating from the earliest years of Jefferson's habitation on the mountaintop were found in the backfill during archaeological excavation.[1] One of the finest objects unearthed was an English decanter with wheel-engraved cartouche and grapevine motifs dating from the 1760s. Decanters of this type were made with various labels for all types of alcoholic beverages.[2]
Although Jefferson's purchase of this early decanter is unrecorded, he acquired many others in later years. Eight crystal decanters were among the household goods shipped from France in 1790.[3] In 1815 Jefferson listed "4 cut glass decanters" in his list of taxable property.[4] The inventory of Monticello made after his death included "12 decanters 6 of them a little broken."[5]
Jefferson once noted how many glasses of Madeira a cask would yield and which type was the most economical to drink. In 1775 he wrote in his memorandum book:
If a pipe of Madeira yeilds 30 doz. bottles, we drink it at 7. years old for 3/ a bottle, which includes the 7. years interest. Such a bottle holds 15 common wine glasses. ... A pipe of new Madeira will yeild 40. dozen, which brings the price (there being no interest) to 20/ a doz. or 20d the bottle when drank new.[6]
- Original text from Stein, Worlds, 340; updated by Beth Sawyer, September 2025
Learn More about the Dry Well
References
- ^ William M. Kelso, "A Report on the Archaeological Excavations at Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1979-1981" (Unpublished manuscript, Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 1982), 69-73.
- ^ Geoffrey Wills, English and Irish Glass (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1968), 12.
- ^ Grevin packing list, July 17, 1790, William Short Papers, Library of Congress. See also the editorial note following Short to Jefferson, November 7, 1790, in PTJ, 18:36n. Editorial note available at Founders Online.
- ^ Jefferson’s Statement of Albemarle County Property Subject to State Tax, March 1815, in PTJ:RS, 8:393. Transcription available at Founders Online.
- ^ [Martha Jefferson Randolph?], "Inventory of the furniture in the house at Monticello," Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts, Massachusetts Historical Society.
- ^ Jefferson, February 8, 1775, in MB, 1:387. Transcription available at Founders Online.