Food Serving

"Shortly before midnight a first-rate luncheon was served in Mr. Turnbull's usual good style. The well-baked scotch scones and the crisp oat cakes which were passed around with excellent country cheese deserve more than we can here give them." [Aurora, 16 January 1884]

"West End Warehouse, McCurdy, McMillan & Co., In the west end a large space is partitioned off for crockery." [Aurora, 25 July 1883]

"The shelves of the open cupboard were decorated with clean white lace paper and displayed Old Flora's dishes--willow pattern plates and cups and saucers, and the squat lustre cream pitcher with the wide blue band." [R.A. MacLean ed., Recollections, 1977, p. 120]

"There was a built-in dresser with open shelves to the ceiling. The two large flowered platters, one blue, one brown, were at home on the top shelf with the corresponding plates and tureens below. The other shelves were given over to Kittach's tea-set which started out to be purple and ended by being pale blue--flowing blue, our Ma called it--and the butter dish on the exact middle of the dresser top, was a blue hen sitting on a nest. The shelf above the stove was dressed in a scalloped paper frill and the lamps standing there were trimmed and filled to the brim and polished like diamonds." [R.A. MacLean ed., Recollections, 1977, p. 13]

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Item:PLATTER
Date: mid-19th century
Dimensions: 44 cm long, 35 cm wide and 5cm deep

Comments:This English blue transfer-printed earthenware platter came from the Hanrahan family of Heatherton. The main design features an English river scene with an idyllic grouping of people boating alongside lush foliage, a cottage, church and a country home. It has been described as a Staffordshire canal scene.The outer rim of the platter is decorated with a dense floral design of wild roses, hence the name, Wild Rose pattern. Between 1830 and 1855, this motif was second in popularity only to the Willow pattern. This platter is well marked--it includes details about the pattern name and series number. Copiers rarely marked their wares. Unfortunately, there are no clues about date or place of production. It is difficult to pinpoint a precise pottery for this design was such a popular line.

Coloured blue and white dishware gained prominence in Britain and North America during the early to mid-19th century. This popularity can be explained in part by the emergence of transfer-printing which facilitated mass-production of earthenware. Hand-painting of pottery and porcelain was time-consuming. Transfer-printing, introduced in the late 18th century, revolutionized the industry as William Adams, Enoch Wood and Josiah Spode became the first to experiment with this technique.

Transfer-printing begins with a pattern or design etched onto a copper plate. The copper plate is then inked and with the help of a press, the design is "transferred" to a special tissue which is placed onto the pre-fired unglazed ceramic. The design was added to the ware by rubbing the tissue against it; the combination of friction and oil helped the colour adhere. Transfer-printing was originally done in only one colour, but the technique quickly advanced to multi-colour transfers. Blue was popular because of its durability under firing. It also closely resembled the blue of the popular Oriental ceramic ware that had been introduced to England from China. This also helps explain why the transfer process originally used Oriental designs, although domestic scenes of Canada, the United States and England were quickly adopted. Soon most Victorian households had a set of transfer-printed dishware; it was no longer confined to the upper classes. This particular piece has all the telling signs of transfer-ware, most notably the uneven lines where the potter attempted to match up the edges of the pattern.

Erin George

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Item:BLUE TRANSFER-PRINTED COVERED CASSEROLE
Date:mid-19th century
Dimensions: 28.5cm long, 23.4cm wide and 18.5cm tall from the foot rim to the top of the lion

Comments:This earthenware covered casserole dish shows signs of considerable use. There are some cracks and part of the foot rim has been broken off. Nevertheless, this piece shows signs of fine craftsmanship. It is a handsome item with its translucent blue glaze. Although transfer-printed, the edges where the print meets were carefully matched by the potter. The design is the Wild Rose pattern but with one noticeable modification. The country estate which is so visible on the platter above has been omitted on both the cover and the inside of this dish. Its most striking feature is the lion knob on the cover, which was popular on Wedgwood's Pearlware circa 1785. The lion knob was also a typical feature of John Rogers & Son dinnerware, c. 1814-36. These handles were separately moulded and covered in a special blue glaze that was more luminous and intensely coloured than the rest of the dish. The lion was supposed to represent Britain. This piece has no identifying marks. It is doubtful that it comes from the Rogers's Pottery since all their wares were distinctly marked. The origin, however, is clearly British. Throughout the 19th century, Canadian consumers were relentlessly loyal to British potteries, even after the introduction of other foreign competitors. Many British potters even had their own warehouses and agents in Canada to maintain this dominance.

Erin George

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Item: BLUE TRANSFER-PRINTED VEGETABLE DISH
Date:unknown
Dimensions: 28.5cm long, 22cm wide and 5.5cm deep

Comments: This ceramic vegetable dish was donated to the museum by Mrs. Will Archibald. It is apparent that this dish was extensively used by the Archibald family. A large crack extends through the centre of the bowl and there is discoloration on the inside of the dish. The dish bears no identifying marks, but its design is the celebrated Willow pattern.

