Following the Revolutionary War, the United States established its own trade routes with China, which garnered enormous wealth for a handful of merchants while exposing many Americans to new types of goods and new aesthetics. This teapot is part of a service purchased in 1806 in Hartford, CT, by 19-year-old Mehitable Stratton. She acquired it around the time of her marriage to Ezra Dayton. The young couple wanted housewares that projected gentility, and the drum-shaped pot decorated with small flowers would have been the height of fashion. The set originally consisted of 30 pieces and cost $8.00. The smear of rust-colored glaze on the side of the pot suggests this set might not have passed muster with a discerning merchant in a costal port town, but it was cherished by the newlyweds and descended in the family until the 1880s when only three pieces remained intact.