Title
Label
Plate
Probably made at the Minton Factory, Staffordshire, England, 1829-1845
Made of Bone China
Diameter 6.00"
Museum Purchase
This small saucer combines reflects two of the major influences on the abolition movement in the 1800s; religion and women.
Women played a pivotal role in the abolition movement; according to one male observer, “where they existed, they did everything.”[vii] Defying the conventions of the time, they lectured in public, founded antislavery societies, and organized antislavery fairs, which spread the message and raised funds for antislavery activities by selling things like ceramics with antislavery imagery.
They also created new imagery that spoke more specifically to the plight of enslaved women. Among these was the image on this plate of the kneeling woman clutching a bible is copied from the title page of Mary Dudley’s Scripture Evidence of the Sinfulness of Injustice and Oppression, published in 1828, where it appears with the caption “This book tells Man not to be cruel; Oh, that Massa would read this Book.”[viii]
The presence of the bible, and the motto, "Remember Them that are in Bonds," which is from the Biblical passage Hebrews 13:3; "Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body," reflect the increasing use of religious arguments against slavery.