Gentility in a Plate

Owning generous quantities of high-quality ceramics distinguished the elites from everyone else in the eighteenth century, but during the nineteenth century the demarcation lines shifted downward. The middle classes now worried about whether they ate from matched sets of dishes or bits randomly cobbled together and whether they had fancy china in addition to everyday dishware. By the end of the nineteenth century, even the poor had sets of ceramic dishes, so that mere possession was not enough: One’s choice in dishes expressed one’s good taste and social standing.