Spill Vase

During the 19th century, fireplace mantles in parlors often held pairs of vases containing slender sticks of kindling known as “spill.” Sometimes—as here—these were of fine porcelain and very elaborately decorated. These spill vases show characters from Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s enormously popular and influential 1852 anti-slavery novel. The left vase depicts the novel’s hero, Uncle Tom. He is shown with Little Eva, the daughter of his owner. The right vase shows Eliza, an enslaved woman, who is crossing the frozen Ohio River.