- Object: Teacup
- Medium: Porcelain with glaze and paint
- Creator: Unknown, retouched by Maurina Leafwalker, potter
- Date of Manufacture: Unknown
- Place of Origin: Overhill, Shire
- Artifact Number: M-h 227
- Source: Donated by Mr. Berilac Burrows
This teacup was found buried in a garden one year after the devastating Battle of Bywater. It was polished and the paint retouched by Maurina Leafwalker (1350-1445), a well-known potter in Overhill, and the tag indicates it as an object celebrating the anniversary of the Shire’s victory. One of the few female potters in Overhill, a yellow butterfly with orange tips was the signature of her work; the difference in style between the two butterflies indicates this was added during the repainting process.
Cultural Significance
The Battle of Bywater was the end of tyranny, but it was not the end of destruction. Hobbit holes had been ransacked and burned, hobbits were robbed and forced from their homes, and all the food sources had been uprooted or disturbed. Although those days were ended in one battle, to rebuild the community would require much longer than that. Exactly one year after the victory of the Shire, a teacup was found buried in a garden that was finally ready to be sown. The maker and date of creation were unknown, as the hobbits who previously inhabited that Hobbit hole were displaced. However, it was taken as a sign that the days of growth in the Shire had returned once more. It was repolished and retouched by Maruina Leafwalker, and though her signature butterfly with yellow wings and orange tips was added to the cup and saucer, the rest of the design was kept as the original creator’s. Besides this teacup and saucer, the rest of the tea set was never recovered.
Tea sets in the Shire were considered a staple of a Hobbit-hole, so much so that it was customary to leave a tea set with the house for the new owners—whomever they would be. Whether it was the set originally inherited with the house, or a different set did not matter; it was part of a tradition in the Shire that the very first task to do in a new Hobbit-hole was to make a cup of tea. Tea leaves were also a staple in a hobbit’s garden, along with other, fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Though imported teas were seen as fine gifts, unlike tobacco, a hobbit most preferred the family-grown tea.
Each part in a tea set took a long time to create, and sets with incredibly intricate designs took even longer, the whole process ranging from a half-year to a year. Designs could include flowers and butterflies, fruits and vegetables, or family portraits, among other objects of personal connection. This made them very valuable and very expensive. To have a tea set hand-crafted as a gift was popular for weddings.
Since very few teacups of fair condition were found in the Ruffians’ stockhold of stolen items, and even fewer were still in possession of a hobbit, those that were created before the Battle of Bywater were considered very rare, making them not socially acceptable to gift away. The emergence of this teacup at the Mathom-house is thus a considerable donation by the Burrows clan on behalf of the honourable Mr. Berilac Burrows, and we thank them for their generosity.