THE CAPE COAST CASTLE PLATTER
itself, many of which... have been perpetuated in no other manner,’ pronounces Ada Walker-Camehl in 1916. Like Alice Morse-Earle, Ada Camehl belonged to a group of collectors dubbed ‘china hunters’. They were enthusiastic amateurs; city-dwellers who spent their leisure time searching for American transferwares in rural New England. China hunting had the spirit of a quest, and written accounts often discuss the illustrations at some length. Not in the case of the ‘Cape Coast Castle’ platter though.
Alice Morse-Earle mentions a group of ‘very richly coloured, clearly printed, and beautifully drawn pieces decorated with spirited marine views’ from the factory of Enoch Wood. ‘These were evidently made for the American market,’ she explains, ‘for on all of them appears prominently a full-rigged ship bearing the American flag.’ Every period account I find echoes her words. Nobody wonders whether the ship depicted on this platter might be an American slaver. They all agree that the purpose of the flag is to enhance saleability. Yet as late as 1860, the New York Times declared that ‘nearly all the work [of the slave trade] is done under the American flag, – so much so that it is fair to presume, until the contrary is shown, that every vessel found on the coast of Africa carrying American colours is engaged in it.’
It dawns on me that the lack of discussion is telling. This is not ignorance but wilful disregard. Any representation showing black figures, a sailing ship and the African coast functions as a visual trope, an obvious reference to the slave trade. No doubt the collectors did recognise the scene on the platter. ‘E. Wood & Sons produced many views of scenery characteristic of other countries,’ states N Hudson Moore in The Old China Book (1903). ‘They are to be found in considerable numbers, among them being such well-known places as... “Cape Coast Castle on the Gold Coast, Africa”.’
On 25 May 2020, while I am working on this essay, an unarmed African American man named George Floyd is killed in police custody in
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