Maker: John & William Ridgway
Period: Regency
A captivating Regency trio of tea and coffee cups with shared saucer by brothers John and William Ridgway, boldly decorated with well-painted flower baskets and stylised seashells. The trio was made around 1814.
SHAPE The cup is of ‘Old English’ type, instantly recognisable by the distinctive handle. The fluted body is gently waisted and has a flared rim. At the upper junction of the handle there is a moulded rosette.
DESCRIPTION The underglaze blue ground is gilded with seaweed. The saucer well has a finely painted basket of summer flowers on a blush buttermilk ground. The border has two large stylised conch shells with a pale blue and cream ground plus a gilt and buttermilk nautilus shell. The teacup also has a flower basket set inside a pale apricot panel. On either side is a conch shell with a pale blue and cream ground, and at the back, between the handle joints, is a cream nautilus shell. The taller coffee cup is similar except that it has only one conch shell and a nautilus shell on opposite sides of the flower panel. All items are marked with the pattern number, 2/1070.
Norfolk Museums has a coffee cup in the same pattern, and the creamer is Plate 776 on Page 130 of Michael Berthoud’s A Cabinet of British Creamers.
We are also offering for sale another tea & coffee trio, a teapot, creamer, sucrier and slop bowl from the same set.
Condition Very good. The gilding and enamelling are all bright and fresh. The saucer has very minor gilding wear and a few small surface abrasions. The teacup has minor gilt rubbing to the lower part of the handle. The coffee cup has minor gilding wear to the handle, and a couple of glaze impurities from firing in the kiln. There are the usual tiny, spilled drops of cobalt blue. On both cups, the moulded rosettes at the upper junction of the handle have small porcelain tears that also date from manufacture.
Teacup height 4.8 cm; diameter 9.3 cm; width with handle 12 cm
Coffee cup height 6 cm; diameter 8 cm; width with handle 10.5 cm
Saucer diameter 14.5 cm
Net weight: 363 g
Medium: Bone china (porcelain)
Origin: Stoke on Trent, England
For background on the factory see Ridgway pottery at Cauldon Place in Makers & Artists
