The Beaufort collection of ceramic urns was inspired by the fluted urn-shaped finials that crown a green japanned bedstead in the Governor's Palace in Colonial Williamsburg's Historic Area. The cornice and finials for the bed are based on a Hepplewhite design for a "Venetian" bedstead. The green color represents the Palace furnishings of Lord Botetourt, British royal governor of Virginia, who lived there from 1768 to 1770. Botetourt's sister was the 4th Duchess of Beaufort, whose country seat, Badminton, was one of the most elegantly furnished country houses in England.