'Uncle Tom and Eva'
Category
Ceramics
Date
1860 - 1870
Materials
Earthenware
Measurements
215 mm (H)
Place of origin
Staffordshire
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 341684
Summary
Figure group of 'Uncle Tom and Eva', lead-glazed earthenware, painted in enamel colours and gilded, made in Staffordshire, England, c.1860. 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
EVA AND UNCLE TOM (gilt script)