Maker: John Ridgway (& Co.)
Period: Mid-Victorian
The superb quality of these teawares is typical of John Ridgway, ‘Potter to Her Majesty’ Queen Victoria. Both the gilt scrollwork on the turquoise-green borders and the potting are elegant and refined.
The two cups are very similar but the one for coffee has a more slender profile. Each has moulded foliate thumb rests on their ring handles.
What first appears as two plates we believe to be a side plate and a stand, probably for a teapot. The stand is slightly wider than the side plate, and the potting somewhat thicker and heavier.
A painted pattern number on the bases, 5/5046, helps to identify the maker as John Ridgway, along with the cup shapes and decorative style. The pattern number suggests a manufacturing date of around 1854.
The ‘5’ prefix was used by John Ridgway for tea and breakfast wares, between about 1850 and 1855. The series ended around 5/5800 in 1855. The following year, John Ridgway partnered with William Bates at Cauldon Place and a new series was started.
Condition Excellent overall. The cups are perfect. The teapot stand has micro-crazing, visible only on close inspection, but the decoration is all intact. The tea plate and saucer have a few patches of very minor rubbing to the gilt leaf terminals of the gilt scroll border along the perimeter of the central well.
Teacup height: 7.3 cm; diameter: 7.4 cm; width across handle: 9.1 cm
Coffee cup height: 7.4 cm; diameter: 6.8 cm, width across handle: 8.6 cm
Saucer diameter: 14.3 cm Tea plate diameter: 16.8 cm Stand diameter: 17.2 cm
Total net weight: 732 g
Medium: Bone china (porcelain)
Origin: Cauldon Place, Stoke-on-Trent, England
For background on the factory, see Ridgway pottery at Cauldon Place in Makers & Artists
