'Topsy & Eva'
Category
Ceramics
Date
1860 - 1870
Materials
Earthenware
Measurements
220 mm (H)
Place of origin
Staffordshire
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 341682
Summary
Figure group, 'Topsy & Eva', lead-glazed earthenware, painted with enamel colours, made in Staffordshire, England, c.1860. Two female figures, both kneeling, bare-headed. Eva's right arm on Topsy's shoulders, and her left hand holding Topsy's right. Earthenware figures were made in Staffordshire from the 18th century and were a cheaper alternative to European and English porcelains. Staffordshire figures became a form of visual literacy depicting key personalities and events of the day from politics, royalty, sport, literature and entertainment. The subject of American slavery found expression in Staffordshire figures depicting the fictional characters of Uncle Tom, Aunt Chloe, Evangeline St. Clair (Eva), Topsy and George & Eliza Harris from the 1852 anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by the American author Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896).
Provenance
Part of collection built up by Thomas Balston (d.1967). He wrote about the collection in Staffordshire Portrait Figures of the Victorian Age, 1958.
Marks and inscriptions
TOPSY AND EVA (gilt script)