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Saucer Item Info

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Title:
Saucer
Date:
18th century
Description:
Small matching saucer, decorated with similar patterns of nature, with a larger ocean view image in the center. Similar parchment on the bottom that relates to Phebe Dodge.
Marks/Inscriptions :
Parchment with information about Phebe Dodge
Geographies:
Asia, possibly China or Japan
Material:
Canton Porcelain
Provenance:
Gift of Stephen T. Willets
Quaker connection:
owned by Phebe Willets Mott Dodge, the first female Quaker minister to travel from America to England.
Object Story, Consumption and Use:
This small porcelain teacup and saucer pair originated in China or Japan. Because of their usefulness and ornamentation, porcelains like these became popular around the world, being exported to numerous countries. England, who imported large quantities of porcelain wares, contributed to their distribution by exporting these wares to the American colonies. Asian porcelain wares became so popular that they were ubiquitous among all social classes and took up space in homes of all types of people. This specific teacup and saucer was owned by Phebe Willets Mott Dodge, the first female Quaker preacher. It is unknown how Dodge obtained this teacup, but it is representative of porcelain’s ability to be owned by all. Dodge’s status as a Quaker causes this seemingly simple purchase to become somewhat odd. As “plainness” and “simplicity” governed the foundation of the Quaker lifestyle, this elegant, commodified tea set sticks out. However, Dodge lived through a time of changing Quaker culture, and traditional ideas about plainness were no longer clear. Perhaps Dodge simply bought this tea set to enjoy company with those closest to her, a long-lived social function of tea drinking. No matter the reason for purchase, this object was of significance to Dodge. The bottoms of the teacup and saucer contain pieces of parchment, inked with brief details about Dodge and her family. It also states that this object travelled with Dodge to England. Through this object, we can understand how simple household items can reveal an abundance of historical knowledge.
Research Sources:
1. Andrew Madsen, & Carolyn White. Chinese Export Porcelains (Routledge, 2009). 11. 2. Laura Cruz, and Joel Mokyr. The Birth of Modern Europe : Culture and Economy, 1400-1800. Essays in Honor of Jan De Vries. Vol. 00002. Leiden: Brill, 2010. 141. 3. Shannon Huggins, "The Power of Preaching: Female Identity, Legitimacy, and Leadership in American Quakerism, 1700-1776."Auburn University, 2010. 55. 4. Emma Jones Lapsansky, “The Changing World of Quaker Material Culture in The Cambridge Companion to Quakerism,(Cambridge University Press,2018), 151. 5. William J Frost, "From Plainness to Simplicity: Changing Quaker Ideals for Material Culture." (2003): 16. 6. Henrietta Paist. Design and the Decoration of Porcelain. Keramic Studio Publishing Company, 1916.
Type:
Image;StillImage
Format:
image/jpg
Accession Number:
SC-FHL-R-0018b

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Source
Preferred Citation:
"Saucer", From Local to Global - Consumption and the Quaker Body, Swarthmore College, https://swat-ds.github.io/material-culture/material-culture/items/mc010.html
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