Description:
English Staffordshire miniature 16-piece teaset (including covers) decorated with black transfer prints of scenes with children and young adults engaged in various activities such as gathering flowers, watching sheep, sewing, etc. According to family tradition, this teaset belonged to Sophia Stebbins (1822-1841), the daughter of Festus Stebbins (1768-1850) and Frances Dickinson Stebbins (1780-1864) who married in Springfield in 1799. The 11th of 12 children, Sophia died unmarried, and this teaset, sampler (HD 74.002), and two cup plates (HD 74.004 and HD 74.004A) descended in the family of one of her older brothers, James Stebbins (1811-1892) who married Eunice Sylvia Alvord (1829-1900) in Springfield in 1857. James and Eunice's daughter, Mary Granger Stebbins (b.1863) married Charles Brewster Atwater (b.1857) in 1892, and their daughter, Margaret Sylvania Atwater (b.1894), the donor, married Joel Harris Newell. According to a handwritten label pasted on the backing of the original frame of the sampler: "Done by Sophia Stebbins - died age 9 - sister of James Stebbins Teaset is hers." There is also another small piece of paper on which is written, "Gt Aunt Sophia's dolls Tea set - about 1831." The set has a teapot with cover, sugar bowl with cover, waste bowl (broken), cream jug, 5 shaped cups with handles, 5 deep saucers, and 2 cup plates.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+74.003 |
