Child's Plate

CultureEnglish
Titles
  • Child's Plate
Datec. 1830–1860
Probable placeEngland
MediumLead-glazed earthenware with transfer print
Dimensions3/4 × 6 1/16 in. diameter (1.9 × 15.4 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by family and friends in memory of Frances M. Sacco
Object numberB.2005.5
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Belter Parlor
On view

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
DescriptionThis small plate, with the letters of the alphabet around its rim, was intended for a child’s use. In its center, an image titled “Gathering Cotton” depicts a group of enslaved men, women, and children industriously picking cotton. The figures appear untroubled, even happy, as they work. Proslavery factions in both the United States and Great Britain had a strong stake in presenting slavery in a positive light, ignoring or dismissing the violence and brutality that made it possible. This plate makes it clear that advocates for slavery wanted even the youngest of children to receive this cruelly distorted message.
Provenance[Seekers Antiques, Columbus, Ohio]; purchased by MFAH, 2005.
Exhibition History"Exhibited As We Are”: Fighting Racism with Art in the Age of Slavery,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Bayou Bend, April 29–August 16, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Printed below the image: GATHERING COTTON
[no marks]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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