cup plate

Boston & Sandwich Glass Company, artist

active 1825–1888

cup plate, 1839–1841

Where object was made: Sandwich, Massachusetts, United States

Material/technique: pressed glass

Dimensions:
Object Diameter (Diameter): 8.26 cm
Object Diameter (Diameter): 3 1/4 in

Credit line: William Bridges Thayer Memorial

Accession number: 1928.6563

Not on display

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Label texts

Thayer Today

A cup plate is like a coaster for a teacup. During the first half of the 19th century, many tea drinkers would pour hot tea into a saucer to cool it and would then drink from the saucer. The cup plate provided a resting place for the teacup while the saucer was in use. This cup plate references and endorses political candidate William Henry “Tippicanoe and Tyler Too” Harrison, who often associated himself with the humble frontier log cabin and hard cider barrel during his presidential campaign. Look for this cup plate in a case in the exhibition This Land.

Sallie Casey Thayer collected pressed glass, manufactured for consumers across all social classes, as well as the fine hand-blown and cut glass that pressed glass emulated.

This Land

The nation’s official symbols were designated by the Continental Congress in 1782. These artifacts reveal the power and longevity of American iconography disseminated into objects of material culture. The inclusion of George Washington, Justice, and Liberty transformed imported British wares into tantalizing souvenirs of a violent revolution, domesticated and democratized for subsequent generations. National patriotic symbols could endorse a political candidate, such as the humble frontier log cabin and hard cider barrel utilized by William Henry “Tippicanoe and Tyler Too” Harrison for his campaign. They could convey messages of abolitionism as seen in the figure of Uncle Tom from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. As consumers, Americans have endorsed national ideology with their patriotic purchasing power.

This Land

A cup plate is like a coaster for a tea cup. During the first half of the 19th century, many tea drinkers would pour hot tea into a saucer to cool it and would then drink from the saucer. The cup plate provided a resting place for the tea cup while the saucer was in use. This cup plate references and endorses political candidate William Henry “Tippicanoe and Tyler Too” Harrison, who identified himself with the humble frontier log cabin and hard cider barrel during his presidential campaign.

Exhibition Label:
"This Land," Mar-2014, Kate Meyer
The nation’s official symbols were designated by the Continental Congress in 1782. These artifacts reveal the power and longevity of American iconography diseminated into objects of material culture. The inclusion of George Washington, Justice, and Liberty transformed imported British wares into tantalizing souvenirs of a violent revolution, domesticated and democratized for subsequent generations. National patriotic symbols could endorse a political candidate, such as the humble frontier log cabin and hard cider barrel utilized by William Henry “Tippicanoe and Tyler Too” Harrison for his campaign. They could convey messages of abolitionism as seen in the figure of Uncle Tom from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. As consumers, Americans can and have endorsed national ideology with their patriotic purchasing power.