Plate

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Creamware, so-called for its cream-colored body, is a refined earthenware with a lead-based glaze that was developed in Staffordshire, England around 1750. Due to its light color and glossy glaze, it was ideal for dinnerware. Economically affordable to produce, creamware was imported to America in large quantities. Although much creamware was used in America, it is rare to find pieces associated with a particular family. This dinner service (36.22.1 -.38) bears the initials “SBW” for Samuel Blachley Webb. The set was imported from England in 1774 by Webb, who was an aide-de-camp and military secretary to General George Washington.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art