It is uncertain who designed the original Willow pattern, but there have been many variations. The pattern is characterized by a bridge with three figures, a willow tree in the centre, a boat, birds, a blossoming orange tree behind the teahouse and a fence running across the foreground. The first Willow pattern was created in the Caughley porcelain factory in Shropshire. Because of advancements in technology and increased exposure, the Willow pattern came into great demand as an imitation of Chinese porcelain. It became a fixture in most Victorian homes in the 19th century.

Rising with the prominence of the design was the story believed to explain the Willow pattern. It has been suggested that British manufacturers fabricated this story to encourage sales. Nevertheless, Victorian society embraced the story along with the Willow ware. The Willow pattern became such a cliché that it also appeared on wallpaper, decorative fabrics, embroidery, tiles, etc. It has never lost its prominence and is considered to be the best known pattern in the world.

During the 19th century, households witnessed a shift from wooden and metal tableware to earthenware and porcelain tableware. This transition was the result of the mass-production capacities of the Industrial Revolution and improvements in transportation, meaning dishes had a better chance of reaching intact their destinations. By the mid-19th century, even average households had a wide selection of earthenware which could be found in the cupboard and on the table, including plates, platters, sauceboats, pudding dishes, tureens, cups and tea bowls (saucers), tea pots and sugar basins. Porcelain was more expensive and largely restricted to the upper class.

There were several other types of earthenware available to the Victorian home. "Common painted" wares were for the cheaper market. They were painted freehand and on cheap earthenware. "Edged" wares were listed in the same price range as the "common painted" wares. Edged wares were light and featured a coloured edge, most notably in blue. Another design available was sponge ware which was aimed at the country trade and tended to be cheap and colourful.

No home was complete for the Victorian wife until there was some form of earthenware on the table. Printed ceramic ware portrayed Victorian interests in technological advances, history and exotic lands. Even the fern fever and Japanese mania of the Victorian era were captured onto the earthenware of the day. Printed ware also gave Canadians scenes from the country they had left for a new life in Canada.

Erin George

Supporting Evidence
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Item:STERLING SILVER TEAPOT
Date:1881
Dimensions: 27.5 cm wide, 13.5 cm high and 11 cm deep

Comments:This sterling silver teapot with an ebony handle was the prized possession of Captain A. MacDonald, son of John MacDonald and Mary MacPherson of Georgeville, Antigonish County. MacDonald went to sea as a young boy, and by 1860 had acquired his master's papers. He followed a seafaring career for almost forty years, working for ship owners from Halifax, Pictou and Antigonish. He crossed the Atlantic no less than fifty-two times. He also served as captain of the Mulgrave, a ferryboat that ran between Mulgrave and Port Tupper (Cape Breton), starting in 1893. In his retirement, MacDonald took up farming at Ballantyne's Cove, well within sight of the sea where he had spent so much of his life.

This beautiful teapot was awarded by the British Government to MacDonald in recognition of his valiant rescue of the storm-battered Coronet, bound for Liverpool with a cargo of lumber, the captain, his wife and a crew of seventeen. At the time, MacDonald was captain of the brigantine Trust, owned by T. and E. Kenney of Halifax. The teapot was presented to Captain MacDonald by Lieutenant-Governor Archibald of Nova Scotia. The ceremony was held at the Antigonish Court House.

In the 19th century, a silver teapot was considered an upper-class item. Such a luxury cost a servant's wages for the year. (For those who could not afford silver, there was a cheaper substitute called Britannia ware; Britannia metal was an alloy of tin, antimony, zinc and copper.) With its fine reeding (sometimes called fluting) and beading, this particular teapot is a splendid example of silverwork. It is also clearly hallmarked and provides substantial clues about the maker and date of manufacture. The bottom of the teapot bears the outline of the rampant lion signifying sterling silver, the uncrowned leopard indicating London as place of origin and the dealer's name, "Watherson & Sons". The silversmith's name is revealed in the hallmark "wBj" enclosed in a crest, which represented "Messrs Barnard", prolific 19th-century English silversmiths.

Tea drinking came to Canada with the Loyalists and British immigrants. This practice enjoyed little popularity among the French or German inhabitants or even Irish immigrants. In fact, in the early 19th century, coffee was more frequently advertised than tea. Every general merchant's store was stocked with an ample supply of coffee grinders. According to early Antigonish historian William D. Cameron, "It was only in the last years of the old pioneers, that "Tea" was introduced, and then used sparingly, for a time only on Sundays, or some rare special occasions." By the mid-19th century, tea had become cheaper and more readily available to Canadians, and was the favourite beverage of the middle class. The tradition of "taking tea" became a special event that in many households called for fine china and silver service. Rural people preferred green tea over black tea. Their tastes also leaned towards hot weak tea, generously laced with milk and sugar.

[A dramatic account of Captain MacDonald's rescue can be found in The Halifax Herald, 23 July 1927.]

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