While the tea set illustrated in Family Group appears 

 to have all the basic pieces, it can hardh- be considered 

 a "complete" tea set when compared with the follow- 

 ins; porcelain sets listed in the 1747 in\entor)- of James 

 Pemberton of Boston: 



One sett Burnt [china] Coni[aining] 1 2 Cups 

 & Saucers Slop Bowl Tea Pot Milk Pot 

 boat [for spoons] tea Cannister Sugar Dish 

 5 Handle Cups plate for the Tea Pot & a 

 wh[i]t[e] Tea Pot Value 



One set Blue & white do. contg. 12 Cups & 

 saucers Slop Bowl 2 plates Sugr. Dish 

 Tea Pot 6 Handle Cups & white lea Pol 

 \'alue 



[£]2o 



[£]io 



In addition, the Pemberton inventor\- lists a silver tea 

 pot and "1 pr. Tea Tongs & Strainer," items that were 

 undoubtedly used with the ceramic sets.*^ 



Tea sets were even available for the youngest hostess, 

 and the "several compleat Tea-table Sets of Chil- 

 dren's cream-colored [ceramic] Toys" mentioned in a 

 Boston advertisement of 1771 no doubt added a note 

 of luxury to make-believe tea parties during play- 

 time.^' The pieces in children's tea sets, such as the 

 ones pictured from a child's set of Chinese export 

 porcelain (fig. 6), usually were like those of regular 

 sets and differed only in size. Little Miss Livingston 

 must have been happy, indeed, when her uncle 

 wrote °° that he had sent 



... a compleat tea-apparatus for her Baby [doll]. Her 

 Doll may now invite her Cousins Doll to tea, & parade 

 her teatable in form. This must be no small gratification to 

 her. It would be fortunate if happiness were always at- 

 tainaijle with equal ease. 



The pieces of tea eciuipage could i)e purchased indi- 

 vidually. For instance, teacups and saucers, which 

 are differentiated in advertisements from Ijoth coffee 

 and chocolate cups, regularly appear in lists of ceramic 

 wares offered for sale, such as "very handsome Setts of 

 blue and white C^hina Tea-Cups and Saucers," or 

 "enamell'd, pencilFd and gilt (fig. 12), red and white, 

 blue and white, enamell'd and scallop'd (fig. 13j, tea- 

 cups and saucers." ^' These adjectives used by 18th- 



*' Suffolk County Record Books, vol. 39, p. 499, inventory 

 of James Pemberton, Boston, .^pril 8, 1747. 



*'' Boston News-Letter, November 28, 1771. 



50 Shippen, op. cit. (footnote 21), p. 215. 



'••'^Boston News-Letter, October 4, 1750; Maryland Journal, 

 November 20, 1781. 



Figure 12. — Caip and saucer oi C^liinesc export 

 porcelain with scalloped edges and fluting. The 

 painted decoration of black floral design on the side 

 of the cup is touched with gold; the borders are of 

 intersecting black vines and ribbons. {USJsM 

 28.f4gg; Smithsonian Jihoto .}=ji 41-D.) 



century salesmen usually referred to the types and the 

 colors of the decorations that were painted on the 

 pieces. "Enameled" most likelv meant that the 

 decorations were painted over the glaze, and "pen- 

 ciled" may have implied motifs painted with a fine 

 black line of pencil-like appearance, while "gilt," 

 "red and white," and "ijlue and white" were the 

 colors and types of the decoration. Blue and white 

 china was, perhaps, the most popular type of teaware, 

 for it regularly appears in newspaper advertisements 

 and inventories and among sherds from colonial sites 



(fig. 7). 



Concerning tea, the Aljbe Robin went so far as to say 

 that "there is not a single person to be found, who does 

 not drink it out of china cups and saucers."' ^- How- 

 ever exaggerated the statement may be, it does reflect 

 the popularity and availability of Chinese export por- 

 celain in the post-Revolutionary period when Ameri- 

 cans were at last free to engage in direct trade with 



80 



^- Robin, ofi. cil. (footnote 1), p. 23. 

 BULLETIN 225: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



