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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Gallery Text

What can these two everyday objects tell us about the relationship between taste and global politics in the first decades of the 19th century? Both objects were produced during the British campaign to abolish slavery. An active abolitionist movement persisted in Britain because owning enslaved people was not outlawed until 1833, with its final abolishment in 1838. Ceramics such as these would have been sold at abolitionist gatherings, providing ways to support the cause. The display of these wares on the table was intended to prompt a sympathetic visual response from those who used them.

These objects have smooth, clear ceramic bodies, with beautiful glazes and gilding, but their images evoke horror. The front of the jug shows a man in bondage, and the back of the jug features stanzas from William Cowper’s influential poem “The Negro’s Complaint” (1788), written from the perspective of an enslaved man. The emblem on the butter tub presents an enslaved woman set against a background with a palm tree. This tropical setting directly references the labor of enslaved people responsible for sugar production in the Caribbean.

[2015.33, 2017.84]

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2017.84
People
Unidentified Artist
Title
Abolitionist Butter Tub and Stand
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
Early 19th century
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/358155

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2200, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, The Emergence of Romanticism in Early Nineteenth-Century France
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Transferware porcelain
Dimensions
overall: 11.5 × 16 cm (4 1/2 × 6 5/16 in.)
lid: 4 × 13 cm (1 9/16 × 5 1/8 in.)
tub: 8.3 × 12 cm (3 1/4 × 4 3/4 in.)
stand: 16 cm (6 5/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: side of dish, transferware: Remember / them that are / in Bonds

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Private Collection, London, sold; to [Robert Hunter British and American Porcelain and Pottery], sold; to Harvard Art Museums, 2017

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Purchase through the generosity of Anne H. and Frederick Vogel III and bequest of Nettie G. Naumburg, by exchange
Accession Year
2017
Object Number
2017.84
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2200 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/30/2023 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu