'Uncle Tom and Eva'
Category
Ceramics
Date
1860 - 1870
Materials
Ceramic
Measurements
255 x 130 x 90 mm
Place of origin
Staffordshire
Order this imageCollection
Rufford Old Hall, Lancashire
NT 783587
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).