Title: Matching Teacups and Plates
Medium: Bone China with painted birch forest and golden embellishments
Creator: Lavender the Greenhanded, potter (assumed)
Date of creation: 1248 S.R
Place of Creation: Hobbiton, Shire
Artifact Number: M-h 246
Owner: Samwise Gardener (formerly Gamgee)
Status: On loan by the Gardeners
Fine tea china is common within the Shire, however the make of these matching plates and cups is unusual in their creator as a member of the Greenhanded family. Lavender the Greenhanded (1212 – 1302), mother of Rowan, Halfred, Erling, Hending, and Rose, married into the family and was relatively unknown if not for the stamp on the bottom of both cups and plates. The stamp consists of a bushel of lavender held by a green hand that in conjunction with a commission document ordered by Adamanta Chubb dated 1247 S.R verified Lavender as the creator of this set.
Analysis:
This teacup set was crafted by Lavender the Greenhanded, matriarchal ancestor of both Samwise Gamgee and Rose Cotton, and was commissioned by Adamanta Chubb, grandmother of Bilbo Baggins, in 1247 S.R. Pottery and specifically tea sets are important within Hobbit culture, beyond the simplicity of necessity for teatime. They are objects of use that are passed from generation to generation and between family or clan groups. A tea set can be a birthday gift given or set into the backdrop of a friendly get-together over sweet treats. They are works of art, and their creators and uses may be obscured by the patriarchal overlay in Hobbit record keeping.
This set was passed down from Adamanta Chubb to her daughter Belladonna Took, then to Belladonna’s only child Bilbo Baggins. The cups have been in the hands of Hobbits, Dwarves, and the odd Elf over time as individuals gather over tea and food at Bag End. These gatherings deepen the bonds of friendship and community among Hobbits as a pillar of Hobbit culture is hosting and attending friends and families for mealtimes. Although there is much to be said for Bilbo Baggins’ uncharacteristic solitary personality. From Bilbo, this set was then inherited by Frodo Baggins before being passed onto Samwise Gardener (formerly Gamgee) and his wife Rose Cotton with the inheritance of Bag End. A simple set of plates and cups lovingly cared for had been passed through almost four generations finally arriving in the hands of the decedents of the original creator. If not for the Hobbit’s cultural practice of holding onto objects of use and disuse, and the consistent giving away of hand-me-down birthday gifts, this set may have ended up destroyed or lost to the ages of time.
The embellishments upon this fine tea set speak to the ease and time the potter would have had to glaze and craft such delicate work. The Shire, in its relative years of peace before the Scouring, afforded Hobbits a vast time to perfect pieces of art for everyday use. These items were not locked away in a dusty cabinet awaiting the perfect moment to be of use. A piece of artwork such as the birch teacups was intended to be seen, used, and enjoyed by both host and guest.
There is a heavy overlay of patriarchal culture embedded within the Hobbits as beyond Adamanta in the family tree records, I could not find the names of any wives or mothers which heavily complicated the story told within this set. Lavender the Greenhanded is a fictional creation on my part that needed much thought and timelining to create. Beyond two generations within Bilbo’s matriarchal line, the women of his family are obscured in faceless history.