George III sterling silver cream jug with interior gold wash
date: label: Date
content: 1806
name: label: Attributed to
content: William Fountain, English
notes: label: Caption
content: These pieces, much like those they would replace in Slavery and Freedom, represent the deadly plantation economy in the New World that satisfied the international demand for sugar, which became a staple in the English tea industry. They also represent the financial success that sugar brought to successful slave owners, financiers, slave traders, sugar merchants, and the lifestyle maintained by sugar consumers in the United States. Sugar, Britain’s largest import, was also the focus of one of the first anti-slavery boycotts after the abolition bill was rejected by British Parliament in 1791. The boycott attempted to put economic pressure on the slave-dependent industry of sugar, hastening the end of the trade.
label: Description
content: A George III sterling silver cream jug with gilded interior by William Fountain, London. It has an oval shaped body with a silver semi- curved handle. The rim flares outwards slightly and is decorated with the same repeating pattern as the teapot and coffee pot. The spout is short and rounded in shape. The upper body of the jug is smooth while the lower half is decorated by fluting in sections. One side of the cream jug has an image of a large bird, possibly a pelican, with a fish in its mouth, engraved into the upper half. On the opposite side of the jug is an image of a lion rampant, with a scroll over its head. In the scroll is text that reads "Forward." The jug has an oval foot with four points, one at each corner. Each point is formed from a crease in the metal that runs vertically up the body of the body of the jug. The maker's marks are located just under the upper rim. The jug has a gold washed interior, with some of the gold having been rubbed off the inside lip of the spout. Date letter is 'L.'
place: label: Place made
content: London, England
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: British colonialism
label: Topic
content: Commerce
label: Topic
content: Cooking and dining
label: Topic
content: Design
label: Topic
content: Domestic life
label: Topic
content: Economics
label: Topic
content: Slave trade
label: Topic
content: Slavery
label: Topic
content: Sugarcane
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2020.32.5.3
objectType: label: Type
content: creamers
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: No Known Copyright Restrictions
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: sterling silver with gold wash
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 3 3/4 × 6 × 3 1/2 in. (9.5 × 15.2 × 8.9 cm)