Figure 1  Apothecary jar, Aldgate or Low Countries, 1607–1610. Delftware. H. 7 1/4". (Courtesy, Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities; photo, Gavin Ashworth.) Decorated with a stylized peacock feather motif. The jar was excavated by Jamestown Rediscovery,™ a project of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA) at the site of James Fort (1607), the earliest permanent English settlement in the New World. Figure 2  Albarello, Deruta, Italy, first quarter sixteenth century. Majolica. H. 12 1/2". (Courtesy, Germanischen Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg.) Figure 3  Peacock feathers have provided decorative inspiration for centuries. The oldest known ornamental bird, the peacock figures largely in many cultures as a symbol of paradise or immortality. (Photo, Gavin Ashworth.)