2015.46.1.1
Title
2015.46.1.1
Creator
Made in Limoges, France, probably decorated in New York, New York.
Made of Hard-Paste Porcelain
Made of Hard-Paste Porcelain
Date
About 1860
Label
Vase with Eliza Escaping with Little Harry Over the Ice
Made in Limoges, France, probably decorated in New York, New York, about 1860
Made of Hard-Paste Porcelain Museum
Purchase with Funds Provided by W. Groke Mickey
This vase illustrates a key moment in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” one of the most influential attacks
on slavery every written. Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in 1852, Uncle Tom’s
Cabin was one of the best-selling American novels of the 19th century.
The vase shows Eliza carrying her son, Harry, and leaping from ice floe to ice floe over the frozen Ohio River as they made their way to freedom. Its depiction of a desperate mother, risking all to protect her child, would have resonated with many in the 1800s who saw the creation of a safe, nurturing home as one of the main responsibilities of a woman.
That a potter or retailer thought there was a market for such elaborate and expensive figures displaying an anti-slavery message suggests that by 1860, the abolition movement was winning the battle for the hearts and minds of Americans. The novel generated an outpouring of books, plays, music, prints, and objects. One reporter wrote that,
It should be noted among other favorable signs of the times, that artists, of all grades, now find it not only a congenial, but also a remunerative work to represent the creations of Mrs. Stowe’s genius in pictures and statues … they have an established market value, and that people of wealth and taste now begin to seek such works as the ornaments of their parlors and chambers.
Made in Limoges, France, probably decorated in New York, New York, about 1860
Made of Hard-Paste Porcelain Museum
Purchase with Funds Provided by W. Groke Mickey
This vase illustrates a key moment in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” one of the most influential attacks
on slavery every written. Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in 1852, Uncle Tom’s
Cabin was one of the best-selling American novels of the 19th century.
The vase shows Eliza carrying her son, Harry, and leaping from ice floe to ice floe over the frozen Ohio River as they made their way to freedom. Its depiction of a desperate mother, risking all to protect her child, would have resonated with many in the 1800s who saw the creation of a safe, nurturing home as one of the main responsibilities of a woman.
That a potter or retailer thought there was a market for such elaborate and expensive figures displaying an anti-slavery message suggests that by 1860, the abolition movement was winning the battle for the hearts and minds of Americans. The novel generated an outpouring of books, plays, music, prints, and objects. One reporter wrote that,
It should be noted among other favorable signs of the times, that artists, of all grades, now find it not only a congenial, but also a remunerative work to represent the creations of Mrs. Stowe’s genius in pictures and statues … they have an established market value, and that people of wealth and taste now begin to seek such works as the ornaments of their parlors and chambers.
Credit Line
Museums at Washington & Lee University
Citation
Made in Limoges, France, probably decorated in New York, New York.
Made of Hard-Paste Porcelain, “2015.46.1.1,” Museums at Washington and Lee University: Online Exhibits, accessed May 17, 2024, https://exhibits-museums.omeka.wlu.edu/items/show/406.