Jug: C.6-2021

Titles

Jug

Maker(s)

Unknown (Production)

Description

Pearlware, printed on glaze in black with a scene depicting freed slaves celebrating their emancipation. A central, mostly nude, male figure holds his arms aloft, flanked on either side by a woman with a young child (the woman on his left with a book by her side). To the right, another male figure holds aloft his former chains. The background shows a body of water with a ship and some Pyramids (?) in the distance. This scene is printed on both sides of the body of the jug. Beneath the rim (exterior and interior) is a floral border with a central cartouche showing miniature figures by the sea, a ship in the background - a white figure kneeling and offering something to a standing black figure. A group flying the Union Jack can be seen to the left and the figure of Britannia to the right. The underside is printed, 'Negro Emancipation August 1st 1834'.

Notes

History note: Robin Simpson; purchased at his sale, the Robin Simpson Collection of Commemorative Ceramics, Woolley & Wallis auction, 8 September 2021, lot 515.

Legal notes

Purchased by the Friends of The Fitzwilliam Museum

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Purchased from Dr G. A. Singer, B. £100 from the Ritchie-Ginsburg Fund (2021-11-22) by Woolley & Wallis

Dating

Second quarter of 19th century
William IV
Production date: circa AD 1834

Note

This jug depicts a number of formerly enslaved people joyfully celebrating the arrival of 1 August 1834, the date that the Abolition of Slavery Act finally came into force in the British Empire. Unlike many abolitionist ceramics, which depict enslaved people as powerless and grateful, this jug depicts enslaved people as joyful to be free of their bondage. Details, such as the inclusion of a book, also hint at more complex lives than those often depicted in art or on objects. In reality, the formerly enslaved in the British West Indies (over the age of six years old) were made to continue working for their former masters under an unpaid apprentice system lasting four to six years. This period ended prematurely on 1 August 1838, when full emancipation was granted for all enslaved people (see plate C.7-2021).