Date: circa 1810
Period: Regency
Maker: Job Ridgway & Sons
You could easily mistake this extremely rare cup and saucer by Job Ridgway & Sons as being from the psychedelic 1960s rather than the age of the Napoleonic Wars. The combination of vivid forget-me-not flowers with green and turquoise leaves on a deep orange ground has a hallucinatory quality that does not mesh with standard images of Jane Austen’s world.
What gave rise to such creative exuberance? The flamboyant and exotic tastes of the spendthrift Prince Regent, a lavish patron of the decorative arts, were certainly one influential factor, as was the Romantic Movement’s unshackling of the imagination. Pioneering potters were also eager to explore the artistic possibilities offered by advances in chemistry and the availability of new ground colours.
Study the decoration carefully, and you will see that there is nothing carefree about the composition. Each element is meticulously balanced and executed, right down to the tiny gilt leaves in between the forget-me-nots, and the geometric panels of stylised gilt flowers on white reserves. Everything is of the highest quality, including the thinly potted translucent body of the cup.
There is no backstamp or pattern number, but when taken together, the distinctive handle on the ‘Bute’ shape of the cup tell us with certainty that the maker was Job Ridgway & Sons. The cup and saucer were made soon after Job took John and William into partnership and began producing porcelain in 1808.
CONDITION There is a 1.6 cm manufacturing tear in the porcelain, as shown in the photographs. There is some miniscule rubbing to a couple of the small gilt leaves in the saucer well; otherwise mint.
Cup height 5.3 cm; diameter 8.7 cm; width, including handle 10.4 cm
Saucer diameter 14.1 cm
Weight: 183g
Medium: Bone china (porcelain)
Origin: Stoke-on-Trent, England
For background on the factory, see Ridgway pottery at Cauldon Place in Makers & Artists
