Oyster Plate
date: label: date made
content: about 1881
name: label: maker
content: Union Porcelain Works
notes: label: Description
content: Porcelain factories responded to the American passion for oysters by designing special plates on which to serve the delicacy, accompanied by silver-plated forks also designed for the purpose. During the long and lavish dinners characteristic of evening entertainment among the wealthy on the East Coast in the 1870s and 1880s, guests were frequently served their first course on oyster plates such as these gilded examples produced by the Union Porcelain Works, in Greenpoint, New York, around 1881. American and European porcelain factories met increasing affluence and elaborate dining etiquette with an extensive range of items designed for specific foods and beverages. Oyster plates represent one such refinement in response to a newly acquired taste for the shellfish.
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Brooklyn, Greenpoint
topic: label: related event
content: The Emergence of Modern America
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
label: See more items in
content: Food
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content: Family & Social Life
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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: CE.75.123H
label: catalog number
content: 75.123H
label: accession number
content: 317832
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Dish, Oyster
label: Object Name
content: oyster plate
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: green (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: polychrome (overall surface decoration color name)
label: Physical Description
content: ceramic, porcelain, hard-paste (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 5/8 in; x 21.9075 cm