The Cup of Tea
date: label: date made
content: ca 1854
name: label: maker
content: E.B. and E.C. Kellogg
notes: label: Description
content: Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.
label: Description
content: These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.
label: Description
content: This hand colored print is a three-quarter length portrait of a lady seated at the table drinking tea. She is holding a decorative tea cup which appears to be Chinese export porcelain; the matching saucer and spoon are on the table. Tea drinking was an established social custom from the previous century with recognized etiquette and distinctive equipment. The lady is wearing a striped dressing gown.
label: Description
content: This print was produced by the lithographic firm E.B. & E.C. Kellogg. Edmund Burke Kellogg and Elijah Chapman Kellogg were brothers of the founder of the Kellogg lithography firm, Daniel Wright Kellogg. After D.W. Kellogg moved west, his two brothers took over the family lithography firm in 1840 and changed the name to E.B. & E.C. Kellogg. The youngest of the four Kellogg brothers, these two were responsible for the continued success of the family firm. These two brothers were also involved in the eventual partnerships between the company and Horace Thayer in 1845 or 1846, John Chenevard Comstock in 1848 and William Henry Bulkeley in 1867.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Connecticut, Hartford
topic: label: Subject
content: Furnishings
label: Subject
content: Drinking
label: Subject
content: Adornment
label: depicted
content: Tea Drinking
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: Clothing & Accessories
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content: Art
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content: Peters Prints
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content: Domestic Furnishings
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Peters, Harry T.. America on Stone
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.60.2259
label: catalog number
content: 60.2259
label: accession number
content: 228146
label: maker number
content: 190
objectType: label: Object Name
content: lithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: hand-colored (image production method/technique)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 12 in x 8 1/2 in; 30.48 cm x 21.59 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 14 in x 10 in; 35.56 cm x 25.4 cm