Antiques Roadshow expert delivers verdict on item with ‘unacceptable’ image that marked ‘first domestic boycott’
Antiques Roadshow’s latest episode gave a unique insight into food from the past. The ‘A History of Food’ special focused on items that revealed centuries of cooking and eating, from farmhouse fare to royal banquets.
The unique episode saw few valuations and focused on how items relating to food shaped the past. One object, examined by expert Ronnie Archer Morgan, represented a fight against a dark period, which Archer Morgan described as “unacceptable”.
Narrator Fiona Bruce explained: “In the late 18th century, a growing awareness of the horrors of slavery led many to question the source of their sugar.
“At The Museum of London, Ronnie Archer Morgan met up with senior curator Jean-Francois Manicom to see a rare sugar bowl with a potent political message.”
“It’s a very powerful piece of our connection,” Manicom commented.
“We’re thinking that it’s come from the year 1825, made by the anti-slavery movement.”
“It looks like it comes from Staffordshire,” Archer-Morgan observed.
“And it’s got this very powerful imagery on the front here, she’s got her hands clasped, and she’s kneeling and looks like she’s got chains hanging from her wrists.”
“Absolutely and she’s begging, probably, for freedom, asking that people give her freedom.
“This image can be problematic now, because it can participate to the misunderstanding about who our ancestors were.
“We know that the enslaved didn’t wait for freedom, they fought for freedom.”
“It’s unacceptable today,” Archer-Morgan agreed, explaining: “Because it’s like the subjugation of a person begging for their freedom, when actually we’re born free. Why should you have to ask for something that you were born with?”
“And this is the point, Ronnie, and this is why we are not speaking about slaves. We’re speaking about anti-slaves,” Manicom replied.
“Exactly, I understand,” the expert responded before delving into the familiarity of the image.
“The thing is, I’m familiar with this image, but I’m familiar with it, with a man instead of a woman.
“And I know it was a medallion produced by Josiah Wedgwood in the late 18th century, and it had an inscription that said, ‘Am I not a man and a brother?’
“It’s obviously taken from that image, and it’s been transposed to a woman.”
“It’s a variation of the same inspiration,” Manicom confirmed.
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“I mean, it’s great to say this, I’m a sugar bowl, and it has an inscription on the other side. Could you read it for us?” asked Archer-Morgan.
The guest went on to read: “So… ‘East India sugar, not made by slaves, by six families, using East India instead of West India sugar, one slave less as required.'”
“So this message, this inscription is prompting people to boycott West Indian produced sugar and used East Indian sugar, where enslaved people weren’t used to produce it,” Archer-Morgan elaborated.
“Yeah, it is one of the first attempts of domestic boycott,” Manicom reflected.
“I think it’s very clever to change the man into a woman for a change,” the expert noted. “You know, everybody was used to seeing enslaved men, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was commissioned by a woman to make the point, because women didn’t have the vote, they didn’t have much of a voice, but they could pass their message on very strongly by putting it on household objects like sugar bowls and teapots.”