Period: Regency
Maker: Josiah Spode
This Spode ‘Pembroke’ shape tea and coffee trio is a model of refined restraint. The ground colour is the palest of yellow; the gilding a formal pattern of curling acanthus and laurel.
Spode introduced the Pembroke shape around the same year, 1826, as this pattern. The teacup has an elegantly curved profile of a truncated hemisphere on a footed rim, with an ornate moulded handle that resembles decorative wrought iron.
The conservative simplicity of the pattern, number 4380, makes for interesting comparison with the spectacular and elaborate 4448 that Spode introduced the following year on Pembroke teawares.
‘SPODE’ and the pattern number, 4380, are painted on the base of the coffee cup. The saucer is impressed with a four-petal cross. In his book Spode & Copeland Marks, the late Robert Copeland stated that the mark indicated a Spode recipe for Felspar porcelain.
Condition Perfect except for some minuscule gilt wear and surface abrasion.
Teacup height: 5.3 cm; diameter: 9.4 cm; width, including handle: 11.4 cm
Coffee cup height: 7.1 cm; diameter: 7.1 cm; width, with handle: 9.1 cm
Saucer diameter: 15.2 cm
Net weight: 370 g
Medium: Felspar porcelain
Origin: Stoke-on-Trent, England
For background on the factory, see Spode and Copeland in Makers & Artists
