Period: Edwardian
Maker: W.T. Copeland & Sons
This luxuriant Edwardian coffee cup and saucer are in Copeland’s elegant “Queen Anne’ quatrefoil shape.
Copeland decorated the four panels of the Queen Anne shape in many different patterns. This example imitates Japanese lacquer in its thick unctuous ground and scattered gilt flowers, twigs and leaves. (The centres of the flower heads are embossed.)
The Queen Anne shape is a technical triumph. From the four corners, there is indented fluting, accented in gold, that tapers towards circular bands of delicately embossed fish scales. These fish scales are also edged in gilt, and taper in size towards the well of the saucer and the bottom of the cup.
The impressed Copeland date code on the saucer base is for October 1911. The base of both cup and saucer have the printed backstamp SPODE COPELAND’S CHINA ENGLAND. There is also a pattern number, R2767.
The famous Spode pottery in Stoke-on-Trent belonged to the Copeland family for over a century.
In 1833, William Taylor Copeland and his partner Thomas Garrett acquired the factory. Most ‘Copeland & Garrett’ wares were in the then fashionably ornate rococo style. Their partnership was dissolved in 1847 and the factory was operated by W.T. Copeland and his descendants until 1966.
Copeland porcelains of the late 19th Century and early 20th Century can be stylish, luxurious, and of high quality. Marks include ‘Copeland’, ‘W.T. Copeland & Sons’, ‘Spode Copeland’, ‘Copeland Late Spode’, and ‘Copeland Spode’. Copeland also continued to produce the most popular Spode patterns from the Regency period.
Condition: Almost perfect. A few pin-prick size losses of gilding. Some discolouration of the cobalt blue ground on one side panel of the cup that appears to have occurred during manufacture.
Cup Height: 6.4 cm; Width, including handle: 8.2 cm
Saucer Maximum width: 13.1 cm
Net weight: 141 g
Medium: Porcelain
Origin: Stoke-on-Trent, England
For background on the Spode factory, see Spode and Copeland in Makers & Artists
