Romeo and Juliet Staffordshire figurine: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This ceramic figurine depicts Charlotte Cushman and her sister Susan playing Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Produced by British potter Thomas Parr, who became famous for these types of collectible figurines, it copies the image in the print by Thomas Fairland which was released just after the sisters' initial 1845 run in these roles. As a result, Parr's ceramic illustrates the lasting celebrity Cushman crafted through her performances of Romeo, which continued well into the 1860s even though her sister retired from acting in 1848.

Essential to understanding Cushman's popularity in the role is the popular perception of what contemporaries called her "masculine" features and bearing. Other actresses played Romeo, but most played the character with gestures and voices that remained identifiably feminine. By contrast, Cushman's performance was, as the London Times put it, "not a caricature" that attracted crowds simply to see cross-dressing. Cushman was celebrated for her realism in the role, and scholars have noted that her ardent acting reflected dalliances with several of her co-starring Juliets. All of Cushman's known romantic relationships were with women, and she financed a community of "jolly female bachelors" outside Rome, all of whom were artists of some kind and several of whom were active in resisting period norms of women's clothing, marriage, and work. In sum, then, this figurine celebrates a woman who achieved stardom while refusing to conform.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1852
• depicted (sitter): Cushman, Charlotte
• Object Name: figurine
• Physical Description: glaze (overall material)
• Physical Description: ceramic (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 10 1/4 in x 6 in x 4 in; 26.035 cm x 15.24 cm x 10.16 cm
• place made: United Kingdom
• general subject association: Theater
• ID Number: 2016.0259.01
• accession number: 2016.0259
• catalog number: 2016.0259.01
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.