Union Porcelain Works (1863-ca. 1922). <em>Teapot with Cover</em>, ca. 1876. Porcelain, Height: 6 3/4 in. (17.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Franklin Chace, 68.87.32a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 68.87.32.jpg)

Union Porcelain Works (1863-ca. 1922). Teapot with Cover, ca. 1876. Porcelain, Height: 6 3/4 in. (17.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Franklin Chace, 68.87.32a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 68.87.32.jpg)

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Would someone have owned this?

Yes. This tea set, made by Union Porcelain Works, would have been deemed an acceptable object to own by a well-to-do member of society in the 1870s. The imagery, which includes stereotypical faces of an Asian man and an African man, indicate the contents of each vessel, tea and sugar, would not have been seen as racist, although it is very much seen in that light today.

Is there a reason that the finials are in the shape of human heads?

Yes, the little heads are intended to show the country of origin for each product. Because tea was imported from China, the head is Asian; the milk jug has the head of a goat, etc. The decoration is also a play on the name for this kind of set, which was made for two people and known as a "tête à tête" or "head to head" tea set.

I have a question about the label. Instead of saying “despite the racism we would see, contemporaries would find it clever”, why not reverse those clauses to emphasize current understanding of the harmfulness of such imagery? I find myself wondering why this piece is on display.

The gallery you are in is titled "Nations Divided", which looks at issues of race, slavery, and the civil war in nineteenth century America. As for the structure of the label text, the clauses could certainly be switched, but the current arrangement makes the point that racial judgements were normalized in that period.

Okay, I see how it works with the anti-discrimination piece to the left in the same case. Thank you.

It's a complex period to represent, to be sure. Thank you for asking about this work.

Teapot with Cover

Decorative Arts

On View: American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, Nations Divided, 1860–1910

The motifs on this tea set are representations of race from the nineteenth century, a time when stereotypical racial images circulated heavily in popular culture and were rarely questioned.

The imagery was intended to symbolize the labor required for the contents of each vessel, including an enslaved African sugarcane picker for the sugar bowl, an Asian man for the teapot, and a goat for the cream pitcher. These objects speak to the exploitative nature of the relationship between white Americans and African descendants and Asian peoples under colonial regimes.

MANUFACTURER Union Porcelain Works, 1863-ca. 1922

DESIGNER Karl L. H. Mueller, American, born Germany, 1820-1887

MEDIUM Porcelain

Place Manufactured: Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York, United States

DATES ca. 1876

DIMENSIONS Height: 6 3/4 in. (17.1 cm) Diameter of base: 6 x 3 in. (15.2 x 7.6 cm) (show scale)

MARKINGS Painted in red on bottom over glaze: "U.P.W." with an "S" below.

SIGNATURE no signature

INSCRIPTIONS no inscriptions

COLLECTIONS Decorative Arts

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, Nations Divided, 1860–1910

EXHIBITIONS

American Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 68.87.32a-b

CREDIT LINE Gift of Franklin Chace

RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

CAPTION Union Porcelain Works (1863-ca. 1922). Teapot with Cover, ca. 1876. Porcelain, Height: 6 3/4 in. (17.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Franklin Chace, 68.87.32a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 68.87.32.jpg)

IMAGE group, 68.87.32.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Teapot with cover, part of tête-à-tête tea set (68.87.28-.32), hard paste porcelain. Henna ground with floral design, panels with birds and flowers, square handle, spout supported by a bat, finial on cover is a Chinaman's head. Condition: Good, see conservation lab report on file.

RECORD COMPLETENESS

Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.

Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Would someone have owned this?

Is there a reason that the finials are in the shape of human heads?

Okay, I see how it works with the anti-discrimination piece to the left in the same case. Thank you.

It's a complex period to represent, to be sure. Thank you for asking about this work.