Tea Cup and Saucer
date: label: date made
content: 1775-1800
notes: label: Description
content: Sugar was a very expensive item when first exported across the Atlantic from the Caribbean plantations in the 1600s. Only the wealthiest members of European society could afford to use it to sweeten the equally exotic and expensive commodities such as coffee, tea, and chocolate. By the late 18th century, when this tea service was made at the Worcester Porcelain manufactory in England, the increasingly well-to-do middle class could afford to buy English porcelain, and the lower cost of tea and sugar made these desirable commodities accessible to many people. These pieces from a tea set represent this social and economic transition. The service, made of fluted porcelain with a gilt scalloped pattern and bordered in royal blue with gold banding, is not characteristic of Worcester’s most refined output of hand-painted tea wares.
label: Description
content: The tea set also represents the truly international nature of new tastes and new trades. Although made in England, the porcelain tea service is rooted in the Chinese culture of tea drinking, but with adaptations to suit European tastes. The Chinese did not take tea with sugar or milk, so a milk jug, covered sugar bowl, and sugar tongs were European additions in response to the Atlantic sugar trade. The uncovered bowl in the set was used for “slops,” where waste tea was disposed of before a fresh cup was poured from the teapot.
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, Worcester
topic: label: related event
content: Colonization and Settlement
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
label: See more items in
content: Food
label: See more items in
content: Family & Social Life
label: See more items in
content: Domestic Furnishings
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: ZZ.RSN81775L17
label: accession number
content: 225282
label: catalog number
content: P883d
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Cup and Saucer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: monochrome, blue (component surface decoration color name)
label: Physical Description
content: abstract motifs (joint piece description of decoration)
label: Physical Description
content: abstract motifs (overall description of decoration)
label: Physical Description
content: ceramic, porcelain, soft-paste (cup material)
label: Physical Description
content: ceramic, porcelain, soft-paste (saucer material)
label: Physical Description
content: gilt (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 5/8 in x 5.562 cm; 6.6675 cm x 2 3/16 in