Located between the Dining Room and the Kitchen, the Pantry was the domain of the butler who was responsible for the care of the family china, glassware, and silver stored in this room. As was customary, a copper lined sink protected these fragile items from damage when washing after meals. Cupboards line the north and east walls to store the range of table service used by the Roosevelts from 1867 to 1945. A built-in safe protected the valuable family silver when not in use.
Furnishings of Note
An assembled Bohemian gilt and monogrammed dinner service, ca. 1860, stamped “F&M” for the Fischer & Mieg factory. This is the earliest table service at Springwood, probably purchased by James and Rebecca shortly after they moved to Springwood following the fire that destroyed Mount Hope. The minimally decorated thin blue bands and gilt rims lend an understated elegance. Shown here are a dinner plate, a teacup and saucer, a pot a jus and a pot a creme.
A Rose Medallion tea bowl and saucer from a larger table service. Rose Medallion originated near the city of Canton, which was a major port for trade with the Western markets, especially the United States and Europe. The Roosevelt set is among the earliest examples and dates to the mid-nineteenth century. This set likely came from Sara Roosevelt's family. Her father, Warren Delano, built a fortune importing American goods to China such as tin, beaver and fox pelts, sandalwood, ginseng, and smuggling opium.
Dinner plate minimally decorated with gilt rim. With backstamp for Limoges Tressemanes & Vogt (1892-1907) and Gilman Collamore & Co. retail mark. Manufactured by the Limoge porcelain factory partnered by Gustave Vogt and Emilien de Tressemanes. The factory produced high-quality whiteware for the American export market.
Minton dinner plate with gold encrusted bands and flowers. Pattern code H2987. With Minton backstamp used between 1879-1912 and Tiffany and Co. retail mark. Thomas Minton established his pottery in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, in 1793. The early products of the Minton factory were blue transfer-printed wares (they are credited with popularizing the Willow patterns). By 1798, Minton introduced bone china and in the 19th century, new techniques and methods of production established a reputation for high quality ceramics and the company became one of the most prestigious names in the history of bone china.
This simply decorated dinner plate with lobed and gadrooned edge, is a later porcelain variation of mid-18th century press-molded and salt-glazed stoneware popular in middle and upper-class English and American homes from the mid-1740s until the end of the 18th century. With bluegreen backstamp for Copeland China, this is likely the "Copeland dinner service, white porcelain with scalloped gadroon edge" listed in Sara Roosevelt's New York City townhouse inventory in 1929.
Plate from an extensive set produced by Theodore Haviland, Limoge, France. As marked on the reverse, this set was presented to President Roosevelt "the great peace maker" in September, 1938.
Teapot with leaf motif decoration on cover and spout, engraved floral and foliate decoration, by William Adams, New York, ca. 1840. William Adams was an important New York silversmith working from 1829-61. Among his most famous works are a ceremonial mace for the United States House of Representatives still in use today, and the Henry Clay Vase awarded by the "Gold and Silver Artizans" of New York City. Adams was politically active, serving as a city alderman, assistant alderman, and as a commissioner of repairs and supplies. This teapot was probably part of James and Rebecca Roosevelt's household.
Syrup Pitcher by Ball, Black & Co. of New York, ca. 1870. Located in the fashionable New York shopping district on Broadway, Ball, Black & Co. was a leading silver retailer and a popular destination for shoppers. Founded in 1810, they were a formidable rival of Tiffany & Co. An advertisment boasted “rich jewelry, silver ware, watches of all first-class makers, Parisian bronzes, clocks and mantel ornaments, cabinets, pedestals and mosaic tables, etc., rich assortment of chandeliers and gas fixtures, extensive collection of modern oil paintings of the most celebrated artists in Europe.”
Silver-plated sugar tongs engraved with Franklin D. Roosevelt's monogram, made by R. Wallace. The R. Wallace Manufacturing Company was established in Connecticut in 1815 by Robert Wallace, son of a Scottish immigran silversmith. Throughout the nineteenth century, the company grew to be the world's largest manufacturer of flat tableware.
